Planks, reverse crunches, lumberjacks – all great exercises to improve abdominal strength. Except, do these exercises really address our core strength needs? Sure, on a fundamental level these are great moves, yet people often overlook two key aspects of proper core conditioning:

In most daily activities, the role of the “core” is to maintain proper posture under load or stress. Often it is about resisting movement rather than producing it. The core is more than an abdominal workout. The health and fitness industry has taken the core training buzz and followed it to become synonymous with ab training. However, the core also includes the muscles of the back and pelvis. All of these muscles are important in keeping your back healthy and strong. Often though these muscles are neglected. If doing these classic crunches isn’t the answer, what is? We can pull the page from some of the world’s best athletes in fighting sports and martial arts. These athletes have long been known to be very strong and phenomenal athletes. If you look at the history of wrestlers in particular, there is a great deal of information written about the benefits of one of their favorite training techniques, lifting foreign objects.

Many people may not be familiar with foreign objects. You walk into a good gym and there will be nice machines, some free weights, and definitely a lot of aerobic equipment. Foreign object surveying hasn’t really hit the mainstream, although it used to be just that, mainstream. Before the days of fancy health clubs, a gym would be filled with all kinds of exercise equipment, climbing ropes, medicine balls, and all kinds of weights. Oh how times have changed. Now everything is very well stabilized and balanced for us. Even dumbbells have the perfect handles and weight distribution, taking away from the impressive strength our ancestors possessed.

Part of his amazing strength (such as lifting a 300+ pound barbell overhead with one hand) had to do with growing up in farming communities and manual labor. They would often pick up strange and oddly shaped objects throughout the day. It is not easy to live at all! Of course I’m not asking you to move to a farm in the country, but you can include supplies like sandbags, logs, rocks, barrels, and one-arm weight lifts. Now I know some of you may think this sounds crazy, but if we examine the science of such a lift, you’ll quickly see many of the benefits of core development.

6 benefits of foreign object lifting:

– Creates an unstable environment very different from Swiss balls or crunches that force the body to recruit more muscles from the hips to the arms.

– You can perform some unique unilateral loads so that the body learns to resist rotation, which can help prevent injury.

– It can help lifters who struggle with flexibility in exercises like front squats to perform the lifts much more comfortably.

– Allows all lifters to benefit from classic lifts like Zercher lifts.

– Simplifies big core lifts, like snatches, for those who don’t have the equipment or training to perform these lifts with a barbell.

– Provides true functional training that prepares the body for activities of daily living such as lifting your child, lifting heavy objects off the floor (for example furniture) and coping with the real demands of life. Allen Hedrick, Air Force Academy Senior Force Trainer, has been using foreign object lifting for many years. He has written and lectured on the idea of ​​using foreign objects (often in the form of barrels filled with water) to increase performance and decrease the risk of sports injuries.

“But, applying the concept of specificity, it makes sense that training with fluid resistance is a more sport-specific training method compared to lifting weights exclusively with static resistance, because in most situations, athletes encounter dynamic resistance (in the form of an opponent) compared to static resistance.In addition, because active fluid resistance increases the need for stability and control, this type of training can reduce the chance of injury due to improved of joint stability. (NSCA Magazine, Vol.25 Number 4)

Great benefits, but why was foreign object lifting a favorite of combative wrestlers and athletes? Foreign objects like sandbags really help prepare the body for the demanding nature of these sports. In John Jesse’s famous book, Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia, he states:

“The use of heavy sandbags and their large girth forces the lifter to do their lift with a round back rather than the traditional straight back lift with a barbell. It’s this type of lift that really builds a strong back. It develops the back and side muscles in movements that are identical to the lifting and pulling movements of wrestling.”

I know, you may not be a fighter or martial artist, but you can incorporate many of the same types of lifts to help you perform daily activities without risk of injury and help your gym lift weights. Your bench press, squats, deadlifts, and everything in between will get stronger because you built a better foundation of stability.

In the classic book Dinosaur Training, Brooks Kubik relives his first experience lifting sandbags. “You’re feeling sore because the bags (sandbags) worked your body in ways you couldn’t address with just a barbell. You got into muscle areas you don’t normally work. You worked ‘heck’ off stabilizers.” You can use cables, bands, dumbbells, and every possible machine, but there’s no way you can replicate the demands of foreign object lifting.

Of course, not everyone will be able to bring rocks, logs, and barrels to their local health club or gym. This is one of the main reasons why I have gained so much favor with sandbag training. A single sandbag gives you all the best benefits of foreign object lifting as it is easy to implement into any program. They are not intimidating and can be stored very easily. They also end up perfect for group or class training.

Sandbags are also unique from all other strange objects. Sandbags are the only implement that alters its shape as you lift it. This places much more demands on the entire body, especially the core muscles to help stabilize the weight. Trying to push a sandbag overhead, holding it in the crook of your arm while squatting, and performing Turkish exercises are some of the incredibly effective core exercises you can perform with sandbags.

These exercises not only help improve core strength, but also burn an immense amount of calories. You’re not going to lose much body fat by doing crunches or hanging leg raises. But try five off-the-shoulder Turkish outfits and you’ll feel like you’ve run a mile! The key to getting great abs, burning body fat and getting stronger, good deal?

There are so many sandbag exercises that you will never get bored. The combinations and options are truly limitless. However, I will give you a few to try in your own routine. You can use sandbags as the only tool in your program or easily implement them into your current workout by substituting exercises like lunges, overhead presses, cleans, and many more. I hope you enjoy the exercises listed below.

Sandbag Clean and Press Begin the lift by grasping the sandbag by the ends. Keeping your hips back and chest up, explosively pull the weight up to your shoulders. Starting at the shoulders, squeeze the torso and hips and bring the weight overhead.

Sandbag Shoulder Raise Lie flat on your back with the bag over one shoulder. Roll to the opposite shoulder and push the opposite arm toward the ground. Slowly drive into a lunge position with the goal of keeping your chest very high. Push through the floor to come to a standing position. Return very slowly to the original position on the ground without looking down.

Sandbag Zercher Squats Hold the bag in the folds of your arms. Keeping your chest up, slowly lower yourself into a squat, placing your weight on your heels. Try to squat deep between your legs keeping your elbows up and don’t let your chest sag. Drive through your heels to return to the starting position.

Sandbag Overhead Lunges You can clean and push or grab the bag overhead. Once up, lock your arms in place and make sure the bag is over the crown of your head. Take a long step forward with one foot and lunge down, but stick your chest out for stability. Drive through the front heel to the starting position.

Half Moon Snatch Punch Bag Start with the bag on the outside of your legs. Squat down to grab the bag by the ends. Explosively snap the bag over your head as you transfer your weight to the opposite side. Repeat back to the original starting position.