Knockout! Sandbag Conditioning for the Combative Athlete Josh Henkin, CSCS www.sandbagexercises.com Introduction: I often wonder if there is an industry indu stry that has grown in the last twenty years like the Strength and Conditioning field. It use to be that the sport coach would wou ld condition their athletes and make them lift a little and run the heck out of the m. For many years football was the only sport that made a serious attempt at using the weight room as a means to improve their performance. This led to many collegiate athletes to be trained like football players. This made coaches and athletes very cynical about the role that Strength and Conditioning could really make to the athlete’s performance. However, eventually a ll collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports began adapting more updated and appropriate training programs. Even sports that traditionally were very against strength training such as tennis and golf began to embrace the role of Strength and Conditioning as the top athletes in each of those sports were actively participating in such programs. Even though I said many sports have accepted Strength and Conditioning it has not been all sports. One genre of sport that actually has a very rich history of Strength and Conditioning has been the fighting sports. Although they have a great history, it has been a very conflicted one. This is due to many factors:
There are many different types of fighting sports which each have their own history and traditions. Where the sport is being used has a great deal to do with training methods. For example, an athlete training in the United States is going to be very likely training differently from an athlete that is Asia or Europe. Economic factors have often dictated the types and forms of training utilized.
Such differences have really led the majority of combative athletes confused about what they should be doing in their training. Some will believe in outdated ideas that the only way to train is to practice, run for miles, and perform lots of bodyweight exercises. Others have drifted to more trendy concepts conce pts of standing on unstable surfaces performing wacky gym exercises promised to help them to become more agile and stronger.
Knockout! Sandbag Conditioning for the Combative Athlete Josh Henkin, CSCS www.sandbagexercises.com Introduction: I often wonder if there is an industry indu stry that has grown in the last twenty years like the Strength and Conditioning field. It use to be that the sport coach would wou ld condition their athletes and make them lift a little and run the heck out of the m. For many years football was the only sport that made a serious attempt at using the weight room as a means to improve their performance. This led to many collegiate athletes to be trained like football players. This made coaches and athletes very cynical about the role that Strength and Conditioning could really make to the athlete’s performance. However, eventually a ll collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports began adapting more updated and appropriate training programs. Even sports that traditionally were very against strength training such as tennis and golf began to embrace the role of Strength and Conditioning as the top athletes in each of those sports were actively participating in such programs. Even though I said many sports have accepted Strength and Conditioning it has not been all sports. One genre of sport that actually has a very rich history of Strength and Conditioning has been the fighting sports. Although they have a great history, it has been a very conflicted one. This is due to many factors:
There are many different types of fighting sports which each have their own history and traditions. Where the sport is being used has a great deal to do with training methods. For example, an athlete training in the United States is going to be very likely training differently from an athlete that is Asia or Europe. Economic factors have often dictated the types and forms of training utilized.
Such differences have really led the majority of combative athletes confused about what they should be doing in their training. Some will believe in outdated ideas that the only way to train is to practice, run for miles, and perform lots of bodyweight exercises. Others have drifted to more trendy concepts conce pts of standing on unstable surfaces performing wacky gym exercises promised to help them to become more agile and stronger.
The truth of the matter is that combative athletes are not very different from most speed and power athletes. They do have some unique aspects, but to think they are exclusively different is absurd! The same training principles of strength, speed, an d agility apply. The exercises, volume, and intensity may vary somewhat on the need of the sport and individual, but that is why coaches get paid nowadays! Top 5 mistakes Fighters make 1. Too much conditioning!! Any time you challenge tradition or ideas that are mainstream you are often going to face not just opposition, but people that feel as though you are attacking the root of who they are. This is the very feeling I get when I discuss the issue of conditioning with coaches and athletes. Somehow we have bred the ideal that conditioning is where we create toughness and the two go hand in hand. This may be true to a degree, but everything has to have purpose and a quantitative means to measure the success. It is critical to recognize the goal of conditioning is not to pound the body into complete oblivion. Although this is how many coaches view this aspect of athletic a thletic preparation, it can be the ultimate downfall of the athlete if this is the philosophy. Why? If the goal is solely to make the individual as tired as possible then there are numerous issues. The first, being that seeing an improvement in performance is directly related to one’s ability to recover from training. If the training is too much the athlete will begin to deteriate in speed, strength, and overall performance. Secondly, making an athlete participate in training they are ill prepared to perform is the exact reason many will develop various types of injuries. When proper dynamic flexibility, tendon strength, muscle balance, and anaerobic training aren’t applied the body will ultimately compensate often resulting in an injury. The number one rule when training for a sport is if you are injured you can’t compete at your potential. This sounds like common sense, but there are plenty of coaches and athletes that ignore this principle. Lastly, a conditioning program has to be specific to the needs of the sport and the individual. It has been a hot topic of debate recently whether or not fighters should perform long distance running. My view v iew is not one of either or, rather when and how much is done? If it is used in very ve ry early off-season of training with a very modest volume it may have some physiological and psychological benefits. However, as one progresses closer to a competition period they should move to more specific means of training such as interval training, sprints, etc. Since most rounds are not more than a few minutes at a time, performing an hour of straight running would not be very specific because the recovery and intensity are completely different from the demands of the sport. A conditioning program should also only be emphasized if it is the weakness of the fighter. If it is the strength of the athlete then it should still be performed, but a
