Sandbag Madness

Training Training Logs
1

hey there,
im an addicted nation reader for a long time now and thought id start a log for the time to come. im a fan of dan john und rip, but have my own mind, therefore just some kind of bastard that will keep to the true stuff but bustardize it as well.
last “training program” was getting a 20kg kettlebell swing, squat, and regular pushup from 1 1 1 to 15 5 5 for 30 rounds, so i know i can stick to something if i want to.

im 31, around 77kg and at 14%bf.
due to personal reasons i 1) dont have access to a gym and 2) to a real home gym either. so ill use a diy canvas sandbag with various increments for lifting and linear progression.
the program ill be doing is some kind of stronglifts/starting strength mixture, as follows:

d1:bearhug squat, floor press, powerclean
d2:bearhug squat, press, deadlift

everything 5x5 except the dl for 1x5
gonna alternate on mo/we/fr as usual.
warmup as programmed, warming up for the warmup with some mobility stuff (thoracic bridges, stuff from agile 8, cossack squats,etc) for around 10 minutes. rest times as felt, in the lighter sessions now around one minute, later more of course.

the question which comes with such an alteration of program/equipment is, how long it is gonna take till im pissed of of that awkward sandbag im pushing around my small office and give in. if its last for a decent time, perhaps others are encouraged to do the same.

for now, goals are bw squat/dl/floorpress/powerclean and 1/2 bw press. well see how it goes.

gonna update weekly:

15.01.18

bh squat:
20kg @ 5x5

floor press:
20kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
20kg @ 5x5

everything went fine, except those 5x5 is really much volume. back in the days ive done 2x5 max after warmups. powercleans felt awkward first, never did em before really, but got the hang quite fast. in the end they were fun. gonna see how they develop.

17.01.18

bh squat:
22.5kg @ 5x5

press:
20kg @ 5x5

deadlift:
wu:
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
30kg x 2
40kg @ 1x5

everything fine again. the presses got me triceps doms, never had doms for years, at least not in the upper body hehe.

19.01.18

bh squat:
25kg @ 5x5

floor press:
22.5kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
25kg @ 5x5

really nice session, no stress, reps felt good on squat and powercleans.

2

soooo second week with the sandbag.

22.01.18

bh squat:
27.5kg @ 5x5

press:
22.5kg @ 5x5

deadlift:
wu:
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
30kg x 3
ws:
45kg @ 1x5

Everything nice.

24.01.18

bh squat:
30kg @ 5x5

floor press:
25kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
30kg @ 5x5

Loveable workout, especially the powercleans went well

26.01.18

bh squat:
32.5kg @ 5x5

press:
25kg @ 5x5

deadlift:
wu:
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
30kg x 3
40kg x 3
ws:
50kg @ 1x5

Squats felt shitty, Deadlift too, Press nonetheless super tight and strong. Dont know what happened there, the weight
still is ridiculously low. Thought my form was on point, but got some back itches right after squats.

Well see how Monday goes.

3

Week 3

29.01.18

bh squat:
35kg @ 5x5

floor press:
27,5kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
35kg @ 5x5

Back got better till Monday, was in the sauna where it got better and did some stretchings and air-squats/air-rdl’s till it was good.
After Training the back felt nice again, so back on track!

01.02.18

bh squat:
37.5kg @ 5x5

press:
27.5kg @ 5x5

deadlift:
wu:
25kg x 5
25kg x 5
35kg x 3
45kg x 3

ws:
55kg @ 1x5

Had to miss the reschedule the Wednesday workout to saturday.
Deadlift actually felt quite heavy in my hands.

02.02.18

bh squat:
40kg @ 5x5

floor press:
30kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
40kg @ 5x5

Squats felt super strong even after no recovery day. Other lifts were nice too.

All in all im pleased after three weeks.
Have to buy a new bag of playsand due to deadlifts which will clim to 65kg this week.
Due to private reasons theres gonna be some mental challenging times in the next weeks.
But im staying focused.

4

Week 4

05.02.18

bh squat:
42.5kg @ 5x5

press:
30kg @ 5x5

deadlift:
wu:
25kg x 5
25kg x 5
35kg x 3
45kg x 3
55kg x 3

ws:
60kg @ 1x5

Deadlift felt super easy and strong, in strong contrast to the last dl workout. Press was super strong as well.

07.02.18

bh squat:
45kg @ 5x5

floor press:
32,5kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
45kg @ 5x5

Everything fine. Powercleans were a bit daunting on the last two sets.

09.02.18

bh squat:
47.5kg @ 5x5

press:
32.5kg @ 5x5

deadlift:
wu:
25kg x 5
25kg x 5
35kg x 3
45kg x 3
55kg x 3

ws: 65kg @ 1x5

Press felt shitty on the first two sets, but after set three were good. Deadlift felt nice, too.
Ill have to remind myself that i have to stay tight during the lifts. More tightness = more power.

Bought new sand and made 30kg of new implements, which i designed to be longer and more narrow than the old ones.
Also got higher quality garbage bags than last time, so theyre less prone to leaking.
The sandbag was pretty full with the 65 kilos on deadlifts, so perhaps ill have to redo my old implements in order to fill the sandbag more efficiently.

Started to do reverse pushups and planks after every workout for mobility / “core strength” (yeah i know im squattin n dl’in so i dont need that :>).
But i feel better doin it. Also began to do defranco’s limber 11 instead of some custom designed warming up.

5

Week 5

12.02.18

bh squat:
50kg @ 5x5

floor press:
35kg @ 5x5

powerclean:
50kg @ 5x5

Squat and Floor Press feel nice, the powerclean really starts to exhaust me. crazy shit.

14.02.18

bh squat:
52.5kg @ 5x5

press:
35kg @ 5x5

dl:
70kg @ 1x5

press felt shitty on first two sets, but rearranged the weight implements so the other three were good.

had to skip the friday workout cause of a weekend trip. thought i would do it today on sunday, but did a run this morning and after to nights of 6 and 5 hours of sleep did just a recovery session:

  • limber 11
  • 25 “sets” of 1 pushup 1 kettlebell swing 1 goblet squat (which would have satisfied the form police) with a 22.5kg bell.
    gonna get 2 protein shakes and a good amount of sleep to rock the shit out of 55kg on the squat and powerclean tomorrow.
6

Hi

Just wondered how this training went as I am looking at sandbag training with up to 100kg.

How did you program it all. Any tips would help.

Aaron.