Advanced Sandbag Workout to Develop Physical and Mental Toughness

 If you are looking for a physical and mental challenge this week, this workout is for you.

In this workout, Troy recommends doing 10 reps of the exercise, then rest 1 minute between exercises. You'll do two sets total.

The exercise order goes from complex to simple, so as you fatigue, the exercises are easier to perform. This can help reduce the incidence of injury, while still challenging the athlete.

1. Max Lunge

One of the most unusual of sandbag training drills, the Max Lunge completely changes how we see strength exercises. Where most lifts are relatively predictable and the movement of the weight is easy to groove, the Max Lunge is the complete opposite. The Max Lunge is a high velocity exercise that has the lifter work from an unstable body position with a weight moving at a high speed. Additionally, the weight moves around the body, not in a normal "up and down" trajectory.

The term "rotational" is referring to the movement of the sandbag around the body, making this a very powerful anti-rotational movement. The velocity and leverage that the sandbag creates requires a great deal of deceleration strength, so if programmed right, the Rotational Lunge can be not only beneficial for strength and metabolic training, but injury resistance as well.

How can you get more out of the Max Lunge?

Even though we often teach the Max Lunge as a swing type movement, you can also slow down the speed and use higher loads to create more of a very unique deadlift type of training. (Men: 80-100 pounds, women: 50-70)

Going high velocity and think you got it down? You don't have to even move up in weight to create a new challenge. Simply take the same weight into a larger sandbag. This will create new levels of instability due to the increased movement of the sandbag.

2. Snatch

The snatch combines lower body power, trunk strength, and upper body strength/stability. Besides a powerful full body exercise, the snatch offers tremendous fat burning and conditioning effects as well. In an American Council on Exercise study, the kettlebell one-arm snatch was found to burn 20 calories a minute. This is equivalent to running a six minute mile. However, with much less stress to the knees and low back, snatching could be a great addition to your workout whether you are looking to burn fat or build athletic power.

3. Clean and Press

One of the best full-body exercises, the sandbag clean and press, requires strength, stability, explosiveness and accuracy. The instability of the sandbag reinforces the need for proper technique in order to complete each rep.

One of the very often underrated benefits of the Ultimate Sandbag Clean and Press is the accuracy component. As Strength Coach, Troy Anderson, says, "the accuracy required in the USB Clean and Press will have higher transfer to other types of similar movements while most implement training will not have transfer to this lift."

The Ultimate Sandbag Clean and Press requires optimal proficiency, technique, and integration. Therefore, being a perfect combination of whole body stability and incredible metabolic response.

4. Front Squat

The DVRT Front Loaded Squat might be the perfect whole body squat. Many in the fitness industry have moved away from back squats because of the amount of spinal compression. This especially makes sense considering the research has shown that the Front Squat can be just as beneficial as the back squat even though lighter weight is used.

Advanced Sandbag Workout Details:

1a. Max Lunge - 10 reps
Rest 1 minute
1b. Snatch - 10 reps
Rest 1 minute
1c. Clean and Press - 10 reps
Rest 1 minute
1d. Front Squat - 10 reps
Rest 1 minute
Repeat.

Perform 2 sets.

Hopefully your mind is right, becasue this work capacity complex is very demanding physically and mentally.

Enjoy!

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