lesser degree than the other components of preparation (skill, psychological preparation, speed, maximal strength, etc.). In most fighters’ programs the conditioning aspect seems to be the dominant training mode despite the strengths and weaknesses of the individual. This is why a proper analysis of both the sport and individual are so crucial in providing a truly successful training program. 2. Bodyweight vs. Weight Lifting: Now this is a challenging area to discuss. The main reason being that identifying what is strength is tough! Is the iron cross in gymnastics a show of phenomenal strength, is not deadlifting 800 pounds also an amazing show of strength? The answer is yes to both! However, these are very different athletes and very different activities. In truth I don’t think any one on e would argue with me that fighters need nee d strength and they often feel as though that is what wha t their training is providing. Still many fighters tend to shy away from weight training and the value of bodyweight exercises versus weights is hotly contested. Like most things in life the truth is somewhere in the middle. My argument has always been, “do we have to do one or the other?” Last time I checked weight rooms are pretty common and you are allowed to perform bodyweight exercises in the same area. Both have pros and cons and by combining both you hopefully minimize the negatives and maximize the benefits. What are the pros of bodyweight exercises? Here are a few of them:
Can be done anywhere Easy for group or team training Can help create dynamic flexibility Helps build relative strength Can be done for conditioning Has been suggested to help tendon strength Can be explosive or done for maximal strength Inexpensive Little equipment is needed
Now let’s look at some of the benefits of weight training:
Can be done for maximal strength or explosive strength Can be adapted easily for groups or teams Helps build relative strength Can be done for conditioning Has been suggested to help tendon strength Can help create dynamic flexibility Can be done with limited equipment Can be relatively inexpensive Helps create muscle balance
Both lists could probably be expanded, but hopefully the point you see is that there are a lot of similarities to body weight training weight training. I think many fighters have been disillusioned by weight training because of the popularity of bodybuilding. Because most of the mainstream thinks of weights as the steroid, mediumwell done bodybuilder that looks his next step may be his last. This is not accurate of many of o f the great iron athletes that exist in other realms. It has been said that Olympic lifters are second only to gymnasts as far as the most most flexible Olympic caliber athletes. That is a pretty a mazing feat! In addition, whether or not people pe ople want to admit it fighters, wrestlers, and all combative athletes have used various forms of weights for many centuries. Whether it was lifting bails of hay, stones, chopping wood, kettlebells, padlocks, sandbags, dumbbells, you can find a lot of these exercises in many of these sports histories. There is not one athlete that I would train to be a bodybuilder and equally there is not one bodybuilder that should solely train as an athlete. It simply goes back to needs of the individual. Therefore, really the debate of bodyweight bodyweigh t exercises or strength training is really mute. What really needs to be discussed is what is most appropriate for the particular athlete at any specific time in their training. 3. Lack of Maximal Strength: Again this is a tricky concept; we know that maximal strength is the greatest force one can develop. However, if we take our above example of the iron cross and deadlift, we can find a maximal effort in two drills that are extremely different. One is an example of a drill that is maximal strength in an upper body bodyweight exercise and the other is primarily a lower body free weight exercise. Yet, they are both tremendous examples of maximal strength. Wow Josh, that really cleared up nothing right? Well, my point is not to show that one is more valuable than another. We have already discussed the fact that bodyweight and free weight drills both have a roll in the training. Where many combative athletes fail is using ANY type of maximal effort training. Many of these athletes still tend to lean towards very high repetition work to improve conditioning. The problem with such thinking stems from a lack of understanding of strength. Strength is not just how much you can lift. It can be related to how much weight you can lift relative to your bodyweight (relative strength), how fast you can absorb and retransmit force (reactive strength), how much force you ca n apply in various ends of range of motion (flexibility strength), how much force yo u can apply against a light object and heavy object in relationship to time (speed-strength, strength-speed), and how long you can sustain muscular contractions for (strength endurance). We could go on to discuss other forms as well, but hopefully it is becoming abundantly abunda ntly clear that strength is not just simply heavy of a weight you can lift. It is far more complicated.
The obvious next question is, “if there are so many forms of strength then why maximal strength is so crucial?” Glad you asked! All the forms of strength we just discussed are to some degree impacted by maximal strength. Let’s examine a very important concept for all athletes, especially combative athletes. Most coaches and athletes neglect the concept of rate of force development. This means how fast you can develop high levels of force. Rate of force development is really what determines the outcomes in many sporting situations because the action is sport are very fast. Maximal strength can impact rate of force ve ry greatly. If for example my maximal force output is 500. However, I can produce 300 in .3 seconds versus an athlete that has a maximal output of 300; I have an advantage in many different scenarios. That second athlete can not display his maximal force in that short of a time, his power output in .3 seconds may only be 125. Interestingly enough there has been a backlash from some against using maximal strength. Some misinformed individuals believe maximal strength is rather unnecessary. Their argument often arises from the same rate of force development issue. These people will often state that it is not important how much force you can develop rather how fast you can develop it. This is correct; however, if your maximal strength is low you will not be able to generate a great deal of force slowly or quickly! It is also easier to improve some of the other strength qualities if maximal strength is properly trained. Let’s take an example of strength endurance, which is very dear to many combative athletes’ hearts. If we look at the back squat exercise and take two different athletes. Athlete A can back squat 500 pounds and athlete B can back squat 350. We are going to have a challenge to test how many repetitions these two athletes can perform with 225 pounds who would you expect to perform more? In theory we would expect athlete A because 225 isn’t even 50% of his best effort while it is approximately 65% of athlete B’s best effort. Since it is a higher percentage to athlete B’s best we would expect athlete B to tire first. However, life is not a bubble. So, what happens if athlete B does better? Does this mean athlete B doesn’t need to work on maximal strength to improve his strength endurance and everything Josh said is bogus? In fact no, just the opposite, athlete B would need to work on their maximal strength even more. If athlete B was to win it would mean they have a very inefficient nervous system. Since the nervous system is critical for speed and strength development we would work towards making it more efficient. Being able to perform a high number of repetitions with a load close to your maximal weight means that your nervous system needs to be more properly trained. This is often the case with people that try to build their strength from mostly high repetition training. Another possible reason would be that athlete B would be more slow-twitch muscle fiber dominant. Again though, this would only be another reason to train their maximal strength side more. They excel at endurance work and have a problem developing their fast-twitch muscle fibers that are responsible for speed and strength.
