Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags – Our Review

I can understand that if you’re really into sandbag training that you probably want to get your hands on some of the top-end bags in the business.

Rogue puts out excellent sandbags used at some of the highest-level competitions. GORUCK and 5.11 Tactical aren’t usually featured in the same capacity, but they have great options for home gym enthusiasts.

Then you have Elite Sports and their Duffel Sand Bags (yes…the proper name for these is “Sand Bags” as opposed to “sandbags” or “Sandbags”). Although these don’t have the name recognition that the other companies we’ve mentioned do, for the more “casual” trainee who simply wants to throw around some heavy sand on occasion, these are an affordable option.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with these at my gym for the past ~2 months and even though we don’t use them nearly as often as barbells, dumbbells, and other classic CrossFit items, I’ve used them enough to develop a pretty good idea of what they’re capable of. Let me tell you all about ’em.

Functionality

I was actually really surprised with how functional these bags are, especially given how inexpensive they are relative to other brands of sandbags. When I use sandbags in my workouts, I’m almost always using circular “Strongman” bags, but using the Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags for a bit, I’ve come to appreciate the variations of movements I can do with them.

Like most cylinder sandbags, I’m able to do exercises like cleans, presses, deadlifts, and thrusters in a manner that is more similar to how I would perform them with a barbell. These bags obviously aren’t as long as a barbell, but the grip and feel are definitely more similar than it is with Strongman bags.

It’s also easy to throw these over both shoulders (back rack position) or over one shoulder for carries or lunges. For both of these movements, I think that cylinder bags like the Duffel Sand Bags are the better option, mainly due to how it is easier to grip/grasp the bags and to balance them.

Something that I didn’t realize until I started working with these specific bags is that they have a lot of handles spaced around them. I was expecting something more like the GORUCK Simple Sandbags (only 2, neutral-grip handles), but these are more like the GORUCK Sandbag Kit/Sandbag 2.0 (neutral-grip handles, multiple pronated-grip handles, side handles).

Having so many different handle positions not only allows me to perform a wider range of movements, but it also allows for more variation for specific movements themselves (ex. neutral grip cleans and pronated grip cleans). This is especially valuable to me since I teach large CrossFit classes and different trainees prefer to hold bags in different ways.

On the flip side, I know it’s gonna sound weird, but sometimes all of the handles are somewhat of a negative. Sometimes I’m holding a bag and the presence of all of the extra handles right next to it kinda gets in the way or is at least distracting. Also, as you can see, I often train without a shirt and these can be a bit irritating when they rub against my bare skin.

Maybe I could just wear a shirt…but that would probably make too much sense…

One final thing I’ll note, although not directly related to “functionality” (but more related to this topic than to anything else) is these bags’ added benefit of being really good on space. They don’t take up much space in a corner and you can even stack them if you want…a great option for those with limited real estate in their garage or basement gyms.

Functionality: 90

Durability

I know that I just mentioned how I was surprised at how functional the Duffel Sand Bags are/were, but I was also very surprised with how sturdy and durable the bags felt when I first got them.

I’m not sure about the exact material (I speculate on this in the “Materials and Construction” section below), but it is probably only slightly more than half-a-level below what you would find in something like the Rogue Echo Sandbags (which are the “lower” versions of the Rogue Strongman Sandbags).

Almost as important as this material (which is the same for the interior fill bags and the external bags) is the heavy-duty Velcro enclosure that keeps the sand from leaking out and the securing zipper (which I also found to be of good quality).

As with a lot of sandbags of this type, the filler bags do a good job of creating an extra layer (2 instead of 1) between the sand and your body and floor. Each of these only has a 25-pound capacity which is okay, but not ideal (I’d prefer closer to a 1-1 capacity for the larger bags), but I have yet to experience any problems or leakage as a result.

Each bag is easy enough to fill, as well, especially if you have 2 people working at it (one to hold and the other to fill).

I’ve yet to experience any problems with these bags, nor do I really expect them to unexpectedly break, even with a lot of dropping (from overhead at times, at that) in workouts. Again, this is really impressive to me given their low price.

