Learn Sandbag Toss and Chase for a Challenging yet Fun Workout
Now came the week of fitness competitions from sandbags, in which I try the notoriousthrowing and chasing . On open air. During the heat. If I survived, you can too.
Tossing and chasing is very easy. You pick up the sandbag, throw it as far as possible, and run towards it. Then you repeat the process, like in a ping pong game in which you have no opponent, only you, and the ball weighs 20, 50 or 100 pounds instead of zero.
Sandbags aren’t really optimized for throwing, so you can’t throw them very far. Good news: your mileage is low. Bad news: it only makes the shots closer together.
Anyway, here I am looking like a complete dumbass throwing a 50 pound bag of sand:
It turns out that things are not so bad! I was happy to rest after 10 reps, but this was not a dip in a pool of sweat workout. Of course, the heavier the bag, the stronger it is. I found I could do 10 reps with a 35 lb bag in about the same time (one minute) as a 50 lb bag. In comparison, I squat 200+ pounds and jerk around 130. Increase or decrease the weight depending on your strength, or simply do more reps if your bag is light, less reps if your bag is heavy.
Because you work hard for a short time and then give yourself a chance to rest, this is the kind of interval work you can call “conditioning” if you hate cardio, and “HIIT” if you like it.
Oh, and trim your nails before you start. These fuckers are going to get hooked.