You can’t get around it, maximal strength needs to be a cornerstone for most combative athletes. How to implement it is another question we will answer later. 4. Novelty versus Effectiveness: Boxing coach Steve Bacardi has a great philosophy of not using any exercise his boxers can’t learn in 10 minutes or less. Why is this great? Athletes often fall into the same trap that many in the general population fall for as well. They believe that because an exercise is hard that they need to be working on it more because if they are not proficient at every exercise it means they are out of shape. This could not be further from the truth. Not only is it not true, but it is flat out the opposite mentality combative athletes should have regards to training. First let’s address the issue of being bad at a drill. Because you are not a pro at a certain exercise may be completely irrelevant. There could be numerous factors that impacted one’s ability to perform an exercise. a. Unfamiliarity: While it is true that exceptional athletes seem to pick up on almost anything athletic within seconds, even the best athletes need time for learning. When you are performing a drill for the first time that is just what is going on, your body is learning. The more unfamiliar the movement pattern, the greater the learning time. b. Fatigue: The more tired one becomes the less coordinated and strong they will appear because of the fatigue of the central nervous system. c. Fear: Like fatigue, fear will invoke startle reflexes that will make the body “put on the brakes” more so than if you felt confident in your activity. You can see this in bracing in people’s faces before they even attempt the drill. d. Injury: You may have had an altered movement pattern because of a pre-existing or current injury. While this may be helpful for screening purposes it does not mean you necessarily have to become top notch at the testing. e. Lack of Interest: If the athlete is not buying into the drill or thinks it is irrelevant they will not have enou gh arousal emotionally to really key into their full potential. In other words, many coaches that go around and show how bad an athlete is at a certain drill often use these examples as snake oil tricks to begin working with the athlete. Heck, athletes by nature are very competitive and don’t like being shown they aren’t good at something. However, because you are not good at the drill still does not mean the drill itself has any value to your performance. I was once speaking with a great track and field coach/athlete. This gentleman almost made the US Olympic team in his forties! He mentioned to me that he had never been
able to perform a pistol and yet he still had a pretty successful athletic career. Does this mean that pistols are not a good exercise? Absolutely not, however, it means that we have to be very careful how much value we place on certain exercises. Remember the exercises selected are supposed to help you become a better combative athlete, not an iron game athlete. That is why exercise selection will beco me an important issue to be addressed later. We must often ask if our time can be better spent training the actual skills demanded in the sport, or trying to learn every strength training exercise available. This is why we must be critical of what is cool and what actually makes for a better athlete. 5. Too Specific! At some point athletes and coaches took a good concept and completely threw it in the toilet! The idea of sport-specific training is very good; however, it is also very often misunderstood and applied very poorly. Let’s make this very clear, being sport-specific DOES NOT mean trying to replicate the skill within the sport with your general training program. Let’s look at a classic example. When an athlete punches where does all force begin? Well, hopefully you didn’t say the arm and rather the foot up to the hip eventually to the arm. So, when an athlete stands and simulates punching with dumbbells and bands this is simply a waste of time and a great way to get injured. If you wanted to help the performance of the punch you would focus more time on the pivot speed and hip and trunk power. Unfortunately a very slight deviation from the actual skill can actually make an athlete worse. If we take our punching example again, if we are trying punch with dumbbells gravity is acting upon us and the application of force is wrong and can start predisposing the shoulder to injury. The heavier the dumbbell becomes the more the athlete gets away from the actual skill of punching and starts to develop a new and improper movement pattern. It has been an estimated 2-5% difference in weight of the actual sporting implement can alter movement patterns. For most co mbative athletes this means that more general means of developing strength in the critical muscles is far more appropriate. Instead we want to think of stimulating the same muscle actions not simulating them. . In John Jesse’s famous book, Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia, he states, “The use of heavy sandbags and their large circumference forces the lifter to do his lifting with a round back instead of the traditional straight back lifting with a barbell. It is this type of lifting that truly develops a strong back. It develops the back and side muscles in movements that are identical to the lifting and pulling movements of wrestling.”
This is also true of any other combative athlete that has to deal with the awkwardness and challenges that a real live opponent poses. So, while we are not trying to simulate the skill of wrestling, rather we are trying to prepare the body for the demands the body will face in competition.
If we follow these principles we can enhance our training and avoid many of the common injuries that come from participating in these sports. Allen Hedrick, Head Strength Coach for the Air Force Academy, has been using odd object lifting for many years. He has written and lectured on the idea of using odd objects (often in the form of water filled kegs) being used to increase performance and decrease the risk for athletic injuries. “But, applying the concept of specificity, it makes sense that training with a fluid resistance is a more sport-specific method of training as compared to lifting exclusively with a static resistance, because in most situations, athletes encounter a dynamic resistance (in the form of an opponent) as compared to the static resistance. Further, because the active fluid resistance enhances the need for stability and control, this type of training may reduce the opportunity for injury because of improved joint stability.” (NSCA Journal, Vol.25 Number 4)
Because of the nature of their shape and size, sandbags can provide the same training effect of working with kegs as Hedrick recommends, but has additional benefits as their versatility is much higher. Where do Sandbags Come in to pLay? My goal was not to write an encyclopedia on combative training. There are some excellent resources that already fill that need. Rather was to give some insight into a training method that is so invaluable to a combative athlete, but recently has been lost. This long lost method is sandbag training. Wait! I know I can hear the comments now, “well Josh that is because you sell sandbags!” I wouldn’t blame anyone from thinking that right off the bat but let me explain my true intentions. You see, I never thought I would ever be involved in such a business. Most of my time is spent in the trenches working with a wide array of individuals. I love learning what works, what do esn’t, and for who. I don’t care about trendy, popular, or pretty. Simply, I want to do what works! I have spent almost my whole life as a competitive athlete and coach. During that time I have tried just about every method that I could find. I have trained others with and used myself the majority of the techniques that have been popularized through the combative sports performance and the Strength and Conditioning industry. It is through this continual search for better techniques that I came across sandbag training. Some time before my own discovery of sandbag training I had implemented more and more of odd object lifting. I found these techniques extremely practical for everyone from everyday individuals to elite athletes. This form of training addressed the two conflicts that most people saw in their training. It allowed people to train their endurance, strength, and movement through these varying exercises. However, using odd objects present some v arying issues.
They can be hard to come by. They can be very expensive. Cheaper versions tend to break. They can be dirty and take up a lot of space. There is a chance for injury with objects like stones. Wasn’t practical to have in gym type settings or homes.