Durability: 90

Load Capacity

With a top-end load capacity in the 75-pound range, the Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags don’t exactly have the highest sand-slinging capabilities. Also, you’ll note that we specifically use the term “75-pound range” because the largest of these bags has a stated capacity of 50-75 pounds.

If you’ve ever worked with variable weight bags, you know that there are filling options that “work” within these ranges and those that “don’t work”. For best use, you’re going to want to fill yours up as much as possible (to avoid the whole “flop-skinny-flop” arrangement).

This is better news for those interested in getting their hands on the highest load-capacity bags possible (which, for the 75-pound range bag, isn’t all that high), but for those who need a lower capacity bag, this doesn’t work so well.

While it’s nice that you can work with as low as 5 pounds with the “Small” bag, I can assure you that filling a 25-pound range bag to 1/5 of its capacity isn’t going to create the most…functional bag.

Overall, you’re definitely better going as high as possible with each bag option (25 pounds, 50 pounds, 75 pounds, respectively), but these capacities aren’t really anything to get too excited about while the lower-end capacity options aren’t nearly as practical as other companies’ lightweight offerings.

Load Capacity: 70

Materials & Construction

The Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags are constructed of some type of ballistic nylon, but I’m not sure of the exact specifications or thread count. The bags don’t feel quite as robust or durable as the likes of Rogue’s 1000D Cordura bags or 5.11 Tactical’s 1050D ballistic nylon bags so I’m going to assume they’re closer to the 600D (or lower) ballistic nylon level.

The exterior stitching is expertly applied in a consistent and appropriate manner, ensuring that the exterior bag is less likely to fold under the rigors of throwing, dropping, and even slamming the sandbag. Triple stitching has become more popular in recent times, but good double stitching works just fine.

I appreciate how sturdy the handles are; the stitching on these is more robust than on the other sections and expands around the sides of each bag. In contrast, I can see the external zipper catching or breaking over time (these aren’t YKK quality), both due to them feeling slightly cheap, but also because they are pretty much exposed at all times (the hook-and-loop enclosure secures only decently well).

For being relatively inexpensive bags (which we’ll hit on more in a minute), the inclusion of internal filler bags (2 for the 50-pound bag, 3 for the 75-pound bag) is clutch. If these filler bags had handles, I might actually opt to just use these as the training sandbags (they’d essentially be less durable versions of the GORUCK Simple Sandbags).

The main materials on the Duffel Sand Bags should be more than decent enough for most people, even if they lack all of the latest and greatest features of more expensive sandbags.

Materials: 90

Price

To some degree, sandbag pricing seems to have turned into a bit of a “race to the bottom” with a lot of bags, especially the smallest offerings, being easy for people of all budgets to get their hands on.

Some might argue that bag quality has a large degree of impact and influence on pricing and while we don’t disagree that this makes a yuge impact, competition seems to be the biggest influence on how company’s price their bags.

With that being said, the Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags are very competitive when it comes to price, particularly when purchasing the 3-bag set (which includes the low, middle, and high-capacity bags). This set will usually run you less than what a single bag from the likes of Rogue or GORUCK will.

One last thing to note on price, as is usually the case in the realm of sandbag pricing, it pays to be strong. Despite having roughly 3 times the load capacity of the smallest Elite Sports sandbag, the company’s largest offering isn’t even twice as expensive (when bought separately).

Luck may favor the bold, but your wallet will reward you if you’re strong!

Price: 95

Customer Reviews

The bad news with this area is that there are very few reviews for Elite Sports gear on the company’s main website. This isn’t all the uncommon, but it does suggest that:

• There haven’t been all that many people interested in reviewing gear
• People who do submit reviews do so on a third-party website…like Amazon

In this case, the latter reason is the reason which, thankfully, enables us to assign a definitive score for this section. Elite Sports should be happy about this as their duffel sand bags are currently sitting at a collective 4.6-out-of-5 overall rating. This is a pretty good score, but the fact that this is based on over 290 reviews really legitimizes it.

(I just wonder why with so many Amazon reviews why some of those didn’t make it onto the company’s main page!)

The most common complaints (from the ~10 written reviews of 1, 2, or 3 stars) mainly address durability concerns, although these constitute a relatively small proportion of the overall number of reviews.

