Cheap Sand Bags for Spartan Training
So my brother and I are always looking for ways to workout not just for us, but for the people we help prepare for obstacle course races such as Spartan Race, Savage Race, Warrior Dash, and the OCR World Championships. Most of our workouts are inspired by a combination of the P90X workouts that we do, as well as the Spartan WOD's. We wanted to do a group SAND BAG WORKOUT, but looked into getting the "pancakes' that you see being used at the Spartan Races, and it was too costly to purchase 30 of them, so we improvised and made our own. We watched a ton of videos on youtube, and found some good ideas. Most videos were based on someone making a just a few sand bags, and most of the time, it was for themselves. We were looking for the most cost effective way because it wasn't going to be just for us, it was going to be for a group of 30+ people. We figured that for half the cost of one Spartan Pancake (20-30lbs), which is about $60-$65, we could buy our own supplies and make 30+ sand bags ranging from 15lbs to 25/30lbs. So instead of having just a couple sand bags, now we have enough for a nice Sand Bag Group Workout.
Spartan Pancakes are PRICEY!
Check out the SAVINGS:
30 Spartan Pancakes at $60 each = $1,800 (not including tax and shipping)
30 Homemade Sand Bags = $35
Total Savings: $1765 <---------------------------<<<
Sand Bag Supplies Needed: (We purchased everything from a local Home Depot)
- Regular White Sand Bags ($.45 cents each)
- Duct Tape, about $6-7 per roll
- Zip Ties (4 per sand bag)
- Extra Heavy Duty Trash Bags
- Sand (some people use other things to stuff their sand bags other than sand, well guess what people, then that's not a sand bag!)
*Total cost for all the supplies for 30 sand bags was roughly $30-35. And this was not even looking for deals!
Tools:
- Bucket to put sand in
- Weighing Scale
- Pocket knife
Let's get started:
1. Seal the "already sealed" end first which will be the "bottom". (This is optional) Leave the other side open so that you can stuff it later. We wanted to seal both ends because it makes for a good handle on both ends of the sand bag.
- Simply roll the sealed ends together
- Duct tape the ends nice and tight
- Use to zip ties to make it secure
- Duct tape over the zip ties (don't cut the ends of the zip ties, just roll it around the ends, this makes a really nice handle for the sand bag)
- Duct tape over the top (vertically), then use duct tape again to secure (horizontally)
2. Fill bucket with sand and weigh it to your desired weight. The bucket weights about 2lbs, so if you want to make a 15lb sand bag, make sure that the weigh scale reads 17lbs. For a 25lb sand bag, that means weighing out 27lbs etc.
3. Dump the sand that has been weighed into a Heavy Duty Garbage Bag.
4. Twist the access garbage bag making sure to get most of the air out of the bag. Duct tape the bottom and the top of the twist, then with a pocket knife (be careful), cut off the access.
Twist
Duct tape bottom and top
Cut off access (please be careful)
Duct tape the two twisted ends together (fold top to bottom then duct tape together) to keep the sand secure.
5. Place heavy duty garbage bag into the sand bag that you "bottom" sealed earlier.
Once you have placed the heavy duty garbage bag filled with sand into the sand bag, simply seal the top end just like you did the bottom end earlier.
6. And the final product, you're very own homemade sand bag!
We made some 15lb and 25/30/lb sand bags. Now you are ready to do all kinds of workouts! Here are some sand bag workout ideas:
- Running with sand bag (you can run with two as well, one on each shoulder)
- Squats
- Bicep Curls
- Jump Squats
- Squat thrusts
- Sand bag throws
- Weighted Push Ups
- Skull Crushers
- Weighted Bear Crawls
And much more!
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Now these homemade sand bags probably won't last as long as the Spartan Pancakes, but they are budget-friendly and very easy to make and re-make.
Incorporating the Sand Bag into your Workouts
And then when you're done working out, just relax and get on a LONG BOARD and enjoy life! =)
Beachbody Coach Life!
Related Links:
- Obstacle Course Race Training with P90X
- Obstacle Course Racing Videos
- Obstacle Course Racing Community
- Become a Beachbody Coach
Train for a Spartan Race with the Elite Insanity Asylum Challenge!
