Week 3

by Matthew Palfrey December 13, 2014 0 Comments

Welcome to week 3 of the Sandbag Fitness Mastery Course. This week has a strong focus on strength and we'll be finding out just how much you can lift! 

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to post their performance times and comments last week. For those that did the workouts, but didn't yet post any comments, this is your chance to get involved in the discussions. There is no such thing as a bad performance or a stupid question here.

You'll find the details for this weeks lessons below. Please use the comments field at the end of the post to include your performance for the workouts or share any feedback, advice or comments you might have.

Lesson 1

To get the most from this session you'll ideally have the option of plenty of extra weight to your sandbag. The eventual aim of this session is to lift as much as you can for a single repetition. Start with approximately 25% of your bodyweight loaded into your sandbag. Perform a single Sandbag Clean and Press (or Ground-to-Overhead as the technique may change during the session).

Rest, then add some extra weight to the bag - another 5-10% of your bodyweight is generally sufficient. Repeat the lift, rest and additional loading process until you can no longer complete the lift overhead. 

There is no specific weight target but I'd suggest you aim for something in the region of 50-100% of your bodyweight.

Pro-Tip: training for strength is very different to training for conditioning, and although there's a balance, many of the workouts on Sandbag Fitness are aimed more towards the latter. For strength work, especially single lifts, you need to be everything into them and that requires sufficient rest. Although it might feel alien to you, forcing yourself into longer rest periods (these will likely be 2-5 minutes) will give you the best possible chance of making a big lift. 

Lesson 2

1-5 Sandbag Cleans

1-5 Sandbag Bear Hug Squats

1-5 Sandbag Overhead Press

Rest for 1-3 minutes and then repeat for a total of 5 rounds. 

There is no weight requirement but I'd suggest you aim for something in the region of 50-80% of your bodyweight.

Pro-Tip: following a strength session like this with a sandbag is always going to present some challenges, mainly due to the fact that you'll be able to lift more in things like that Sandbag Bear Hug Squat than you can in the Sandbag Overhead Press. This workout includes a repetition range target, meaning that you should aim for 5 repetitions for each exercise if you can but making a single lift is the bare minimum. The common feedback that most people have when attempting this type of session is that it wasn't challenging enough. The answer? Lift More Weight!

Lesson 3

#1 Sandbag Zercher Squat AND Push Ups (using protocol below)

Rest for as long as you need.

#2 Sandbag High Pulls AND Burpees (using protocol below)

Set a running clock and complete 1 repetition of each exercise in the 1st minute, 2 repetitions of each exercise in the 2nd minute and so on until you can no longer complete the required number of repetitions within the timeframe. 

There is no weight requirement but I'd suggest you aim for something in the region of 50% of your bodyweight. A good target for both sets of exercises is 10 rounds.

Pro-Tip: working fast and giving yourself as much rest as possible is normally the best strategy here rather than going slowly through the minute. This also helps to prepare you for the speed you'll need to work at during the later rounds. Like all ladder sets you should mentally prepare yourself for things to get really tough after the first few rounds, for most people round 6 or 7 is where things get interesting. 

See you next week!

---

---

---

Also in Sandbag Fitness Mastery Course