Sandbag Over the Shoulders

Having really found the usefulness of sandbag training, I'm always looking for sandbag exercises that apply to our hunting situations.  With a little research and some first-hand experience both training and in the field I've incorporated over the shoulders into my off-season regiment.I like the sandbag over the shoulders because it takes several of the lifts we're already familiar with and makes a few slight modifications to make the lift a little more "real life".  It has some of the motions of the deadlift, squat, clean, and even the kettlebell swing but keeps everything very tight to the body.  It also forces you to use your core and upper body and not just the legs. As I didn't have a photographer with me at the time I wrote this article I went to the web to try and find you the steps involved in the lift.  Surprisingly I couldn't find one source that really broke down the lift so I pulled from multiple sources to give you a play-by-play to execute the over-the-shoulder.  Below you will see the lift from start to finish as performed by various athletes:

Start!

Finish!

As always, never sacrifice form for weight.  As you'll note in all the pictures the back is straight and the athletes are all doing something I believe is very important when doing lifts such as this, squats, deadlifts, etc.  They are all looking up.  This forces you to keep your back straight, your core engaged, and your butt dropped.  Mix this gem into your workout and you'll be tossing hindquarters around like they are nothing next fall.