Sandbags seemed to be a tool that would address many of these issues. In fact, sandbags not only address such concerns, but provide some unique benefits. The main advantage of sandbag training stems from the “uncooperative” nature of sandbags. They are the only implement that actually changes shape as you lift. This means that every repetition is different. This is unlike most training tools that you can get dialed into a specific groove and the exercise actually ends up losing some of its original effectiveness. The magnificent Ten
Several years ago Coach Keats Snideman and I spoke at a national conference in Las Vegas. Our presentation was “The Myth of Functional Training” which was a critical analysis of many of the popular training methods that are called “functional”. Part of our presentation was discussing what we call The Magnificent Ten Movements. These ten movements listed below should be at the core of your program. They hit the basic movement patterns of all people and if you were to follow just these you would be in some phenomenal shape! You can also use deviations from each such as lunges from squatting, step-ups from deadlifting. However, your focus should still remain on these lifts. 1. Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Vertical Press (overhead press)
4. Horizontal Press (bench press)
5. Clean & Snatches
6. Horizontal Pulling (rowing)
7. Vertical Pulling (chin-ups) 8. Rotation
9. Trunk Flexion
10. Carrying, Dragging, and Throwing
Ok, I admit we were not the first to try to categorize exercises based upon move ment patterns. In fact, there are quite a few coaches that have their own versions that are very good, but this makes it more specific to the coach and athlete. These are drills that have a long real world and laboratory tested success in improving speed, strength, mobility, and
muscle balance. I often ask coaches and athletes when they became too good to squat? Again, these should be at the core of your routine. Obviously you are not going to use all ten movements into your training nor should you feel completely restricted to only these ten. However, using these ten movements does allow you a lot of variations. Below is an example split based off of three days of Training (remember lifting is not the sport of choice here). Day 1: Squat Cleans Vertical Press Vertical Pulling Trunk Flexion Carry Day 2: Snatch Single Leg Deadlift Variation Horizontal Press Horizontal Pull Trunk Rotation Drag Day 3: Deadlift Single Leg Squat Variation Throw Drill Vertical Press Vertical Pull Alternate Trunk Flexion Drill
This may seem like a lot to do in one day. It may be depending upon the focus of that particular athlete you may have to remove some drills and focus on even fewer. You may want to break them up and spend more time on some and very little on others. There definitely is some individuality that comes into play for the programming, but this would be a terrific start. Obviously any strength training implement can be used to perform this list of drills. However, as you will see through the course of this book, sandbags lend themselves very well to all these drills, yet provide some very un ique variations. Before we can go too much further let’s look at how one can create an infinite number of exercises just by manipulating the basic sandbag carrying positions.
The positions shown above allow anyone to perform the magnificent ten lifts, but also perform a wide array of new exercises. It is well known that mild changes to an exercise can be enough of a stimulus to blast through plateaus or cau se new training effects. This also allows one to use a standardized weight and instead of manipulating the load can change the leverage to create a more challenging drill.
Power Circuit Training
One of the reasons people love sandbag training is that they can accomplish many fitness goals with one tool. Ideally athletes would be strong, agile, lean, and in shape. Being able to accomplish all this while being highly skilled in the sport can seem overwhelming for the coach and the athlete's perspective However, Power Circuit Training has helped us accomplish these goals with our athletes and can help you do the same. Circuit training is nothing new; however, most relate circuit training to h igh repetition machine work that does little to put o n muscle or improve high levels of fitness. This may improve some very basic general fitness, but motor-qualities such as maximal strength, speed-strength, strength-speed, and flexibility-strength are all neglected. Not to mention that when one performs most of the work on machines they do not develop the smaller stabilizer muscles to their fullest. This is potentially disastrous as one can develop severe muscle imbalances that can set you up for injury, or at the very least not allow you to reach your ultimate fitness goals. On the flip side, a typical program that emphasizes maximal strength may require 3-5 minutes of rest in between sets. This is one reason combative athletes often have a hard time performing maximal strength work. Yet, we can get around this by performing other forms of training while resting the central nervous system from the co re drills. This is again where Power Circuit Training can help tremendously. In developing your Power Circuit Training program you want to consider which and how many exercises to perform. My general preference is to not exceed six movements for a particular routine. This may end up sacrificing the quality and this is something we never want to end up risking. Remember, more is not always better! Since we have discussed the exercises, now we should talk about the repetitions and sets. My first rule with such programming is not to h ave set rules. Sure, there has been a lot written about what protocols work best, but I think we would live in a pretty sterile world to never challenge these principles. For the most part though, what makes Power Circuit Training unique is that we are emphasizing lower repetition work (1-5). This is done for several purposes. 1. Such repetition ranges allows us to train maximal strength and speed qualities that are heavy reliant upon the Central Nervous System (CNS). 2. We can train multiple movement patterns without a great deterioration of quality of work being performed on each exercise. 3. Strengh-endurance can be improved even though we are training strength qualities that notoriously have been stated to be counterproductive.
Using such protocols allows us to use a va riety of repetition schemes, including wave loading, pyramiding, etc. You won’t feel stuck at just performing the same workout day after day. You can even vary the scheme for each individual exercise. Now we are down to how many sets? Again, there are no right answers, some will work better than others. For example, because lifting in not the primary sport you may have to perform fewer sets to avoid overtraining. However, if lifting is your primary form of training (which may be the case in the early off-season) then you may be able to handle greater volume of sets. In general I often recommend 3-5 sets. Since we are working with sets of smaller repetitions three sets is often a minimum. This is because the v olume of work would be too low to achieve the desired training stimulus. The only people I would recommend less are those that would be in-season of their competitive sport. Can you do more? It will greatly depend on how you are feeling and what you wish to achieve. I would not normally recommend doing more than five sets as we are using full body lifts that require not only a lot of energy, but can drain the CNS very easily. You want to find chart your progress and see if more is necessary or if it is damaging your progress. This is a very individual variable. Some ways to see if you are heading towards overtraining are:
Lack of appetite Inability to sleep General fatigue Feeling cold often Lack of interest in training Body aches and pains consistently Not progressing in training High resting heart rate Poor waking body temperature
