Best Fitness Sandbags: What to look for?

Fitness sand bags are super popular - and for good reason!

a) They are easily transportable and adjustable. Just add or subtract weight by removing or adding sand.

b) Versatility is the name of the game. From thrusts to squats to curls to overhead presses, you can get a full-body workout in one bag. In other words, you get a near full service home gym in one tool!

c) Instability. That’s why it’s such a great tool. Functional fitness is the idea that rather being ‘gym fit’, it is best to be fit for real world activities. And the instability of sand in fitness sandbags and kind of exercises you can do make this an excellent unfunctional fitness tool. Just ask your crossfit crazed friend!

Ok, ok, so you want a fitness sand bag, but what to look for in buying one? Here is our list of the best features to have.

First let me say, that you can certainly buy a ‘cheap’ sand bag. Maybe even for $30 or so. However, I would recommend against it. Sand bags need to be built to take beating and cheap sandbags normally just don’t last very long. So let’s take look at some must-have features.

1) HEAVY DUTY NYLON: the outer bag shell needs to be able to stand-up to some serious abuse. Your bag really needs 1000D Cordura Nylon at minimum. Some super premium bags like Gruff Combat even come with Ballistic Nylon - which tends to be a step-up from Cordura.

2) NO PLASTIC ON HANDLES: Plastic handles might seem like a good idea, but if the bag lands at a strange angle it is just another way to get hurt. Stay with soft-nylon, no plastic handles.

3) SEALT BELT NYLON STRAPPING: Some bags use cheaper strapping for the handle and bag-wrap. Full seat-belt quality strapping will help your bag go the extra mile.

4) STITCHING: High quality nylon thread and lots and lots of extra stitching. Box-stitching, cross-stitches, x-box stitching and even steel rivets really show quality in bag. Extra stitching and fasteners cost money to produce and the cheaper bag . . . well, tend to cheap-out on it!

5) YKK ZIPPERS: Having a broken zipper is the worst. And it usually spells the end for your sand bag. That’s why I only recommend getting bags with super-heavy duty YKK zippers. But hey, maybe that cheap Chinese will be OK?!? It’s your call.

6) DOUBLE VELCRO SEALED LINERS: Nobody want their liner bags to break or leak sand. Make sure your liners are also 1000D Cordura Nylon and that they have a double velcro seal.

There are no doubt some good workout fitness sandbags out there. Brute Force Sand bags and Rogue sand bags are some of the best known. And while expensive, they are likely worth it.

Another seriously heavy-duty sand bag - that comes with an industry leading 5 yr warranty - the the lesser known start-up by Gruff Combat. It easily matches the market leaders and at a more modest price point.

But whatever you chose to buy, please keep these above recommended features in mind.