One of the most useful and brutal pieces of DIY home gym equipment you can build on your own is this DIY strongman sandbag. Requiring strength and agility to pickup. These bags can be used for running, heavy carries, bear hug challenges, and more. And thankfully nowadays you have a couple options when it comes to building your own. First there is the “fill it yourself” bag options for around $90-100 with sand. There is also an easy and cheap design allowing you to make sandbags weighing 100-250+lbs for about $50 a piece. This includes everything you need to build your own DIY sandbag for your home gym. I’ll go over both options below!
Quick Links:
Buy the Bag and Fill
Build Your Own
DIY Strongman Sandbag Options
Buy The Bag
IronMind makes an awesome fill it yourself, DIY strongman sandbag with their Tough as Nails Sandbag Set.
IronMind Tough as Nails Sandbag Set
Link: Click Here
Price: $69.99
Size: 24” x 36”
Weight Capacity: 300lbs
Details: Brand used at Strongman World Championship
Build Your Own
What you will need for your DIY Strongman Sandbag:
- Play Sand – 50lb bag (as many as you need) $6 per bag
- Scale – For weighing your sand.
- Bucket / Large Bowl / Cup – To weigh and fill your bags to exact weight.
- Construction / Demo Bags – Strong 3mm-7mm construction bags to hold the play sand. $10 – $21
- Duct Tape – Used to seal the sand in the construction bads. $5 – $10
- Zip Ties – Used to help hold the laundry or duffel bag closed. $5 – $10
- Military Duffle Bag – Holds the final product. $20.99
- Box Cutter / Knife – For cutting open the play sand bags (see instructions).
Step 1 – Purchasing All the Material
I’ve included links to everything you will need above. A couple things about the play sand. First, it’s much cheaper at Home Depot than through Amazon. And second, the bags don’t always weigh 50lbs. So you may want to purchase 1 extra bag. At around $6 per bag, it’s not a big spend.
Step 2 – Setting Up Your Bags
This is an important first step. You want to place 2+ construction bags inside each other for extra strength. Then place those bags inside your laundry or duffle bag. You want to fill the constriction bags with the play sand while inside the duffle. Placing it afterwards can be a pain. And this also allows you to keep the top of the constriction bags and duffle in the same place. This is the weekend park of the bag. But knowing where it is makes it easy not to drop it on that spot.
Step 3 – Weigh Your Play Sand
Depending on the weight you are looking for, you can start by weighing the sand in the bags they come in. I’m making a 100lb bag, and each bag is roughly 5lbs short, 10lbs short in total. So I weigh 10lbs from a third bag into a separate bucket. Now I’m ready for the next step.
Step 4 – Fill The Bag with Play Sand
To fill your bag simply stand the bag(s) upright. Then place the first whole play sand bay into the construction bags. Now use the razor to cut the bottom of the play sand bag allowing it to fall out into the construction bags as you pull the bag packaging up. Now repeat for any other whole bags you have. And finally adding any extra sand needed from the bucket you weighed it in.
Step 5 – Tie Off The Construction Bags
Next you’re going to tie off the construction bags individually. With the innermost bag first, you will spin the top closed as tight as possible. Creating a rat tail. Using the zip ties, place 1 -2 at the bottom (closest to the full bag) of the rat tale to keep it cinched tight. Then use the duct tape to wrap the rat tale tightly. Lastly, duct tape the rate tail to the side of the inner bag. Now repeat with any other construction bags.
Step 6 – Close the Duffel
If you use the duffle provided in the link, you will use 8-10 zip ties to cinch the top of the duffel shut. Then covering the zip ties in duct tape to protect them from any damage hitting the ground.
Step 7 – Get to Work!
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a HEAVY sandbag with 150+lbs, then the IronMind Sandbag Set is a really solid choice. It will hold up to a beating and save you the repair costs over time. On the other hand, if you are looking for something 45-150lbs then building your own can save you money. And you could build 2 sandbags at different weights, for the price of buying one of the IronMind sets.