Finally, one of the most challenging factors is the rest intervals between exercises. Because we are using a circuit style of training we are looking at rest intervals in between exercises. We can simply manipulate this variable to make the training program vastly different. By simply reducing the rest between exercises by 5 seconds for 4 weeks will make the training stimulus and the challenge of the routine greatly. This would mean we would drop our rest between exercises by 20 seconds! This is will make your program brand new. Of course you will have to make the rest intervals appropriate for your go als. If strength is desired then a longer rest interval (within the range of 90 seconds) would be a better starting point in contrast to someone who was more interested in strengthendurance (which may start with a rest interval of 30 seconds). We may be greedy though and want to improve strength and endurance. While this may be possible we would be
sacrificing a little of both. I would recommend alternating p hases or routines of both. However, a good way of accomplishing such a goal would be to start at a higher rest interval and then to slowly knock down that time over each week. Usually I would recommend not dropping the rest interval by more than five seconds each week. While it may not sound drastic, you would find just dropping the rest over the course of four weeks will feel very different than your first week. We have covered all of the important components of developing your own Power Circuit program. Power Circuits are not the only way to implement sandbags, but they fulfill a lot of people’s needs of not only having an effective training program, but one that will be time efficient as well. This is also very beneficial for those that might be working with Bootcamps and team training. I have seen some pretty amazing results with Power Circuits. . Here are a few Power Circuits for you to try on your own! Circuit A A1. Shoulder and Squat A2. Push Press A3. RDL+Row A4. Shoulder Get-ups Circuit B A1. Sandbag Squat Press A2. Jump Rope A3. Push-ups A4. Sandbag Carry A5. Bodyweight Rows Circuit C A1. Power Clean+Front Squat+Press A2. Goodmornings A3. Shouldering Lunge A4. Turkish Get-up Zercher Circuit D A1. Deadlift A2. Clean+Split Jerk A3. Swings A4. Woodchoppers B1. Bear Hug Walks
Circuit E A1. Snatch+Overhead Squat A2. Bent-Over Row+Romanian Deadlift A3. Floor Pressing A4. Diagonal Shouldering Obviously you wouldn’t want to perform more than three of these versions in one training cycle. However, you can see how all of these fulfill the requirements of soun d Power Circuit Training. Even by using some hybrid training (see section below for description) you can further economize your time and enhance your training benefits. Hybrid Lifting
No, not the cars! Hybrid lifting is actually a very common form of lifting that many often forget about. It has seen somewhat of a rebirth the last few years as athletes and coaches are finding them tremendously helpful in improving conditioning and strength. A hybrid lift can come in a few different forms. 1. One can perform one lift that flows smoothly into another. The most famous of such lifts is the Clean and Jerk in Olympic lifting. Here the lifter cleans the bar, drops into a full front squat position, arises, and then performs a split jerk. It would only take three repetitions of such a drill to humble most athletes. 2. A hybrid can also be a series of drills placed together (also known a s a complex). Such an example would include be performing six repetitions of a ben t-over row followed by six repetitions of a Romanian deadlift, finished by six repetitions of a power clean. This is all done without putting down the implement. Besides being brutally challenging, why would anyone do such lifting? The best explanation comes from the man that actually popularized much of this type of lifting in America, former Romanian Weightlifting Coach, Istvan Javorek. “My determination for doing this experiment with these two complex exercises it was to try and give more variation to a workout; to try and change the same day-to-day workout routines; to "shock" an athlete's musculature after a hard competition season and to stimulate the muscular growth or endurance in the preparatory period; to try and build up a specific endurance and cardio-vascular capacity, a specific muscle tone, a good muscular coordination, and a perfectly balanced, well-developed, harmonious musculature. Being an athlete, I learned that the coaches do not give too much time and attention for rebuilding an athlete muscular-tendon system. Also I learned, that after each competition season I had a greater improvement if I introduced in my workout some unusual, nonspecific exercises, which were stimulating my whole physiological system. My pe rsonal belief and the other sports conditioning coaches, who tried with their athletes my Complex # 1 and # 2, exercises, is that they can influence considerably any athlete's improvement.” Therefore complexes lend themselves very well to being conditioning, recovery, and functional hypertrophy tools.
As you can see there are endless variations one could develop with relative ease. Some coaches have been known to string as many as eight exercises in a row. This is really not my favor as I believe this cuts down the load too greatly and the one weakest exercise will too strongly dictate the load throughout. In our example of the classic Clean and Jerk, the weight used is dependant upon one’s ability to get the weight overhead. Therefore, one’s squatting or cleaning ability will likely not b e the weakest aspect nor trained at a maximal level. While this is suitable for a drill that can still be significantly loaded, if we extended our series shoulder, shoulder get-up, and shoulder squat you will see a greater discrepancy of load. The load used for this drill is based upon the ability of the athlete to perform a good get-up. The shouldering and squatting motions should be on an easier scale. While this is good for developing speed and mobility you could easily see extending this series to too many other drills would make it rather futile. My overall recommendation is not to pair too much more than 3-4 drills within a given movement. This helps the load remain at an effective level, but also allows the athlete to receive the benefits of using hybrids. It is important to remember the goal of hybrids is
not to simply breathe hard; this can be accomplished by many other means. We have to focus developing strength as well as endurance . This requires us to use a certain minimal amount of loading (typically loads below 60 % of one’s maximum have little impact upon strength development) to accomplish our goal o f strength and endurance improvements. EXPLODE!!
Every athlete would like to be more explosive and faster. However, very few actually implement training that would increase their speed and power. Full body throwing drills have long been techniques that have helped athletes improve these qualities. Medicine ball training has long been the chosen form of full body throws to increase athleticism, power, dynamic flexibility, and conditioning. They weren’t always the preferred choice though, weightlifters use to use kettlebells and barbell throws to he lp their explosive power as well. Unfortunately for most, this is not practical for the training environment. This is where sandbags can again prove to be a very versatile and effective training tool. Sandbags allow an athlete to integrate the hips, trunk, and arms in creating not only an explosive movement, but one that will transfer easily to about any combative sport. You can even train some ranges of motion that can be difficult to reach with other strength training implements. The awkward nature of sandbags makes them preferred for athletes that have to go against live opponents. Not being able to predict the smooth movement of the bag makes throwing sandbags more specific to the needs of the combative athlete. Sandbags also allow us to attach movement patterns and ranges of motions that are hard to achieve with other implements. This means we can more appropriately prepare for being in compromising positions in sport.
Key Points:
Keep the weight on the heels.
Explode by pressing into the ground and thrusting the hips forward.
Lengthen through the head and extend back.
Tighten glutes to stabilize low back and to counterbalance the weight.
It must be a fast drill so don’t use too much weight.
Key Points:
Load the bag on the shoulder as well as in the palm of the hand.
Accelerate out of a full squat position and use momentum to carry the weight upwards.
Don’t think about pushing up as much as out in front of the body.
Bodyweight should transition from the heels forward.
Key Points:
Begin with weight on the inside leg, rotate trunk towards the sandbag
Violently laterally step and rotate.
