Guest Post: The History of Sandbags in Physical Training

Commercial gyms and standardized training equipment are relatively modern phenomena. Humans have been lifting weights for a long-time using tools that predate them. Among such tools, sandbags have proven themselves to be quite durable. They have been documented in training manuals as far back as 1793, co-opted by military conditioning programs, and, to top it all off, validated by modern sports sciences.

In all of its diverse forms, a sandbag isn’t a fixed-weight tool. Its load shifts with your movement and tests your neuromuscular adaptation. It won’t be too much to say that it fights you back. This brief piece will shed some light on the sandbag’s journey through time.

Origins of Sandbag

Before any formal equipment, people used to lift heavy weights to train their muscles. There were no specific weights available, and stones, logs, and sand-filled bags were commonly used. These lifting feats demonstrated personal strength, martial readiness, and also ensured prestige in many cultures. We find the earliest published reference to the sandbag as a training tool in Gymnastics for Youth (1793) by Johann GutsMuths. In Chapter VIII on page 317, GutsMuths discusses lifting and carrying exercises at length and says, “Bags of sand, of different sizes, the weights of which are ascertained, are extremely convenient.”  He then goes on and explains the procedure to use them.

The Iron Game by David Webster

David Webster, in his seminal work “The Iron Game: An Illustrated History of Weight-Lifting” (1976), gives a clear account of lifting cultures way before the barbell was popularized. He describes early strength practices like using heavy bricks and improvised loaded sacks before the popularization of barbells. His argument strengthens the fact that the use of sandbag-style training was not the invention of strongman traditions of the 19^th century; it was taken directly from the utilitarian practice of using whatever heavy object was available to train.

Sandbag in Early Strongman Culture

Professional strongmen made their appearance in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. They performed publicly and used whatever object could be found, as long as it was heavy. Among all, sandbags were considered the most effective because of their unfixed characteristics and difficulty in handling.

Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia by John Jesse

Wrestling presents its clearest documentary evidence. In “Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia” (1974), John Jesse has dedicated the entire Chapter 17, “Swing-Bell and Sandbag Exercises” to sandbag training. Jesse says, “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.”

In this way, it presents sandbag exercises as structured and methodological, shunning their hitherto informal status, and proving that sandbag formed the core of strength training much before the adoption of the barbell.

Military Training: The Functional Aspect of Sandbags

Military training can be regarded as the ultimate phenomenon that established the sandbag as a serious training tool. Combat training demanded soldiers to carry heavy stuff like supplies and sometimes be injured across uneven terrain. No other tool than a sandbag provided exact training for this. That’s why we see standardization of sandbag drills in the 20^th century. It was the actual demand of the battlefield, much before science proved its effectiveness.

US Field Army Manual 21-20

The US Army’s Field Manual FM 21-20, Physical Fitness Training (1992) supports these functional principles in these words: “Sandbag exercises are very effective in strength-training circuits”. It has formalized load-bearing drills for military physical readiness. This use in the military also shaped combat sports. Although wrestling has been using sandbags in training for centuries, the military’s influence made them a training staple. This tradition was passed on to later mixed martial arts (MMA) training regimens and broader combat coaching.

The Competitive Status of Sandbag

Sandbag’s formal competitive status is owed to organized strongman competitions of the 20^th century. In 1977, David Webster and Douglas Edmunds started the World’s Strongest Man competition and formatted it around lifting odd objects in place of standardized barbells. The goal was to test gripping, bracing, and load management of the strongmen on uneven terrain. Sandbags help develop just these strengths, and WSM competition served the crucial purpose of formalizing them.

Inside the WSM, the Loading Race became the main anchor for sandbags along with anvils, stones, and other odd objects. The result was the popularization of the sandbag in two ways: as a tool of the competition and as a training tool for those who were preparing for it.

