Saturday, November 29, 2008

Get powerful fitness results with sandbags

By Marcus Martinez

Workouts requiring the balance of seemingly uncontrollable weights can lead to massive results. In the same realm of kettlebell training, sandbag training can yield huge benefits in functional strength, fat loss, and conditioning because of the additional effort required to balance.

What would be more intense, trying to lift a perfectly balanced bar over your head, or a shifting mass of weight? Controlling and moving a sandbag works out your core and increases workout intensity because of unrelenting motion of the object you're trying to move.

Need a demanding workout? Try an overhead press using a sandbag. Not only does the shifting weight require persistent balancing using a variety of muscles, your grip is also getting an extreme workout. With sandbags, you can't really get a good grip anywhere, so to keep it from falling to the ground, you need to work your hands and forearms even harder to hold it in the air.

Same as with the kettlebell, using the sandbags in circuit-style training is ideal for total body strength as well as shedding pounds of fat in a hurry. You also don't need a ton of space or any equipment besides the sandbag, and well, sand. Simple enough.

People who could benefit from a stronger grip, like combat-sport athletes, law enforcement, and military personnel can rapidly increase their strength through sandbag training. That alone is a reason to get started with a training routine, not to mention the increases in full-body strength.

You could build your own sandbag using a hefty bag, sand, and duct tape. If you're really going to get into it though, you might want to look for something created for sandbag training, like the products provided by Innovative Fitness Solutions. Their Ultimate Sandbag can put up with anything you can dish out.

You can do a variety of stimulating workouts with sandbags, so you won't get bored. You can also take them anywhere to workout, so don't be afraid of finding a hill and carrying the sandbag up and down for a great routine. Not only beneficial for strength and conditioning, sandbags can help you achieve a great physique.

Ultimately, life is about variety, but there is a fine line between too much and not enough. Too much and you risk never becoming fully proficient in a particular skill. Not enough and you run the risk of overtraining injuries as well as boredom. Sandbags offer a wide array of exercises and workouts while keeping you on track with your goals of a strong and conditioned individual. If you are going to give sandbags a try I am convinced that the Ultimate Sandbag is the best out there and will definitely not disappoint. - 15343

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