The bag will travel in an arch trajectory, follow the sandbags momentum.
Finish by landing the lateral step hard with weight on the heel.
Core Training
Use the term “core” training is honestly somewhat nau seating for me. Why? Recently it has been associated with everything from the ridiculous infomercials to circus tricks performed on various “unstable” pieces of equipment. True core training involves more than just abdominal training. The “core” should be viewed as all the superficial and deep muscles along the abdominals, low back, and pelvis. Any of these areas left untrained or trained in an unbalanced manner will cause major weaknesses in the body’s chain. Many athletes and coaches focus solely on the abdominal area, this can leave a huge imbalance between the low back and the pelvic muscles (glutes, hip flexors, etc.) Therefore, such training actually offers very little in the area of stability for the spine or body. Even more progressive coaches that train the other core areas rarely teach the athlete to integrate them in a more functional manner. The ideal situation would be to train all the muscles at once in the manner they are asked to perform in sport. After all, there is plenty of research to demonstrate that isolating muscles in training and then asking them to perform synergistically in sport does not correlate well. The term intermuscular coordination refers to the ability to coordinate specific groups of muscles to fire correctly while performing specific tasks. Inappropriate intermuscular coordination can lead to not only poor performance, but overloading of the wrong muscles leading to injury. Since this is a function of the Central Nervous System (CNS), it nee ds to be practiced during training as well as in the sporting arena. This is why you will see most of the drills outlined in this section done standing. While there are some drills in some floor positions, the majority should be performed in a standing posture. Not only are many of the drills shown done standing, there is a lso a rotational component to many of them. It is important to note that I am suggesting that you try to mimic your skill training with your strength training, rather that proper implementation of rotational work can help en hance your skill work as well as prevent injury. Many times we try to perform high speed, complex sporting drills without ever having trained the movement. By integrating the exercises shown below you can lay a foundation of mobility and strength that will help in all areas of your sport.
Key Points:
Place bodyweight on the heels and bend at the hips, not the low back.
Begin by driving through the leg closest to the bag and accelerate overhead.
Brace the trunk and keep arms straight.
Follow the momentum overhead and transfer weight to the other leg.
Throw the bag downwards and bend at the legs.
RUSSIAN TWIST LOWER BODY
Key Points: Slide feet through bag side handles
Rotate through the pelvis do not just let the hips drop side to side
Pull back to start position by using the opposing oblique muscles
Keep glutes tight the entire time
Key Points: Keep the hips elevated by pushing through the heels and flexing the glutes
Twist the shoulder on the ball so that the ball rotates, but stays underneath your body.
Pull back by using the opposing oblique muscles and hip.
Combining Implements
I would not be an honest man if I sat here and pretended that sandbags were the only tool I ever use. In fact, those that know me, know that I like to have the biggest toolboxes possible. There are so many different strength tools holding yourself exclusively to only one makes you a very limited athlete. Since all implements have pro’s and con’s I like to combine many different implements to create a more effective and fun training program. There are three distinct tools I would like to discuss within the contexts of this book. That would include, kettlebells, bands, and sleds. These three implements perfectly compliment sandbag training and the methodologies behind their use.
Kettlebells have made a great comeback in the past seven years. People have rediscovered their effectiveness as well as their versatility. Combining sandbags and kettlebells can be a very potent combination. While they share some commonalities, they are distinct in their feel. Here are some recommend ed techniques in implementing these two tools. The first method is to alternate days of heavy lifting of one implement for conditioning of the other. This allows management of fatigue as well as concentration of a few focused lift. Because sandbag and kettlebell drills can be very physically as well as neurally fatiguing we want to avoid overtraining and move towards greater progress. Day 1: Sandbag Emphasis SB Shouldering Squat 4 sets of 4 each side rest 75 seconds KB Jerk 3 sets of 12 rest 60 seconds KB Single Leg Deadlift 3 sets of 6 each side rest 60 seconds SB Zercher Carry 2 sets of 1 minute rest 90 seconds Day 2: Kettlebell Emphasis KB Snatch 5 sets 5 rest 90 seconds SB Zercher Lunge 4 sets of 6 each leg 60 seconds KB Renegade Row 4 sets of 6 each side 60 seconds rest SB Shoulder Get-up 2 sets of 5 rest 45 seconds Day 3: Off Day 4: Sandbag Emphasis SB Clean and Jerk 5 sets 3 rest 75 seconds KB Front Squats 3 sets of 8 rest 60 seconds Pull-ups 3 sets of 6 rest 60 seconds SB Zercher Side Lunges 3 sets of 8 each side rest 60 seconds KB Clean Carries 2 sets of 30 seconds rest 90 seconds Day 5: Kettlebell Emphasis KB Squat Press 4 sets of 8 rest 60 seconds SB Shouldering 3 sets of 10 each side rest 60 seconds KB Rows 3 sets 12 each side rest 45 seconds SB Half Moon Snatch 3 sets 5 each side rest 45 seconds KB Sit-up Get-ups 3 sets 3 each side rest 60 seconds Other options include making these two implements your primary source of conditioning. These may be reflected in the following workouts. Option A: In this program you will alternate between the two exercises below. Start on the minute and rest the remaining minute. For example, once you perform KB Clean & Jerks for 20
seconds you will have a 40 second rest. Perform them in 45 seconds you will have a 15 second rest. Perform this for ten minutes. A1. KB Clean & Jerk X 10 A2. SB Zercher Squat X 10 Option B: Complexes You can create two distinct complexes using sandbags and kettlebells. This will enhance your movement ability, strength, coordination, flexibility, and conditioning. The movements are continuous and rest is only used after the complex KB Complex 1 RDL X 6 Clean X 6 Front Squat X 6 Press X 6 Rest for 90 seconds perform 2-3 sets SB Complex 1 Clean X 6 Zercher Lunge X 6 each leg Rows X 6 Snatches X 6 Rest for 90 seconds 2-3 sets
Heavy elastic bands have also made a profound impact on the training of athletes. Their ability to provide resistance during sporting type movements makes them a valuable training tool. They can also manipulate drills to create unique tension patterns that will challenge the athlete in new ranges of motion.
