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Off-Topic Sandbag filler question

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GeoffreyLevens

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About to get my first bag. Curious if anyone here has used both sand and shredded rubber mulch as fillers so would have any comments on pluses/minuses of each, comparison...

The rubber mulch is mostly about 20% of the density of standard play sand to equal weight will require a MUCH bigger bag, which seems to me, mostly a plus. The main pluses though are no dust, a lot less wear on the bag, no worries about leakage/spilling/clean up. One minus could be that I suspect but don't know for sure, that the rubber will not slip/slide around as easily as sand so for equal %ag of volume filled, won't be as wobbly and floppy.

Comments? Thank you!
 
@GeoffreyLevens I used to use sand in my sandbags. After all, they are called SANDbags. However, no matter how I taped them or double/triple bagged, the sand would eventually start leaking through. I haven't tried rubber mulch, would be interesting to see how it works out. I recently got PEA PEBBLES from Home Depot (U.S.) which work pretty well. Costs is just shy of $5 per bag, with each bag weighing approx 45lbs. I know I didn't fully answer your question, but there's another idea to consider.
 
@TMorgan good idea! Dense almost like sand, no dust. My living room is my gym and I would imagine sand would be a bugger to get out of the carpet and would eventually migrate to my bed AAARRRRRGGGGH!!! I was a surf rat long enough to know what that's like :eek:
My concern there would just be the abrasiveness of them on the bag material. Sand has that a little, rubber mulch virtually none. Mountain Tactical Institute sells a bag designed to be used w/ the mulch. They started w/ stove pellets but got driven away from that by the dust; not something I'd want to be sucking deep into my lungs every session. BIG bag, holds 80 lbs of the rubber though in their demo vids that looks quite over full to me. They claims they have been using same bags, throwing, slamming, etc in their gym for 5 years with near zero wear issues
 
I think in short order (depending on how you train with them) you'll be looking for heavier fill instead of lighter. I mix steel ballast in with my sand.

Mostly I use tubesand, a somewhat coarse grade of rounded stone bits and ungraded sand. I have used pea gravel but that beat up the filler bags worse than regular sand.

Some leakage is to be expected, but if you don't overfill the bags it should be minimal. This will also extend the life of your bag quite a bit. I would stick with some form of regular sand, play sand, tube sand.

Unrelated, but you should get yourself an automatic awl for the inevitable repairs.
 
I've also tried pea gravel and found it worse than regular sand. I agree with @North Coast Miller that it's abrasive on the filler bags. I also find it doesn't feel as good as sand, and it actually generates a lot of fine dust from the gravel pieces grinding against each other that seems to find its way out of the bag worse than with sand.
 
You guys are driving me closer and closer to sand! A lot cheaper and more eco-groovy than shredded tires too :)
I've toyed with the option of buying seconds on the filler bags and using those as a bag in a bag.

If you remove the fillerbags and vaccum or blow out the bag every couple weeks/month you'll be in even better shape. If you really pound them some sand dust is going to escape but with normal use it takes a few before enough dust gets out of the filler bags and starts leaking from the outter shell.

I used to keep my bags tightly packed with rags and an inner burrito wrap of carpet, but prefer to have them a little more shifty now.
 
@North Coast Miller It's been a couple months since you mentioned buying a REP V2 sandbag. Still liking them as much?

I've been eyeing Mountain Tactical's sand fill sand bag which is probably similar size to the V2 medium. Costs a bit more though the REP site says do not "slam" while in email response, MTI told me theirs is designed to be thrown and slammed; that distinction of course could just be advertising/psychology. The MTI bag only has a single filler bag, just a hair smaller than the outer bag.
 
This just in from Rogue via email exchange
Your options are pretty large all things considered. One of my heavy bags is packed with sand and bits of rags, is a big 100lber, probably 3x the size of my 100lb sandbag.

If I had my way, I'd use 75lb size bags filled with round steel ballast, maybe even spring for stainless. Is 2x as heavy by volume compared to sand.

There's something to be said for large unstable bags, but at some point it limits what you can actually use it for. The smaller bags are the most versatile in terms of handling, but also too light for some applications.

The nice thing about having some slop room is the bag can be easily and quickly rebalanced. If its packed tighter and gets out of whack you have to go in and roust it around.
 
@North Coast Miller It's been a couple months since you mentioned buying a REP V2 sandbag. Still liking them as much?

I've been eyeing Mountain Tactical's sand fill sand bag which is probably similar size to the V2 medium. Costs a bit more though the REP site says do not "slam" while in email response, MTI told me theirs is designed to be thrown and slammed; that distinction of course could just be advertising/psychology. The MTI bag only has a single filler bag, just a hair smaller than the outer bag.
Am still liking the V2 bags, they are a great buy for the money. If I were to upgrade (again) it would be for the Goruck bags, their reputation for toughness is unsurpassed.

My older Cerus bags appear to have been upgraded with kevlar stitching, so also a possibility. I really only bought the RepFitness ones because I needed bigger bags.

My issue with the MTI bags is they only have one orientation of handles and the bag has to be tied shut. Also not sure how heavy they can be loaded. All depends on how you plan on using them.
 
