Where I come from we call that yard work:) You’re all hired, here’s the shovel, rake, and there’s the pile of shit. Anyone caught loading a wheelbarrow with anything but gravel, firewood or manure and just running around would be strung up 
Midwestern farm boy comes to mind. There is no better workout than real work. Wanna ache? Try slinging sand bags with urgency as in here comes the water. The best shape I’ve ever been in was when I was trading farm work for lodging in Colorado. We’ve substituted hay bales and shovels with plates and bars, such is the life of a city dweller. Keep it up, it’s a different kind of strength, more real world IMHO
If you know anybody that works in the shipping department of a company. They use it to wrap skids of everything from bags of dog food, to bundles of newspapers, toilet paper, etc. Check out Staples or Office Depot or a commercial supplier for small businesses. With a roll of this stuff you could wrap the entire state of Montana several times over. The more it stretches, the more it bonds to itself thereby getting stronger. Wrap somebody to a lamppost for some fun.
TNT
You got it 911 girl. There are some Farm people I’ve seen who are crazy strong. I grew up on a Dairy and at the time all hay was baled in 70-80 lb. bales. Working with these bales day in and day out developed some strong kids. First deadlift I ever did at 18 I pulled 450 lbs at 175 bodywt. I saw an Uncle of mine twist the stud off a tractor tire rim while tightening a tire with a big lug wrench. No idea what that translates into deadlifting pounds but it has to be a helluva lot! Not too long ago I saw a guy who never has been in a gym, put his back against a square hay bale that weighed about 1800 lbs. (modern hay is baled much bigger). He pushed this bale end over end about 10 feet. That is a feat of strength. Yea you guys are on the right track with this functional training.
Barry
And old thread, but lots of good stuff - why start a new one.
I did some sand bag training last week. Only 100 pounds. Did pulls, drags, shoulder carries, and bear hug carries for distance.
The next day I seriously felt like I had had my ass kicked. My ribs hurt as if they had been punches, and my solo plexus had a fair amount of give. My abs were more sore than they had ever been, and I couldn’t walk without feeling major pain in my hip flexors.
It’s sort of hilarious to have such an ass kicker of a workout from such little weight. Everyone has said this is the case, but I doubted it. I loaded the bag, at first, with 180 pounds. I almost popped a gasket just picking the damned thing up.
I got the bag from IronMind. We’ll see how long it holds up. (For the price, it’d better be “tough as nails.”)
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
And old thread, but lots of good stuff - why start a new one.
I did some sand bag training last week. Only 100 pounds. Did pulls, drags, shoulder carries, and bear hug carries for distance.
The next day I seriously felt like I had had my ass kicked. My ribs hurt as if they had been punches, and my solo plexus had a fair amount of give. My abs were more sore than they had ever been, and I couldn’t walk without feeling major pain in my hip flexors.
It’s sort of hilarious to have such an ass kicker of a workout from such little weight. Everyone has said this is the case, but I doubted it. I loaded the bag, at first, with 180 pounds. I almost popped a gasket just picking the damned thing up.
I got the bag from IronMind. We’ll see how long it holds up. (For the price, it’d better be “tough as nails.”)[/quote]
Yeah, 100 pounds seems about right for most people. I love just bear hugging the thing and doing 40 yard “sprints”. Everything hurts after one of those sessions.
[quote]TNT-CDN wrote:
Sandbags seperate the men from…well, everybody else. A 100 lb. sandbag is not the same as a 100 lb. barbell or DB. I find it better to buy what is called “play sand” at Home Depot, etc. It’s clean and sifted. No stones,sticks, etc. these will put small cuts in the bag over time. A bag of play sand is about 40 lb. Wrap in in another heavy duty plastic bag (at least 6 mil) and duck tape it. Then wrap an old t-shirt around it and duck tape that. HERE’S THE SECRET! Now wrap it with industrial grade stretch and seal (saran wrap) this will make it rip proof. Now put it in your army duffle bag. Try 1 arm overhead carries.
Actually anything overhead with a sandbag is just plain brutal.