The television visibility of the 80s and 90s mainstreamed these. This exposure cemented the connection between advanced performance and the use of sandbags for training by distinguishing functional strength from gym strength. Fast forward to 2024, WSM formalized the use of sandbags with the introduction of the Sandbag Steeplechase event, where competitors have to carry three sandbags, 120 kg each, over a distance of 20 meters.

Credit: Rich Storry / World’s Strongest Man

The Core Mechanism of Sandbag Training

Sandbags have been in use for millennia, and for good reason. Its legitimacy as a worthy tool was cemented by contemporary research into unstable and shifting-load training.

The core mechanism is simple: since sand shifts inside the sack during movements, it becomes impossible for the lifter to predict the load. It stands in a very sharp contrast to fixed loads. This movement of sand (load) requires constant neuromuscular adjustment from the lifter. Due to this neuromuscular strain, the core is engaged more actively than in fixed-weight exercises.

NSCA’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

A 2011 article titled “Sandbag Training: A Sample 4-Week Training Program”, published in Strength and Conditioning Journal, expresses the usefulness of sandbag training in these words: “The dynamic and unpredictable resistance provided by sandbags forces the body to continually adjust position to maintain stability during given functional movement patterns”.

Just like dip belts, sandbags offer incrementality where they can be progressively loaded to sync with strength programming.

Formalization of Sandbags in Training

Though sandbags have been in use for a long time, they were codified into formal training in the early 21^st century. In 2010, Josh Henkin brought forward his “Ultimate Sandbag Training System” and transformed the sandbag into a structured training system. He presented his Dynamic Variable Resistance Training (DVRT) method and categorized sandbag movements into;

• Lifts
• Carries
• Rotational Movements
• Press Patterns

His website says, “The use of Sandbags during a lunging exercise elicits a greater heart rate and estimated energy expenditure than the use of dumbbells.” His loading and progression protocols made sandbag training directly comparable to barbell programming.

The Ultimate Sandbag Training System by Josh Henkin

The cardinal impact of the DVRT system was that it presented a formal system of reference and replaced the informal use by coaches and athletes. This formalization also incentivized commercial manufacturers to present purpose-built training sandbags. From here on, a surge in the availability of sandbags with adjustable load capacity and diverse outer shells was seen.

Mainstreaming and Contemporary Applications

The mainstreaming of sandbags is owed to multiple factors, like the military induction, functional fitness movement, and the home-training surge seen after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steve Larson | Army Combat Fitness Test graphic

The US Army introduced the Army Combat Fitness Test in 2020 with a focus on load-bearing to test the physical readiness of candidates. One of its core components is the Sprint-Drag-Carry event. It tests the gripping, bracing, and posterior strength – all directly developed through sandbag training. Within the military domain but beyond active service, these load-bearing principles have been applied in the rehabilitation of veterans by healthcare professionals, including those having completed their online ACNP programs. Their work with patients in both acute and post-acute recovery presents a fitting place to implement these principles.

CrossFit’s programming philosophy also synced with sandbag training principles and played a part in its mainstreaming. The biggest push came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everything moved indoors. Sandbag’s functionality and adjustability provided a natural tool to train in home settings.

Sandbag fully serves multiple training contexts: gripping and bracing for strength training, its traditional role in wrestling and MMA in the context of combat sports, and functional training in the military. This versatile functionality cements its relevance.

Conclusion

Sandbag embraces both continuity and development. Through its core qualities of shifting load and gripping and bracing demands, it solves a broader problem of training and building transferable strength in sync with human movement patterns. This utility was recognized by wrestlers and soldiers for centuries, way before sports science codified it. This targeting of a real-world physical demand has helped formalize sandbags over alternatives.

Author Bio

Introducing Muhammad Tayyab, a dedicated freelance writer specializing in health and lifestyle topics. With a strong background in the healthcare industry, Muhammad’s insightful and creative approach to wellness empowers readers to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. When he’s not crafting inspiring articles, you’ll find Muhammad exploring nature, experimenting with nutritious recipes, or immersed in a captivating book.