Benefits of Instability Exercises
At first glance, most people think that exercise is best done in a series of smooth, even repetitions, such as pedaling steadily on an exercise bicycle, jogging on a treadmill, and so on. The real fact is that although these exercises will increase your fitness, they will not unleash your full potential in either strength or endurance.
Their very regularity narrows their effect to a certain set of muscle groups. It is for this reason that most fitness enthusiasts are unable to match the combination of strength and endurance that farm workers, sailors, soldiers, and ranch hands often exhibit. The artificial limits of stable, unvarying exercises produce essentially “plasticized” fitness results. This is not the case with instability exercises, however, such as sandbag workouts.
Instability workouts involve using a weight which is lopsided or uneven in some way to force more of your muscles to work at each movement. Kettlebells, which are basically a large rounded weight with a loop-like handle, are one example of instability-based exercise equipment. Even more effective (and cheaper), sandbags also provide many of their unique fitness benefits because they are unstable and asymmetrical. The weight inside them will shift as you move them in unpredictable ways, compelling you to use a broader range of muscles to keep them in your grasp and move them where you want them.
The benefits ‘of instability exercise such as sandbag workouts include that they involve many more muscles than the standard, “symmetrical” exercises. Making a motion on a rowing machine will use precisely the same set of muscles in precisely the same way, over and over again. However, as the bags of sand shift and slide within their duffel bag container during sandbag exercises, with the weight changing unpredictably, you will use a different set of muscles each time you lift the sandbag, even if each lift is theoretically just another repetition of the same exercise.
Besides the thoroughness of muscular involvement noted above, instability exercises cause a more intense workout as well. Sandbag training works your muscles constantly because your body needs to adjust every second in order to keep the shifting bulk under control, balanced, and held where you want it. It is precisely because an instability exercise device is difficult to control that it works out your muscles more vigorously than the tame, easily controlled forces of an expensive exercise machine.
Those who work out with instability exercises will find their muscular strength and overall endurance increasing more rapidly than if they were using the limited muscle building of a gym. Their muscle tone will also be developed in a far better-rounded manner – no muscles will be left weak and underdeveloped. As such, your fitness will reach higher levels faster, and you will be better able to cope with the demands of actual physical labor and action as well.
