HOW DVRT ULTIMATE SANDBAG TRAINING IS CHANGING FITNESS

By Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner

Master Chief DVRT, Senior RKC, MFF’s Tattooed Guy, OS Instructor

The Inaugural Dragon Door Health and Strength Conference recently wrapped. It was going to be a really cool opportunity to share DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training with a community that had such strong bonds with kettlebells and bodyweight training.

Josh Henkin put together an awesome DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Presentation for it and as fate would have it, yours truly ended up presenting. You guys by now know why and no I didn't take him out just so I could do it;) . I wanted to share with you some key points, because the response exceeded even my expectations! 

 

While the crossover from kettlebells and Ultimate Sandbag Training would seem like a perfect marriage, there are two obstacles we tend to face when talking about DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. 

1. People think DVRT is just about the sandbag.
2. I can do that stuff with a kettlebell. 

 My responses are:

1. We are a rich and fully developed system of strength training.
2. No you can’t. 

Our presentation focused on DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training belief in training for real world 3D strength. We train for quality of movement over muscles. We challenge the body to grow strong and resilient in ways other than just adding reps or load. The end goal of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is to give you the freedom to move with strength and efficiency in all planes of motion. That sounds like a wonderful way to live your life to me. 

If you can get bodyweight guru, Al Kavadlo, excited about DVRT then you know you have something special!

For example, you can train your client to have a 500 pound deadlift. What real carry over to the quality of your daily will that have? There’s a point where that type of training will have diminishing returns and an escalating level of risk. Yea, it is cool to brag about a monster deadlift, but if the reality is you can't play with your kids, jump in a softball game with friends, or get up to walk without going through a giant warm-up for your back, you may want to re-think your fitness' direction. 

We provide not just different, but we truly believe in better options in improving your fitness. We look at strength training through movement. The Deadlift is a hip hinge. The hip hinge doesn’t have to be a deadlift. We also don’t have to hip hinge in only one plane of motion. We can perform hip hinges in the frontal, transverse and sagittal planes. Building that 360 degree strength isn't a tagline, but the mantra in which we design and perform all our workouts!

Challenging stability is another large component of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. And no, I’m not talking about standing on a BOSU. You can get down now. This is where the Ultimate Sandbag is THE implement for much of our system. USBs will feel dramatically different based on size, load and the filler material. We play this to our advantage. We are dealing with an ALIVE implement when we’re using Ultimate Sandbags. We spark up our stabilizers, reflexive strength and  metabolic output when we train with an unbalanced and changing Ultimate Sandbag. 

We also train for instability. Stop… leave the BOSU alone. Seriously. When training instability, we’ll alter the body or holding position of the Ultimate Sandbag. Why? Well, where research has shown training on unstable ground doesn't do much for your core or strength training, unstable objects HAVE proved to be a highly effective way of building core, stabilizer, and just full body strength. 

The DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training System often deals with X-Patterns that really connect the body together as a whole. For example, you may have a great traditional squat with a Ultimate Sandbag in the front hold position. Now the same Ultimate Sandbag will challenge your body in an entirely new way if I place the Ultimate Sandbag on your shoulder. I can take that a step further and have you stagger your left foot back a bit, while the Ultimate Sandbag is on your right shoulder. I can talk and write about this forever. I will. However, the best way for you to grasp and believe what I’m saying is to try it for yourself.  Often people see the movements and hear the concepts and start imagining, “oh I can just do that with a kettlebell

As I said before… no you can’t!

Josh brilliantly built in some hands on time into the presentation. Between the laughs and the knowledge bombs, I could tell the attendees were enjoying the presentation. That is AWESOME. I got excited and nervous when the hands on section started. My old friend and DVRT/Senior PCC badass Adrienne Harvey helped with some demos. The mighty Nicole Ross and Batman himself, Senior RKC Mike Krivka also came down and tried a some moves like the MAX Lunge, Shoulder Squats, Lateral Ultimate Sandbag Drags and the Clean and Press.

The group soaked it up. There was a lot of applause. I was stoked that I did a pretty decent job. I was pumped as I started to hear some great feedback. 

Then an even cooler thing happened. 

Almost a third of the attendees came down and started getting their hands on the Ultimate Sandbags during the break. People started trying stuff and asking questions. It was awesome. I had opened their eyes to the system AND the Ultimate Sandbag. Even on the second day, people would come up and try out the USBs during breaks. This was a huge win for your man Fury and DVRT. 

That is what we really mean about changing fitness. Not just give you new exercises, but more meaningful movements and ideas. Showing you that fitness doesn't have to hurt, and smart fitness not only makes you stronger, but allows you to move better.  When people actually get EXCITED to train we are also overcoming one of the biggest obstacles, getting people wanting to train.

There is a reason that almost 2/3rds of our society is overweight. Our workouts, our programs, our treatment to people isn't helping. If we can excite them, help them almost instantly, and put them in a position to succeed right from the start, THEN we have something really powerful that can Now it’s your turn to get your hands on experience with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. Find a workshop or certification near you!

-Fury out

Check out our upcoming DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training education programs HERE

Can't make it, but won't to know more? Check our our DVRT Book with tons of great exercises and workouts HERE