More Garage Gyms

I always love getting emails from people who are following the blog, especially if they include pictures of their homemade training kit!

James has constructed a 50kg sandbag from 2/3 of truck inner tube - it acts a little like a Bulgarian Bag. This is a great example of ingenuity and a serious piece of garage gym equipment.

Here's the beast on his homemade loading platform:

I spoke about getting started in a recent blog post and this just goes to show that you can do just that - without having to invest a lot of hard earned cash.

This is my original range of homemade sandbags (costing a total of around $10):

My advice to those of you who lurk on this blog (and there are now quite a few!) and haven't yet started sandbag training is to get going today. Use whatever you can get your hands on and then upgrade to a custom made sandbag as and when you are able to.

Train hard!

Free Bulgarian Bag Book Giveaway!

My good friend Troy Pesola from CubeDwellerFitness is currently giving away (that's right, for free) his eBook 'The Bag Basics: Getting started with a Bulgarian training bag' on Amazon. This extra special offer is available Thursday 14th and Friday 15th June only so don't miss out.

The book is a great introduction to the Bulgarian bag training method and includes the following:

• Which Bag For Me?
• The Core Movements of the method
• Warm Up
• An initial training program
• And how to make your own DIY Training Bag

What I like most about the book is that it is that it's actually full of useful stuff - there's no padding. Plus, Troy explains how to make your own Bulgarian Training Bag and what to do if you want to purchase a custom made bag.

This is a great deal and I highly recommend you pick up a copy.

And don't worry if you haven't got a Kindle - you can also download free Kindle Reading Apps for a variety of other devices.

Click here to get your copy

You can also see Troy Pesola's Amazon Author Page here

Todays Workout - Sandbag Strength and Milo Update

Work up to your max weight for:

Sandbag Back Squats 5x5
Sandbag Overhead Press 5x5

Take a 3-5 minute rest between each set of exercises. The weight of your sandbag should be such that you struggle to complete repetition 5 in each set.

Record your weight.

Plus, if you're following the Milo Experiment then you should be on Day 6. If you haven't yet started and you want a simple way to build your strength then check out the post here

Train hard!

Todays Workout - The Milo Experiment

Starting today, I'd love for you to join me as I embark on a new project at Sandbag Fitness.

Milo of Croton was a Greek wrestler who lived in the 6th century BC. Famous for his immense strength, he once performed a feat where he lifted a young calf everyday. He did this until it reached maturity; then able to lift a fully grown bull.

The Sandbag Fitness Milo Experiment involves the following:

• Take a handleless sandbag or duffel bag and fill it with around 25% of your bodyweight in sand

The Brute Force Heavy Hitter sandbag is perfect for this

• Perform a single lift from the ground-to-overhead, then add a small amount of sand (around 1kg)
• The following day, complete another single lift from the ground-to-overhead
• Repeat this process daily until you can no longer lift the sandbag overhead

The target is to lift a sandbag equal to your own bodyweight (or more!) overhead.

I think it's pretty easy to get bogged down in various systems, programmes and protocols so this is a nice, straightforward way to build strength through linear progression.

Since you are only completing a single lift each day you should be able to train as normal alongside this experiment. 

Please feel free to add pictures, video or feedback to the comments below.

Train hard!