The 6 Best Sandbag Workouts (Cylinder Bag)

Not all sandbags are created the same…neither are all sandbag workouts.

For some of you, the classic, cylindrical sandbag with handles is exactly what comes to mind when you think of sandbag workouts. Chances are that if you’re into rucking/are a fan of GORUCK and its stuff, you already have just the bag(s) for these workouts.

However, if you associate sandbags with giant circular balls of doom that are more likely to be hoisted a few feet or bearhugged into oblivion…well…the workouts we’re discussing today are probably going to provide a bit…different of a stimulus than what you’re used to.

I understand that some of these (all of these?) might seem a bit involved if you’ve only ever cleaned with a sandbag and have never done a muscle-up, but remember, GORUCK is CrossFit now…in a way.

…so you may as well get used to throwing a bag, rowing, and riding the fan bike…in the same workout. Let’s take a look at the top 6 workouts that will allow you to do this:

The 6 Best Sandbag Workouts (Cylinder Bag)

If you’re a true GORUCK adherent, you might want to skip to the final workout on the list…you’ll have to take it on at some point in the future.

Collin

Equipment: Cylinder sandbag, barbell, bumper plates, plyo box

Although a 50-pound sandbag isn’t the heaviest, the weight will definitely start to add up over the course of 1-and-a-half miles. Throw in a mixture of pressing, pulling, and jumping movements and you can expect your heartrate to be elevated for the duration of this one.

Pearl Harbor

Equipment: Ruck, ruck plates, cylinder sandbag

Any part of this can be pretty tough, but I think those book end push-ups and run/shuffles under a heavy load are the worst. Almost 85 ruck clean and presses is nothing to sneeze at, but thankfully, the weight is low and the mountain climbers and flutter kicks (especially) are good “resting” points.

Sentinel Training 60 – July 20, 2024

Equipment: Echo Bike, plyo box, ruck and/or cylinder sandbag

You have your choice on how you get to your 70-pound load, but I chose a 60-pound sandbag and a 10-pound ruck. This worked surprisingly well and I would say these 4-minute sessions are more tedious than anything else (you could call them much easier, “mini-Chads“).

You’re going for max reps/cals on this one so definitely push the pace on the back end.

Changning

Equipment: Cylinder sandbag, Concept2 rower

30 minutes of anything is long…especially when push-ups are the easiest part of what you’re doing!

For those of you looking to add a wrinkle into your Hyrox training (or if you’re a seasoned Hyrox athlete and you just don’t feel like running that day), this is a good way to work on some of the main movements at a pretty constant rate of intensity.

2019 Torian Pro Workout 7

Equipment: Gymnastics rings, cylinder sandbag

This one is obviously for sandbaggers with a bit more gymnastics experience. Although most of the workout is unweighted, those short sandbag lunges will feel like they last forever at that weight!

GORUCK BFF (Baseline Functional Fitness Test)

Equipment: Ruck, ruck plates, cylinder sandbag

If you’re a tried and true rucker and “training with sand” advocate, the BFF may as well be your Super Bowl. You get to run under load, throw your bag around, carry your bag around…and do a bunch of push-ups.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a lot of data on this one right now, but hopefully, in the future, we get enough info to have “standards” and “tiers” for this one!

Go Train with Sand

Yeah, we threw some of you GORUCK purists a bone with a couple of these (and the BFF happens to be one of my favorite fitness assessments), but don’t think you can ignore those other 4. Every year CrossFit and GORUCK remain partners, you’re going to see more and more barbells, pull-up bars, dumbbells, and cardio machines in your beloved sandbag workouts.

Just remember you’ve got one big advantage over a lot of the other people getting drawn into the CrossFit world…you’re used to those bags. Don’t get me wrong, these guys probably aren’t going to have too much trouble throwing around an 80-pound GORUCK bag…but those mile runs…don’t let ’em catch you!