It's coarse, rough, irritating and it gets everywhere but what if we changed the idea of how to work with sand instead of hating it. I get it, if you're born in a desert, the last thing you want to deal with is sand. Sand can be used for many things but training with it can be a whole other ball game. Sandbag Training has been used by many athletes and laborers throughout the ages. It builds a real world type of strength and it hits the body far differently than with a barbell or a dumbbell.
It builds a level of fitness that even an Emo Jedi born on Tatooine can maybe work on and would make you harder to kill (talk about a different form of force training). I would play with the Sandbells off and on, doing different things like carries, 360's, slams, shouldering, squats and other exercises yet there's something satisfying about them that just make you feel powerful. Like training to be a Jedi, you learn to not take the easy path and find the flow yet the strength and awareness to use what is best to handle tough situations. Sandbag Training is not meant to be easy and it forces you to figure out how to move and wrestle with something that isn't always easy to grip and pick up. It takes something that is tough and triumph over adversity.
Sandbag Work challenges your entire body in ways you can't with a straight bar to lift with. You're using muscles you normally don't use and it has a more natural feel to it. Carrying a bag can be very tough especially when you go heavy. It's live weight and it doesn't like to sit still, it'll move and shift while trying to fight you. It's a literal wrestling match match at times. Hauling something like a 50 lb bag will work you harder than a 50 lb dumbbell and there's a reason why many of the old time strongmen worked with heavy bags in order to do other lifts. It prepared them and utilize their muscles that is more controlled with a straight bar to lift, it also strengthened their tendons and ligaments to a very high degree. If a Jedi like Anakin trained with bags, maybe it would've been tougher cutting up those arms and legs of his, you never know.
The conditioning with Sandbags is crucial not just for sports but for everyday life as well. It can build muscle and level up your muscular endurance for hauling furniture, loading a truck, strengthen your back and core along with giving you legs that last for days. Some of the very best cardio I've ever done was with the Sandbells mixing loaded carries with Step Ups and going for extended periods of time working strength and cardio at the same time. It works like a charm and it makes you work hard like crazy. If you don't believe me, try going for 5-10 minutes cleaning and pressing a 50-100 lb bag, I guarantee you you'll feel it and it'll show you weaknesses you didn't think you had. Think that was easy, ok then do bear hug squats with a bag and then go for distance doing the duck walk with it, you won't get very far.
Don't be like Anakin and hate sand, embrace it as a tool to make you strong in more ways than one. Keep being amazingly awesome.
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