How (Not) To Use a Sandbag [Gym Buddy Workout Videos!]

Gym Buddy Allison comes in at the end to show me how it's really done and of course manages to not only do them perfectly but also makes them look like a piece of cake! That bag may look small but it's 50 freaking pounds. I still haven't managed a decent clean and press.

Here are the Gym Buddies demonstrating a few other moves that are particularly challenging with a sandbag:

While I got my nifty sandbag (best part: all the handles!) from Ultimate Sandbags , we need more than one bag between all the Gym Buddies. So today Allison and I both attempted to make our own. I took an old school backpack and filled it with 30 pounds of wheat poured into smaller sacks and sealed off. Any of you who are Mormon will immediately understand why I happened to have 30 pounds of wheat lying around my house but for the rest of you, you can fill it with whatever you have handy: kitty litter (unused!), rice, beans, a wiggly toddler, gravel... very small rocks . Allison made hers by filling a duffle bag with an old leaky sandbag the Y happened to have and wrapping it in a garbage bag. Two free sandbags, 10 minutes! Now you have no excuse for not doing this Experiment with us!