The MTI sand filled bag claims up to 80 lbs but judging from their vids, that is stuffed too full and is pretty rigid. So I'd say more 60-70 lbs max. Only their rubber filled bags need tying. The sand ones have a roll it up and strap buckle closure.

Their demo vid queued up where they show the closure for the outer bag. Inner bag is earlier in the vid but is just plain velcro

MTI Sandbag 2

 
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The MTI sand filled bag claims up to 80 lbs but judging from their vids, that is stuffed too full and is pretty rigid. So I'd say more 60-70 lbs max. Only their rubber filled bags need tying. The sand ones have a roll it up and strap buckle closure.

Their demo vid queued up where they show the closure for the outer bag. Inner bag is earlier in the vid but is just plain velcro

MTI Sandbag 2

Sounds like they've upgraded a bit, they used to just have one kind.

If using it for metcon type workouts, 80lbs will be a good weight. As you get more into power, carries, heavier grind work you'll want a bag at least half your bodyweight if not 2/3, but there will always be a place for a lighter bag or two.
 
⅔ my bodyweight is only 80 lbs. Yup, If I were younger, stronger, faster, a better fighter, maybe a little bigger too, I might have given Mighty Mouse Johnson a serious challenge for the title.
 
I do like the looks of the Cerus bag. A lot can be done with photos but this looks like a lot of thought was put into the design. The filler bags look much more finished than those of the Rep V2 bags
 
I do like the looks of the Cerus bag. A lot can be done with photos but this looks like a lot of thought was put into the design. The filler bags look much more finished than those of the Rep V2 bags

The closure on the two is pretty much identical. The RepFitness large filler bags are full length, the Cerus are smaller but have handles stitched in as a bonus. Construction design wise they are pretty much the same, not sure about material specifics. I recently emptied my Cerus bags, sent em through the washing machine and reinforced the handles and some of the end seams. From here on out I'll just repair my bags - the Cerus ones are 3 years old with a lot of work, I really can't complain.

RepFitness reinforced the stress points on the handles with rivets but long-term am not sure how well that works, time will tell. An automatic awl and a lighter (to melt hanging or sprung stitching) are about all you'd need to keep any bag in action.


I had conversation with a man who uses his on pavement, he claimed only his Goruck are holding up well to the abrasion, they also cost 2x...
 
@North Coast Miller Thank you! Good to know about the similarities. I just emailed RepFitness to ask if they would sell me a medium size, which usually comes with only 1 large and 1 small filler bag, and sub out the small one for a bigger one. It would be well worth it I think for the few dollars it would likely cost. Might even get a 3rd filler bag at same time so easier for more options on weight.

I would be using mine in my living room, carpet covered by a rubber pad (one of the joys of single life HAH!). If I took it outdoors it would be for carries only I think so baring the unforeseen, it would never know what is below (I'm a poet too)
 
@North Coast Miller Thank you! Good to know about the similarities. I just emailed RepFitness to ask if they would sell me a medium size, which usually comes with only 1 large and 1 small filler bag, and sub out the small one for a bigger one. It would be well worth it I think for the few dollars it would likely cost. Might even get a 3rd filler bag at same time so easier for more options on weight.

I would be using mine in my living room, carpet covered by a rubber pad (one of the joys of single life HAH!). If I took it outdoors it would be for carries only I think so baring the unforeseen, it would never know what is below (I'm a poet too)

I used mine in the living room for years, on a rubber fatigue mat.
Most of my Cerus filler bags are now used for vehicle weight in the Winter, bought a half dozen Rep Fitness large bags to replace them in my Cerus outer bags.

FWIW, the Cerus bags are a little bigger than RepFit medium. 70lbs is about tops, the Cerus bag can hold about 80.

The RepFit large easily holds 120lbs.
 
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FWIW, the Cerus bags are a little bigger than RepFit medium. 70lbs is about tops, the Cerus bag can hold about 80.
Probably packed pretty tight at 80 I'd guess? I'd most likely get the RepFit medium. Not only am I "small" but I'm also "old" (71) and just not into chasing it very hard. I'm much more about long term, very slow but steady, lighter more frequent training. I make a core blaster and was swinging as much as 80 lbs (2H) for sets of 8 for awhile but really, 24 kilos feels much more reasonable somehow and I seem to feel better after the lighter weight workout than with heavier. Same awhile ago when I was working w/ barbell. I enjoyed 10X10 deadlifts much more than 5X5 (at appropriate weights) and felt a lot better all the time.
 
Probably packed pretty tight at 80 I'd guess? I'd most likely get the RepFit medium. Not only am I "small" but I'm also "old" (71) and just not into chasing it very hard. I'm much more about long term, very slow but steady, lighter more frequent training. I make a core blaster and was swinging as much as 80 lbs (2H) for sets of 8 for awhile but really, 24 kilos feels much more reasonable somehow and I seem to feel better after the lighter weight workout than with heavier. Same awhile ago when I was working w/ barbell. I enjoyed 10X10 deadlifts much more than 5X5 (at appropriate weights) and felt a lot better all the time.

The Rep Fit medium will be a perfect fit. I bought one for my son about 2 years ago and that's what made me appreciate the brand, everything about it was just that little bit better than the Cerus bags being made at the time.
 
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