TNT[/quote]
Since I live in an appartment I didn’t dare to mess about with a lot of sand. So as an alternative I filled a duffel bag with old magazines and phone books. It probably feels different than sand (less shifting) and you might not be able to make it as heavy as a sand bag. But so far I like the workouts with it. Mostly just picking it up and walking around my app. with it in a bear hug for time.
I tried sandbag lifting today and my fucking 20 dollar duffel bag fucking broke. I will try the Ironmind version, It is “only” 80 dollars with S&H and if it holds up worth a shit then it will be worth it.
You guys that got Ironmind bags a year ago, how did they hold up?
Fuck.
One more thing to add to my training.
Thanks guys!
I’m also curious about the ironmind bag.
I just got a CoC number 1 and their de riggeur weight belt 
My limited experience with sandbags is that they are awesome, 150 lbs felt like 250, and made me light headed pressing it. I could only press it like 3 times and I think it would be good for making the hands into claws of killer death.
Hey BlazingDave,
300lbs sand ran me 35 dollars, so if someone is looking into a home gym, or just a sand bag, to start out they could get like 2-3 50lb bags for maybe 10-15$ then a 20 dollar army surplus bag, just make sure it is the extra durable kind, and dont be afraid to get the 35 dollar model if you are not sure about its construction. If you get a slightly more durable bag it may hold up well enough with 100-150 pounds of sand.
All told, to start off it would run you about 30-50 dollars.
Awesome.
Thanks Scrotus.
What types of exercises could you do with sandbags?
Right now i’m thinking:
-turkish get ups (actually this might be insanely dangerous…)
-Grab (bear hug) and carry
-Floor to Shoulder and back to floor…repeat till you can’t
-Floor to shoulder and see how long you can last
-Floor to back (like a squat) and jog
Here’s an easy and cheap way to make a very durable sandbag. Go to your local tire shop and ask them for some old inner-tubes, the bigger the better, they should give you them for free. Cut it open, tie a knot in one end, pour sand in, tie a knot in the other end. Total cost is $0.
We use these bags as a base for carving wood and stone on, so the rubber must be pretty tough. The one in the picture is 100 lbs and I’ve tossed it around for almost 2 years now without any problems.
here’s another link for DIY sandbags
I never liked sandbags, and after this I now hate them…
IMO, the ironmind bag sucks. We have one, and 3 others we know have one and they all leak.
Monopoly
[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
I never liked sandbags, and after this I now hate them…
IMO, the ironmind bag sucks. We have one, and 3 others we know have one and they all leak.
Monopoly[/quote]
Did you just pour the sand straight into the bag or did you put it in a garbage bag then the g-bag with sand in the canvas bag? That could be your problem right their.
You(that was you wasnt it?) kicked the first bags ass at least.
My bags showed up today(ordered on wednesday), damn I should order more stuff from Ironmind, reno is alot closer to norcal than Ohio is to Norcal.
[quote]Scrotus wrote:
Monopoly19 wrote:
I never liked sandbags, and after this I now hate them…
IMO, the ironmind bag sucks. We have one, and 3 others we know have one and they all leak.
Monopoly
Did you just pour the sand straight into the bag or did you put it in a garbage bag then the g-bag with sand in the canvas bag? That could be your problem right their.
You(that was you wasnt it?) kicked the first bags ass at least.
My bags showed up today(ordered on wednesday), damn I should order more stuff from Ironmind, reno is alot closer to norcal than Ohio is to Norcal.[/quote]
We used smaller bags inside the ironmind bag. Both leak. From my experience, those bags are the only poor product ironmind makes, they are a great company. That was me, and man was I pissed. We trained a shitload for that event and it still worked me. Combination of gassing early, and a bad pickup. I hate watching that video.
Monopoly
[quote]Jelly Roll wrote:
Here’s an easy and cheap way to make a very durable sandbag. Go to your local tire shop and ask them for some old inner-tubes, the bigger the better, they should give you them for free. Cut it open, tie a knot in one end, pour sand in, tie a knot in the other end. Total cost is $0.
We use these bags as a base for carving wood and stone on, so the rubber must be pretty tough. The one in the picture is 100 lbs and I’ve tossed it around for almost 2 years now without any problems. [/quote]
That’s a pretty cool idea. I’m gonna try that soon.