Sandbag Clean

The Sandbag Clean is an explosive lift where you pull a sandbag from the ground to chest height in one smooth motion. It builds serious hip power and challenges your grip, upper back, and core all at once.

Start with your feet about hip-width or slightly wider, toes under the sandbag. Hinge at the hips, bend your knees, and grab the handles or the fabric on both sides. Keep your back flat, chest up, and shoulders over or just ahead of the bag. Brace your trunk tight before every rep - the load is awkward, so a solid midsection matters.

Take a breath and brace. Drive through your whole foot, stand up hard, and extend your hips and knees fast. Pull the bag straight up toward your chest, then drop under it slightly and catch it high. Hug the bag close to your body, stand tall, then lower it under control and reset for the next rep.

Inhale and brace before the pull, hold that pressure until the bag is secure at your chest, then breathe out once you are stable. To make it easier, use a lighter bag and pause for a second at the chest each rep. To make it harder, lower the bag slowly without letting it free-fall, or add a brief pause at the bottom before the next clean.

Fault: Trying to curl the bag with your arms. Fix: Let your hips do the work - hinge, then extend hard and pull the bag to the chest. Your arms should guide the bag after your hips have driven it up.

Fault: Catching the bag out in front of your body. Fix: Catch high and hug the bag to the body. Keep your elbows up and the bag tight against your chest so the weight does not pull you forward.

Fault: Letting your back round as the bag leaves the floor. Fix: Brace your trunk before every rep, keep a neutral spine from setup to finish, and reset fully between reps instead of rushing into the next clean.