Taking fitness seriously is important, but so is having fun with it. Looking for new things to implement into a workout can be a fun task as well. Many will get bored with doing the same old routine and will start to look at either implementing something different into their routine, or completely going into something else altogether.
Many times, people think about weight as weight, right? It does not matter really what you are lifting as long as you are lifting it. Forty-five pounds is forty-five pounds. This is true, but there is so much more involved. To say weight is just weight is like saying a party is just a party. So, if both parties both have 200 people attending, will the parties automatically be the same? Not necessarily. One party could have 150 people sitting off to the side looking at their cell phones while the other party has everyone on the dance floor getting down!
Your body and the muscles are like a party and seeing how many of them you can get involved is the test.
There is thing called strength and stability connection. What is meant by this is that the more unstable a movement may be, the more muscle fibers that are engaged to lift the weight. So, if you are lifting 135 pounds in the air during a clean and press on a barbell, you will be engaging a certain number of fibers. But if you are lifting something more unstable, like a sandbag that weighs 135 pounds, you will be engaging a lot more muscle fibers to heave this weight above your head.
Strength and stability connection - the more fibers you are engaging the more strength you can build.
This is why sand bag training is awesome. They come in numerous forms and poundage. Due to their instability and in all honesty, awkwardness to move, sandbag training has made a pretty big name for itself, especially amongst strength coaches, military, athletes, and even public safety personnel to help mimic moving people around in emergency situation.
When talking about any kind of stability training like sand bag training, core work has to come to mind. When you are dealing with any kind of unstable weight, the core is going to kick in to balance out the weight, so it can be moved in the way you desire. Studies show that a simple shoulder press performed with a light weight in an unstable position engages more muscle fibers and core activity than doing a shoulder press with heavier weight in a stabilized form.
So, weight is not just weight after all.
Some popular sand bag exercises are:
- Forward Lunge + Wood Chop
- Reverse Lunge + Good Morning
- Side Lunge + Front Raise
- Curtsy Lunge + Hammer Curl
- Single-Leg Deadlift + Row
- Deadlift + Squat
- Burpee + Snatch
- Squat + Shoulder Press
