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If you’re doing resistance training on a daily basis, there are tons of different ways to do so. As you build your strength with the likes of dumbbells, barbells, or even body-weight training, you can still use an odd object here and there to get the same effect. So if you’re looking for the best odd object on the market, it’s the sandbag. So read on as we dive into how you can make your very own DIY sandbag for exercise.
How To Make Your Own Sandbags for Working Out at Home
Before we get into it, there are different ways to craft the perfect weight training sandbag. Tons of users on the markets have tried just about every method and deemed the one below as the best. It works for making a cost-effective, mid-weight sandbag.
The following materials will be needed to make your sandbag:
- A canvas laundry bag
- A bag of gravel that weighs about 40lbs to 50lbs. It should be noted that pea gravel shouldn’t be used to make sandbags to keep out floods
- A box of contractor garbage bags
- A role of decently priced duct tape
- Zip ties
The items listed above can cost as little as less than $50 and if you think of it, it’s a really good investment. The best part of all of this is that in less than an hour, you’ll have your sandbag and you’ll be ready for an intense workout.
How To Put The Sandbag Together?
1. Create The Interior Bags
You’ll need to roll a contractor bag down to ensure that it can sit on its own. Next, you’ll need to pour the sand or gravel into your contractor bag. However, you’ll be doing this for either 3 or 4 interior bags, so keep in mind that you’ll need to separate the gravel to have enough for each.
A good rule of thumb is to divide the gravel in one set of 20lbs, and the other three bags are usually set at 10lbs each. While we’ve discussed exact weights for each bag, they don’t need to be 100% exact. After filling the contractor bags, you’ll need to fold the opening down. When you’ve got it folded, you’ll need to apply some duct tape to seal the bag.
Since these bags hold a significant amount of weight, it’s best to double wrap the bag. This is done by placing each bag into a second contractor bag and sealing it with duct tape. The process should be repeated until the interior bags are all sealed.
2. Fill The Exterior Bag
When you’re finished with the previous step, you’ll need to put each bag into the laundry bag. You’ll then need to pull the drawstring so that the opening of your laundry bag is tight. In order to properly secure the bag, you’ll need to cinch a couple of zip ties around the top of the laundry bag.
However, the disadvantage of using zip ties is that if you’re intending to change the weights, you’ll need to cut the zip ties off of your laundry bag. While it may sound costly to change the weight, it really isn’t and you can easily source 100s of zip ties for just a couple of dollars. So if you’re interested in increasing the weights of your sandbag, you can do so by adding more gravel to your interior bags and sealing them up.
Commercial Options And Alternative Materials
Besides using a laundry bag, contractor bags, and pea gravel, there are different setups to get yourself rolling with your very own sandbag. So if you’re interested in having your very own sandbag that weighs over 50lbs, you’ll need to think about purchasing your very own military-grade, heavy-duty duffle bag. In the case of the interior bags, you can easily use some of the heaviest freezer zip lock bags that you can find and reinforce them with duct tape.
Additionally, you can switch out the pea gravel in the interior bags and fill them straight into the new heavy-duty exterior bag. This allows you to save a couple of dollars as you remove the interior bags. However, this makes changing your weights a bit harder and it’s quite messy.
If you’re looking at other filler materials, the following can be used instead of pea gravel:
- Sand – If you didn’t already think of this, sand is another common material that most people use for these bags and they have good luck with them while others tend to end up with leaky bags.
- Rubber Mulch
- Wooden Pellets
- Link Chain – These are used in some extreme conditions. All you’ll need to do is throw a couple of feet of the heavy linked chain into the duffel bag. You’ll need to secure the top and your sandbag will be completed. However, since it’s not sand you can expect to be bruised repetitively on your shoulders; so keep that in mind before you dive into the idea of using link chains.
With the options mentioned above, most people gravitate to the laundry bag filled with contractor bags and pea gravel. These tend to provide the most effective method for making your very own mid-weight bags. However, if you’re not sure about the DIY option, you can still look at commercial sandbags.
Commercial Sandbags
Sandbag training has been known to be very effective. There are several benefits that come with this type of training and there are tons of commercial sandbags available on the markets. Commercials sandbags come in a range of sizes and unlike the DIY options, they don’t leak at all.
Commercials bags are usually sealed with velcro and they even come with actual sand in them. Commercial alternatives also provide users with more versatility during a workout. However, it should be noted that some brands are known for leaking.
Conclusion
As we conclude, we have just looked at how you can make your very own sandbag weights for exercise. While there are commercial sandbags available, most veterans love making these sandbags since they can customize the weights as much as they want to. The DIY option is a great way to get exactly what you’ve looking for by doing everything on your own and in less than an hour you’ll have your very own sandbag.
