Building sandcastles isn’t the only way to play with sand.

You’ve just got to think out of the…sand box. I know. Corny joke.

But seriously, I received a new toy to play with review, an Ultimate Sandbag.

And it’s effective.

And it’s fun. I haven’t had this much fun playing with sand since I was eight!

Oh and it gets bonus points for being made in the USA.

Think outside the box.

The birth of the Ultimate Sandbag is a cool lemonade out of lemons story. Josh Henkin, creator of the Ultimate Sandbag, decided to think outside the sand box (I’m sorry) when he was faced with debilitating lower back problems. Rather than giving up, he sought out another way to train. After training with homemade sandbags that he had seen his military friends use in their workouts, his back pain began to go away. The only problem was homemade sandbags were messy and uncomfortable to use and, hence, the Ultimate Sandbag was born.

Why play with sand?

What are the benefits of sandbag training?

Sandbag training is functional fitness. Want to be able to clean your garage without getting hurt? Want to be able to show that Costco sized bag of dog food who’s boss?

Train with a sandbag.

What makes sandbag training unique is the unstable weight. As you move it around the sand shifts causing your body to work harder to stabilize itself under the shifting weight. How does your body adapt to all this shifting weight? You guessed it, by building a stronger core.

In a nutshell, here are the benefits of sandbag training as I see them.

• Functional – Build a strong core with full body workouts. It’s training for real world physical demands like going to Costco.
• Effective – Improve strength, endurance, and flexibility while burning a boatload of calories.
• Portable – Workout anywhere. Forget stinky crowded gyms and head to the park or the privacy of your own living room.
• Cost – Like some of my other favorite workout tools, the sandbag gives you a big bang for your buck. It cost a lot less and is way more effective than say a treadmill.
• Durable – Made with military grade materials and comes with a one year manufacture’s warranty.
• Fun – Bring back the days of playing with sand. Except this time you can throw it without getting in trouble.

My Ultimate Sandbag Review and Experience

I received the Power Package Ultimate Sandbag to review. It includes…

• The outer shell with 6 handles. It has a zipper and velcro closure.
• Two fillers that fold and close with crazy strong velcro.
• A DVD with filling instructions and 6 different workouts.
• A poster showing different exercises
• A booklet filled with instructions, exercise descriptions, and workouts.

Some questions you may have about my experience with the Ultimate Sandbag.

Does the sandbag leak?

Mine hasn’t leaked once. I even used it my mom’s living room and trust me if it leaked I wouldn’t have it in there.

How heavy is it?

It’s depends on what your put into and how much you fill the inner fillers. I started using mine half full until I felt comfortable with the bag. I have since filled the two filler bags to 2/3 capacity and it weighs a little over 30 pounds.

What sort of sand do you use to fill it?

I used child’s play sand from Home Depot to fill the fillers. Child’s play sand is clean and dry.

Does it give a good workout?

Yep, play with sand to lose weight and get in shape. The Ultimate Sandbag feels different than other training tools I own. The shifting sand really does make an otherwise simple move more difficult. I’m particularly fond of using the sandbag for more conditioning based workouts.

I thought you loved kettlebells? How is a sandbag any different?

I do love kettlebells and while a kettlebell does pull on your center of gravity, hence recruiting more muscles to stabilize than a traditional weight like a dumbbell, the weight of a kettlebell doesn’t shift the same way as a sandbag.

Also it’s important to continually challenge your body by mixing things up. This is why I also use heavy ropes, medicine balls, and suspension trainers for my workouts. Sandbags fall right in line with my other functional training tools. It’s been a fun way to continue improving my strength and conditioning while giving my elbows and hands (it’s no secret kettlebells can be hard on the hands) some rest a few days a week. And who doesn’t want to play with sand!

Is the DVD any good?

It’s a simple DVD with clear and concise directions on how to properly use the Ultimate Sandbag. There are 6 workouts on the DVD. Each one starts with individual exercise instructions followed by the workout that you do on your own. You don’t complete the workout along with the instructor on the DVD. It’s not “fancy pantsy” like P90X but it’s solid and helpful. I did each workout on the DVD and have referred back to the instruction more than once.

What size would you recommend?

The people at Ultimate Sandbag recommend women start with the size I received, The Power Package. This size is perfect for my needs as I intend to use it for conditioning based workouts/interval training. If I was going to use it for the sole intention of improving strength I might go with the next size up, the Strength..

Have you worked out with a sandbag? Do you still like to play with sand?!?!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Play with Sand – Ultimate Sandbag Review appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Walking 10,000 steps a day is challenge.

Even with my new walking shoes.

I’m all over being barefoot. However, that’s not usually practical especially in the city. So I went on an search to find shoes that were as close to being barefoot as possible that didn’t look like frog feet and could be worn with dresses. Hello moccasins. Best. Walking. Shoes. Ever.

Anyway…

Week Three Results of my Movement Matters 10,000 Steps a Day Challenge 

• 5/15 – 9037
• 5/16 – 15,410
• 5/17 – 6707
• 5/18 – 13,151
• 5/19 – 10,656
• 5/20 – 15,995
• 5/21 – 7747
• Weekly average – 11,243 (A little higher than last week.)

Love walking around DC with this guy.

Unless, I’m sightseeing getting in 10,000 steps a day takes effort. On sightseeing days I walk 10,000+ steps without thinking about it.