It is well known that lunges are a phenomenal drill for flexibility, single leg strength, and core power. Adding sandbags and bands cause resistance in two ways. The sandbags will challenge a vertical component while the bands challenge a horizontal component. This results in training in multiple directions and stability in all planes even though the athlete is actually moving within a single plane of motion. This form of training is perfect for those that are trying to improve their balance and stability against unpredictable forces.
REVERSE BAND LUNGE
Bands and sandbags also allow for some unique abdominal drills. Ideally we like to train the majority of our abdominal drills standing. Using this technique you teach how to appropriately transfer force through the ground, hips, an d abdominals. Isolating the abdominal area too much does not allow for functional strength to be developed. Since all these groups are integral for performing throws, take downs, an d stability during high contact situations, training this manner only enhances the training effect.
With these drills you will need to attach the band to a stable unit. Power racks work very well, but it can be any object that you know can withstand high forces. Loop the band one time through the bag and the rack. Use the handles of the bag as a loop for the band this works very well. Since we are integrating the hips with the abdominals it is very important to understand weight transfer and “rooting” through all movements. Through many of these drills you will have to begin the weight of your body on the inside leg and as the rotation occurs you will shift weight to the outside leg. Rooting becomes important as it will help you maintain balance with the weight transfer. Think of screwing in you foot into the ground and the force of the drive for the drill should come from the groun d up, not from the trunk downwards. This can assist greatly in learning how to develop force against a live opponent.
BAND HIP THROW
Sleds
We can think a combination of powerlifters and sprinters for making sled training popular. Although these two groups used sleds for two completely different reasons, we can take aspects of both of their training to create a program suitable for our goals. As with the other tools mentioned, sleds represent a very versatile tool that trains the body in a unique manner. Dragging weight can greatly increase the strength of the hip muscles while not providing a great load on the low back. This is very useful for athletes when used for conditioning purposes, helping athletes comeback from low back issues, or as assistance exercise to some of the other c ore lower body movements.
By themselves sleds are very effective, however, I have found some great means in which we can enhance the training effect by combining them with sandbags. Adding the sandbags into these drills will greatly stress the core and shoulder girdle. This will result not only in a stronger and more injury free body, but you will find your conditioning improves as being able to perform these drills under stress of the lower body and uppe r body at the same time is unbelieveably challenging.
Putting it Together
You can easily use some of the ideas I have outlined here in this manual, but you can also use countless other exercises and means. To put together your own program and understand the true versatility of sandbag training let’s start at the beginning. First you must ask yourself your goal. No, nothing like, “I want to be in better shape.” It has to follow the rules of S.M.A.R.T. goal setting. This acronym is extremely helpful for developing effective goal-setting. S: Specific-You need to be as specific as possible to get the desired result. Saying, “I want better endurance” is very vague yet commonly heard in fighting circles. Does that mean you want to be able to run 5 miles or have a specific number of takedown or punches thrown in a specific number of rounds. Obviously the latter is more specific to fighting sports themselves and is also more performance based. Since we are trying to become more effective in the chosen sport you should ultimately see improvements within the competition itself. However, you can also create performance measures within your training as well. For example, you may want to help improve your performance by getting in 50 shoulder and squats within 5 minutes. You may want to perform ten clean and jerks every 30 seconds for 5 rounds. In other words, we are being very precise in every aspect of our training, the more vague the less likely you are to succeed. M: Measurable-Well, this goes hand in hand with being specific. As I eluded to in the previous section you want your measurements to have meaning. You may have several, but make sure they aren’t contradictory. Some athletes and coaches try to accomplish everything possible within one training cycle and end up not accomplishing very much at
all. It is often recommended to focus on no more than two training goals at a time. If you select those goals wisely they will have a positive impact on other qualities as well. A: Attainable-Combative athletes are notorious for trying to achieve goals that seem relatively impossible or actually are impossible. This often ends up sacrificing the quality of the training and becomes determimental to the overall performance of the athlete. A very common example of this is trying to make weight. The fighting sports are different than many mainstream sports in that there is a definitive weight class that determines who and how you compete. Often athletes will try to lose significant amounts of weight in a short amount of time. Even if the athlete is successful with losing the desired weight it often comes with a cost to both performance and health. However, rarely are these goals attainable nor appropriate. It may seem “too easy” to make a goal that seems very attainable. It may not be “macho” or a tough man’s thing to do, however, reaching even small goals along the way helps ensure that the training plan is going well and the preparation of the athlete is a positive one. On the flip side, you don’t want to make the goal something that is not motivating or quite easy to accomplish, there has to be a happy medium. Either side of the spectrum can cause the athlete to lose motivation or impede their performance. Once your goal is clear then we can get into the meat and potatoes of training. What I am going to discuss should be thought of in general terms, obviously the ideal situation would be to have each athlete have their own personalized program. Since writing a personalized program for everyone is not possible, I am going to recommend some methods of implementing sandbag training. You don’t HAVE to use sandbags as the only training tool. In fact, if you have access to other implements I will highly suggest you try to incorporate them into your training along with your sandbag work. However, many of you may be looking to use sandbags as you stand alone training tool. In such situations I often recommend you have two bags available, one of a moderate weight and one on the heavier side. If possible, a third bag is ideal for some of the other training I will be discussing. My preference and experience tells me that typically performing a three day a week lifting program is ideal for most athletes. Since energy and time will be expended performing skill work as well, this should allow the athlete the ability to ample focus into a strength training program without losing sight of their overall goal o f becoming a better athlete. R: Realistic-We all lofty goals, but goals are only he lpful if they are attainable. Shooting for the stars is great, but we also need to place our emphasis on things that are attainable in the near future as well as well within our means. This means treading a thin line between a goal that is challenging, yet possible to attain. For each athlete this is going to mean something different. It will greatly depend on where you are in your athletic career and what means the most to you. A high level
athlete may have aspirations of becoming a number one contender, while a young athlete may have the goal of wrestling on their varsity high school team. Other may make training goals such as being able to lift a certain amount of weight or perform a specific amount of repetitions. There also may be skill goals that are ideal as if you set forth the right goals they will lead to increased performance. However, as realistic implies, they have to be within your current ability level to achieve. To be only a dreamer does not lay down the proper foundation to achieve even greater things. T: Time Specific-This may be one of my favorites as it places accountability on e veryone involved in the training from the athlete, c oach, to those involved in the athlete’s life. It gives us a sense of urgency and focus that can often be lost by poor goal-setting. As with many tools in life, goals are great, but only if they are use properly. Give yourself a specific time frame to achieve your goal, you can create both short and long-term goals to give yourself continued motivation. However, you need to have the short-term goal as the immediate priority. This will give you direction up on your progress and feedback to whether or not you are on track to achieve the long-term goal. My personal preference is to set forth a short-term goal of two weeks. This can relate to things such as body composition changes, skill improvement, or physical training. While two weeks is not a lot of time, it does give us plenty of time to see some level of change in all or some of these areas, that is assuming we have determined an appropriate goal. Do not try to make these short-term goals too lofty, however, challenge yourself or your athlete to maintain constant focus for these two weeks. Every time some level of success is achieved it lays the foundation to more positive habits to be developed.
