Sandbag Death

This routine was put together after sampling one from another site. I felt that while the other routine was certainly difficult, once the grip was exhausted the workout was pretty much over since most of the exercises involved picking the bag up.

I scrounged up some gear that I had left over from the military days and put this routine together. Even if you don't have old military gear laying around the house, you can get it cheap at a military surplus store if there's one near your home.

This routine is not easy, by any means. The stress varies from upper to lower-body and this allows more work to be done over time so while holding a bag for 30 seconds doesn't seem like a long time, keep in mind that you have a lot of other things to do after that.

Good luck.

Equipment:

Make sure you have two cones (or something you can put on the ground, like a water bottle), 3 different weight bags: 60-75, 150, 200-pounders*, Army Ruck or backpack that is strong enough to tow the 150-pounder with (I use an old white belt and caribeener to attach the bag to my Ruck), 100 pound dumbbells* or something equivalent to grip and hold, dips and pull-up bars, a big water bottle for chugging precious fluid before, during, and after the workout, and a partner to help you carry some of this stuff around.

This routine is probably best done at a local park that has playground equipment already set up and a nice open field to tow the bags around in.

*The weights for these bags were determined by my own body weight of 200 pounds at the time. Make similar adjustment according to body weight and strength levels.

The Workout:

200-pound bag: 30 second hold. Straddle the bag with your legs on either side, work your arms underneath/around it and, using your legs and keeping your back straight, drive your shoulders towards the sky holding the bag to your chest. Have your partner place a cone on the ground to designate your starting point.

Pull-ups. Perform as many as possible.

200 pound 30 second hold. Same as before.

Tow 150-pounder: for distance: Have that Ruck ready to go so you can start right away. Put the Ruck on, walk to the end of the line you have attached to the bag to take out the tension, then walk/run as fast as you can for as long as you can. Obviously you'll have to lean forward to pull the bag so use this opportunity to look down and make sure you are placing one foot in front of the other and not out to the sides with each step.
If you have a training partner, he should be carrying the smallest bag and the cone next to you. When you reach your distance limit, he will drop the bag and put the second cone on the ground.

Dive Bomber Push-ups: Perform as many as possible.

Carry 150-pounder: back to starting point. Straddle the bag with your legs on either side, work your arms underneath/around it and, using your legs and keeping your back straight, drive your shoulders towards the sky holding the bag to your chest. Now, walk back to the starting cone with it. You can drop it if you want but remember, you have to pick it back up.

Chin-ups. Perform as many as possible.

200-pounder: 30 second hold. Same as before.

Push-ups. Choose any position: regular grip, Diamond grip, wide grip, etc, and perform as many as possible.

100-pound DB Farmer's Walk: 30 seconds. Grab the dumbbells and stand up straight while holding them at your sides. Now walk for 30 seconds.

Dips. Perform as many as possible.

100-pound DB Farmer's Walk: 30 seconds. Same as before.

Dips. Perform as many as possible.

200-pounder: 30 second hold. Just like before.

Tow 150-pounder: back to far cone. Put that Ruck back on and pull the bag back to the far cone.

Chest Pass 70-pounder: to starting cone. Without using handles or straps, grip the bag and clean it to your chest. You can take one step forward and two-hand pass the bag as far as you can throw it. Walk up to the bag, clean it and throw it again. Repeat until you reach the starting cone. Think of passing a basketball and you'll do it just fine.

Sprint back to far cone. Notice I didn't say walk, mosey, saunter, crawl or die. SPRINT!

Tow 150-pounder: back to starting point. You know how to do this by now.

Lie down on ground and pray for death: Take your time with this one.

Contact me if you have any questions: scrapperathletics@gmail.com

Back to Workouts