Filling one of the inner bags.

I’ve loved sandbag training since first trying it a couple of years ago; despite my home-made bags not surviving quite as long as I hoped. When Josh gave me the opportunity to test out the latest incarnation of The Ultimate Sandbag, I jumped at the chance. And – as you’ll quickly see – I’m very glad I did.

First Impressions

With any kind of sandbag training, the bag’s going to take a fair bit of abuse. You know it’s not going to be put down gently after each rep, and that you don’t particularly want to be left standing in a pool of sand.
The first thing that struck me is just how well-built these bags are. Not only are they nice and heavy when empty, the sand is kept well away from the outer lining (see the filling section below to see how) and there’s almost no chance of spillage. In fact, there’s a very good chance that you’ll call it a day well before the bag does.

Filling the Bag

The general idea with loading the bag is to fill small, inner bags with sand/gravel and to place these in the main bag. These inner bags are tough, and well sealed using a pair of velcro tabs.
These filler bags are available in a range of sizes, making it simple to add weight to the main bag. Just throw in a 10, 20 or 50lb filler and get to work.

Holding the bag

There are several ways to hold The Ultimate Sandbag, and a number of built-in handles make this extremely natural. In addition to simply putting your hands under the bag itself, handles are available for gripping the bag by the sides, top or bottom.
These handles remain close to the body of the bag, and don’t interfere with training at all.

Using the Bag

There are a number of exercises and variations available with any form of sandbag training; many more than you might think.
In addition to the basic sandbag movements , The Ultimate Sandbag‘s handles enable several further variations. Josh demonstrates a number of them on his site, and there are also several on the High Octane DVD.

Final thoughts on The Ultimate Sandbag

I love this bag; both for indoor and outdoor training. Tough, well-designed and the right size for daily abuse. Just pick it up and get to work. Perfect.