Bulgarian Sand Bag

The exercise in the photo to the left, the one with the hot guy in awesome shape swinging what looks like a purse the size a friend of mine carries, is a great way to shed pounds. If you have a purse like this, and many women do! Use it. Otherwise, get yourself a "Bulgarian Sand Bag."

Also called a "Bulgarian Training Bag,"  these torture, er, training tools were created by Ivan Ivanov, a former Bulgarian Greco-Roman Olympic athlete to train Olympic wrestlers. The originals are made of goat skin, filled with sand and padded with wool. Oh...and the US Navy SEALS use them too, so you know it's a workout.

I know. Plain old dumb bells and weights aren't enough...so I found this while surfing UFO videos on YouTube. Don't ask me how I went from aliens to Bulgarian Sand Bags, but I did.

Okay, new, and looking suspiciously like an awesome shoulder bag, the commercial versions of the Bulgarian Sand Bag cost about $150 to $250. But you can make your own for MUCH MUCH less. No, they won't look as sexy, and you'll get duct tape adhesive all over your hands, but think of all the money you'll save!


I have a video of the the "how-to" make your own below. I'll post a video of me making my own as soon as I can scrounge some inner tubes and dried beans. You can also use wood pellets, or mulch or whatever you can lift. Words cannot describe this thing, although here's a GREAT article by Joe Hashey on what the Bulgarian sand bag is and how to use it. Or scroll down a bit. I embedded Joe's video with Joe demonstrating the homemade bag in use. Seamstress types (male or female), feel free to whip out the sewing machine and encase the rubber in some durable vinyl or canvas if you don't want black marks on everything. Rubber inner tubes tend to leave skid marks. They're not hard to get up, but who needs the hassle?

So why all this weird equipment? Because I'm going to lose weight cheaply and with stuff that most people can either afford, or find or make themselves. A lot of people say you have to have expensive weight sets, or gym memberships...and while those are nice, what if you can't afford them? Joe has, by the way, some great tips on cheap weight equipment...including the sand bag.

And here's the workout. That's Joe in the video. No, I don't know him, but I'm impressed at how he can sling that bag around! If you can keep up with ALL 7 minutes of this, you'll be a limp rag on the floor I'm sure! Okay. Now go to Walmart, buy a truck innertube, some duct tape and zip ties and have a fun afternoon making various weight sand bags!!