But during an ordinary day I have to be intentional to get in 10,000 steps. This usually means a walk in the morning and evening if I have errands to run that day. If I don’t have errands it means adding in a walk in the afternoon.

It’s a little embarrassing how much I sit on a normal day. I sit to write. I sit to eat. I sit when we homeschool. I sit to drive. I sit on the couch with Brent in the evening. Often sometimes, I sit and do nothing. (And you thought my life was exciting.)

Before we moved into the RV, I moved more by doing stuff around the house like cleaning. However, the RV takes about 15 minutes to clean and it is 18 steps from the front to the back. Four steps from the couch to the kitchen. (Dangerous.) I could clean all day and walk 1000 steps. Maybe.

Anyway, we left Washington DC yesterday and we are slowing down for a few weeks before we head to Philadelphia and NYC. I only have a battlefield and one museum trip planned this week so I’ll have to be intentional each day if I’m going to walk 10,000 steps.

Also planning some workouts for the week after almost 2 weeks off.

• Monday – Walk
• Tuesday – Walk + Kettlebells
• Wednesday – Walk
• Thursday – Walk + Kettlebells
• Friday – Walk
• Saturday – Walk + Kettlebells
• Sunday – Walk

I hoping to get to workout with this lady, Lisa from Workout Mommy. She loves kettlebells too! We had dinner with Lisa and her adorable family last night. So much fun!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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It’s over!

The video shoot that we’ve been preparing for non-stop wrapped last Friday.  We had an amazing time and you can read about it and see pictures over at New School Nomads.

While I enjoy health and fitness being a part of creative projects gives me an unexplainable energy and satisfaction.

But back to health and fitness because if I don’t take care of those things then everything else suffers.

Anyway…guess what?

I didn’t work out once last week.  At least not an traditional workout but there was certainly plenty of “functional fitness” to be had.

“Pools” to be filled.

Sandbags to be heaved.

Coolers to be carried.

C-stands to be moved

Whatever this thing is called to be carried.

I did manage to get in a few…

…calf raises

…split squats

…and inverted rows.

Sort of. Those were mostly for fun.  Had I not been on my feet all day that is what I would have done.  

I’m telling ya, fitness is all about function.  Speaking of functional fitness I’m going to the Perform Better 3-Day Functional Fitness Summit next month.  I’m very very excited.  The presenter line up is PHENOMENAL. It includes John Berardi (Precise Nutrition), Mike Boyle, Gray Cook (Functional Movement Screen), Brett Jones (Master RKC), Alwyn and Rachecl Cosgrove and a whole bunch of other amazingly smart fitness professionals.  Can’t wait to come back and share with you what I learn!

So my Kick Start Kick the Sugar Challenge is going ok.  I seem to be making up for my reduced sugar intake with dried fruit. Today I made raisins in my dehydrator and ate more than I needed.  At least they were nourishing.  It could be worse and I could be back to hiding out behind my house drinking syrup straight from the bottle.  True story.

I hope you had a great weekend.  Saturday, Brent and I got up early to chase rabbits film and take pictures of the sunrise before coming home.  It was an amazing morning.  One of the best in a long time.  Why oh why don’t I get up earlier more often?  The rest of the weekend was spent sleeping and hanging out with the boys.

So this is random but do any photographers read my blog?  I’ve been enjoying taking pictures lately and want to read up on ways to improve.  Do any of you know any good blogs or sites that may help me get better???

Do you like to get up early?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!

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The post Functional Fitness Strikes Again appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Today is the opening for Sucker Punch.  I could not care less about this movie BUT I’m thrilled to see Shape published one of Vannessa Hudgens workouts AND it doesn’t involve 5 pound dumbbells.  In fact, they recommend using “Two 12- to 24-pound kettlebells or dumbbells (they should feel very heavy)”.  Did I read that correctly?  “they should feel VERY heavy” (emphasis mine) Someone pinch me.  Finally, awesome advice from a mainstream fitness mag.  These are the same type of workouts that I do with my clients and MYSELF.

Check it out the functional movements like goblet squats and push presses.  Way to go Shape!

(I was going to say they shouldn’t have her in cushy tennis shoes but on second glance I think those are The Nike Frees, while not the best, are better than standard tennis shoes for kettlbell training. She would reduce her likelihood of injury and get even stronger using kettlebells in flat soled shoes like Converse Chuck Taylor’s or, better yet, barefoot.)

Not only does she have a hardcore workout but there is a video where she is talking about her diet which includes lots of “proteins and vegetables” and if she gets a carb craving she goes for “Ezekiel bread”.  I don’t know about you but I find it refreshing to hear a celebrity talk about what they are really eating to maintain a killer body.  Unlike the typical celebrity who lies says they eat cheeseburgers and cakes as if they are on the brink of famine despite looking like they live off of celery and water.  For most people, a CONSISTENT (ahem) diet of veggies, protein, and slow digesting carbs like Ezekiel bread will not only feed your body the nutrients it needs to optimally function but will also help shed fat and feed muscle.

I know a lot of women feel bad when they look at pictures of celebrity bodies.  Personally, it doesn’t usually bother me.   Celebrity or not, I find the sort of discipline it takes to have a lean strong body like Vanessa’s (the article said she did 500 box jumps) inspiring.  It makes me want to keep working out hard and eating healthy because while feeling my best is AWESOME, I think looking my best is pretty awesome too.  Shallow?  Maybe.  Honest.  Yes.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Fluffy Friday: Celebrity Workouts that WORK! appeared first on Girl Heroes.