Customer Reviews: 92

Customer Service

I have not dealt directly with Elite Sports customer service personnel, but I know Tom has. He informed me that although they are pretty responsive to messages, they don’t always provide complete information.

To be fair, you’re most likely going to be ordering from Amazon (if the ratio of Amazon reviews vs. elitesports.com reviews is any indication) so you there is a good chance that dealing directly with the company’s customer service personnel won’t really be a concern of yours. However, if you do order direct, be prepared for a bit of back-and-forth messaging if you happen to have questions or issues with your gear.

Customer Service: 80

Who are the Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags really for?

If you prioritize inexpensive, adjustable, and pretty durable sandbags, these make a good argument. Not so much if you need Strongman bags, though.

Those looking for affordable sandbags

The Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags aren’t the absolute most inexpensive sandbags out there, but they are definitely on the more affordable side.

They are even more affordable when you buy them as a set (although you might not want to do this if you don’t need the lightest bag or the heaviest bag) which isn’t very common when buying sandbags. If you already know that you enjoy sandbag training and will consistently use your bags, it makes a lot of sense to go with this set option.

Those looking for “adjustable” sandbags

The Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags fall into the category of “adjustable” sandbags where a specific weight/load isn’t indicated for each bag size and instead, a weight range is provided. In theory, this allows trainees a little more discretion with how much weight they want to work with, specifically if they only have access to one or two bags.

Keep in mind that in order to really make these (or any other similar bags) “adjustable”, you have to add and remove sand. Also, in my experience, any time a bag isn’t full or close to being full, it doesn’t quite work as well. If neither of these caveats is likely to bother you, these bags will definitely work.

Not for “Strongman” sandbag training

Whether you’re an actual Strongman or you have significant Strongman-style training programmed into your CrossFit or other workouts, in just about all cases, you’re going to be using round sandbags. The Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags aren’t quite as cylinder shaped as many others (they are a little more amorphous), but they definitely aren’t Strongman bags.

If you don’t mind substituting, these bags will present their own challenges (in a good way), but you’re likely not doing your workouts “Rx” with these.

How we reviewed the Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bags

Tom knows that I own a CrossFit gym and that I like to experiment with different types of gear for use in class workouts. Equipment that can hit the stimulus I’m going for with a workout is more than a specific item for the majority of class attendees (who are not competitive CrossFitters).

After picking up a bunch of sand at Home Depot, I filled these up and started throwing them around. I was a little more tentative at first since I didn’t want to risk having to clean up my entire floor if a bag busted, but quickly started cleaning, pressing, and swinging them without too much concern.

Once I got a hang of them, I brainstormed some class workouts (strength portions and metcons) that I could use these in for some smaller classes (I only have the one set so it wouldn’t make sense to use these for big classes).

This has worked well since I have my own, first-hand experiences to assess with as well as a few different members’ insights (who pretty much came to the same basic conclusions that I have).

Elite Sports Duffel Sand Bag Alternatives

Sandbag training has gotten really popular lately and there is no shortage of sandbag options for you to try. A few top alternatives include:

Frequently Asked Questions

We don’t have as many FAQs about these bags as we do about some other items, but let’s address the most common ones now:

Elite Sports Duffel Sand bags…Inexpensive and serviceable sandbags…

You should never say “never”, but I’m probably never (sorry) going to be someone who only trains with sandbags or aims for other, more minimalist training styles. I have nothing against this style of training and if it works for your personal training objectives and you’re able to enjoy significant strength and conditioning benefits, by all means pursue this.

Personally, I just prefer barbells, dumbbells, and other more traditional lifting gear.

I don’t think that the Duffel Sand bags we’ve been discussing today are ideal for either of these archetypes (people who only do minimalist training or who use traditional equipment).

I do think they are very good and affordable supplementary items for either group. Whether the calisthenics trainee wants (and really needs) some added resistance or the powerlifter who wants the occasional challenge with some odd object work, these bags are very good for these purposes.

These probably won’t last forever, but for inexpensive sandbags, I’m going to appreciate having them around my gym to throw into workouts every once in a while.