The biggest and most crucial question is how do we set up our programs. Obviously this is not a simple answer as it is dependant upon a host of answers. However, I didn’t want to leave you hanging. Below are some template programs I have used with success emphasizing different qualities of athletic development. You can use them as a template or as they are written. Their success will be based upon your current needs and time in training. However, they should provide a great base on how sandbags can be a great stand alone training tool or the perfect compliment to your current regime.
Day 1: 10 minutes dynamic warm-up/calisthenics: A1. Sandbag Around the World 10 reps each side A2. Hindu Push-ups 20 repetitions A3. Zercher Lateral Lunges 10 reps each side A4. Deck Squat/Squat Thrust Combination 15 repetitions
All Performed with minimal rest Core Lifting: A1. Zercher Squats: 3-4 sets, 15 repetitions, rest 60 seconds A2. Shoulder to Shoulder Press: 3-4, 6 repetitions each side, rest 60 seconds B1. Overhead Lunges: 2-3 sets, 10 repetitions each leg, rest 60 seconds B2. Bent-Over Rows: 2-3 sets, 12 repetitions, rest 60 seconds C1. Bear Hug Carry 2 sets 90 seconds each, rest 90 seconds Day 2: 10 minutes dynamic warm-up/calisthenics A1. Sandbag Swing to Back Position: 15 repetitions A2. 10 Forward Rolls with Vertical Jumps A3. Around the World to Back Squat: 10 repetitions each direction Repeat 2-3 cycles B1. Zercher Lunge Jumps 15 seconds 60 seconds B2. Half Moon Snatch 30 seconds alternating sides rest 60 seconds B3. Shoulder Get-up: 6 repetitions each side rest 60 seconds Repeat 3-4 cycles
Sandbags can be easily mixed in with a wide array of implements. Such a scenario is ideal if one has access to other tools and the coaching to use them appropriately. The program listed below would be best situated for an athlete looking to improve strength as a primary goal and is relatively early in their off-season. Day 1: Barbell Deadlift 5/4/3/2/1 rest 90 seconds Sandbag Clean and Jerk 4 sets of 6 repetitions, rest 90 seconds Box Single leg Squats 3 sets of 6-8 each side, rest 60 seconds Pull-ups 3 sets of 5-7, rest 60 seconds Dumbbell Farmer’s Walk 2 sets of 60 seconds, rest 75 seconds Day 2: Barbell Front Squat 5 sets of 3, rest 90 seconds Barbell Floor Press 4 sets of 5, rest 75 seconds Sandbag Squat Thrust to Snatch 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions, rest 60 seconds Sandbag Around the World to Squat, 3 sets of 10 each side, rest 60 seconds Kettlebell Get-ups 3 sets of 6 each side, rest 75 seconds
Day 3: Barbell Power Clean and Jerk 5 sets of 5, rest 90-120 seconds Barbell Romanian Deadlifts 4 sets of 6, rest 75 seconds Dips 3 sets of 10-12, rest 60 seconds Shouldering Lunges 3 sets of 8-10 each leg, rest 60 seconds Sandbag Band Takedowns 3 sets of 10-12 each side, rest 60 seconds PROGRAM 3-SANDBAGS ONLY
The program below is listed to be performed as a “Power Circuit”. The rest intervals are given before completing the next drill. Go from A1. to A2. and so forth then repeat the circuit. Instead of initially increasing weight begin by reducing the rest interval till the interval becomes 30 seconds. Do not go below this point. Day 1: A1. Shouldering: 6 sets of 3 each side, rest 75 seconds A2. Push Press: 6 sets of 5, rest 75 seconds B1. Zercher Squats: 4 sets of 6, rest 60 seconds B2. Half Moon Snatches: 4 sets of 6 each side, rest 60 seconds C1. Bear Hug Carry: 2 sets of 2 minutes Day 2: This power circuit is performed with 30 second rest intervals in between drills. Perform the series 3-5 times. A1. Power Snatches 10-12 repetitions A2. Shoulder Lunge 6 each side A3. Bent-over Row 10-15 repetitions A4. Shoulder Get-up 5 each side A5. Woodchopper 10 each side Day 3: First two drills are performed as ladders. When y ou can perform three series of all the repetitions then move up the weight. A1. Clean and Press (1,2,3,4,5) A2. Shoulder Squat (1,2,3,4,5 each side) 3 series rest 120-180 seconds between series Complex: Deadlift x 6 High Pull x 6 Bent-over Row x 6 Zercher Lunge x 6 each side Overhead Carry 50 feet 3 series with 60-120 seconds rest
Josh Henkin is a graduate of Arizona State University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science/Physical Education. At Arizona State, he was also a member of the Men’s Basketball Team. He is well known in the metropolitan Phoenix area for being an expert in fitness and sports performance training. Coach Henkin has been invited to appear on Good Morning Arizona twice. His certifications include: •
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National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist) Bachelor of Science-Exercise Science (Arizona State University) Club Coach with USA Weightlifting Corrective High Performance Exercise Kinesiologiest, Level 1 – Certified Instructor Russian Kettlebell – Certified Instructor
Additionally, Coach Henkin has interned in various programs offered by world-renowned strength coaches including Charles Poliquin, John Davies, and Paul Chek. A number of his writings have been published, and he is a frequent lecturer on matters of fitness and performance. Publications Include: • • • • • • • •
National Boosters Club Association Z- health: Life in Motion Renegade Magazine Circular Strength Magazine Power Athletes Magazine Gen-mag Magazine Raw Intensity Magazine The Unnatural Athlete
