05-15-21 01:34 PM - Post#910368    

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!

05-16-21 09:01 AM - Post#910379    

When I made mine I used firewood pellets that were easily found when I lived in a colder climate than I'm in now. Plus a bag of pellets wasn't that expensive and a lot easier to clean up than sand.

05-16-21 10:16 AM - Post#910383    

Thanks SpiderLegs

Pretty much set on sand now. The Mountain Tactical Institute folks designed a BIG bag to be used w/ stove pellets but found that over time the dust became intolerable. Not something I'd want to be pulling deep into my lungs every session, esp after watching my father gasping with COPD even when just sitting still.

Inquiry to Rogue confirmed(since they sell rubber filler material) my "intuition" is that rubber mulch does not slide around nearly as well as sand so you'd end up with a lot stiffer bag. For my purposes, floppy sounds better.

05-16-21 11:42 AM - Post#910387    

I buy playground sand, that really fine stuff. Here is my theory on sandbags and all the options:

It's not IF the bag is going to break and spread all that crap everywhere, it is WHEN.

Upside of playground sand is that is "invisible" within a few days of dumping it in most places that I have had bags break: sidewalk, street, back alley and grass.

Everything else becomes an eyesore or general pain.

I know it is a small thing, but that's why I use it.

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

05-16-21 01:05 PM - Post#910389    

Go to a bank and tell 'em to fill it up?
Hey, I got the mask already!

Life's too short to worry about longevity.

Sandbag filler question
05-16-21 04:23 PM - Post#910394    

Here is a video of Ross Enamait talking about filling his bags with rubber mulch. He has very good content regarding sandbag-training, IMO.

Link to the video on Youtube.

Edited by Pepper on 05-16-21 04:23 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

05-17-21 11:02 AM - Post#910426    

Pepper, thanks for the Enamait link. Always appreciate his views

Neader, I was thinking steel shot for ballast but coins would be grand though even pennies would be more expensive than the shot. At gun point though, they'd be free. For a while

05-17-21 06:00 PM - Post#910439    

For training outside, you might consider building a water bag as well. Ross has mentioned that somewhere and I thought that might be a cool thing to lift. Painful, but fun.

05-18-21 05:48 PM - Post#910465    

This sounds insane, but I wonder if you could fill a bag with old books or papers? I've decluttered and got rid of a lot lately, and the boxes weighed a ton taking them out. 15-20-year old computer manuals, giant stacks of A4 paper filling old ring binders, "pulp fiction". I realise I've had an old POD climbing rucksack in the loft for 20 years which would be great for this too - right shape to hug. Going to play with this.


I guess it's 50/50 whether an odd corner helps you get a grip, or sticks into your ribs.

05-19-21 10:57 AM - Post#910478    

• Old Miler Said:

I'd guess stick into your ribs but only one way to know for certain. I do think much depends on whether hardcover or softcover.

Too expensive but I love the idea of using small round steel balls, like shotgun "shot" from ammunition load-your-own places. Should flow around very smoothly in the bag and make a pleasant sound as well. Lowest price I found was well over $1/lb and then you have to add shipping to that.

I did order the Rep Fit medium. They would not substitute filler bag they said because far too busy with massive influx of orders to take time to break up a pkg and switch. So I just added a large filler bag for $10 to the order. Since they are in state, only about 250 miles away, I should get it this afternoon!

05-21-21 12:23 PM - Post#910530    

Pea gravel has worked great for me. It's more coarse than sand and has a nice feel to it when you grab the bag.

Problem I have with sand is that it just ends up in a big hard lump in one end of the bag, it doesn't move around. Maybe it's to do with the damp weather in the UK.

My workout log

05-22-21 09:19 AM - Post#910571    

• Ville Said:

Sounds right. I've read a number of places "dry, play sand" for fill or just in general talking about weight of the product. Where I live, humidity varies but mostly is only around 20-25% I think. Where I used to live, coastal NorCal, if you open a bag of tortilla chips and leave them open awhile, they get soggy. Here they get more crisp than when they were fresh!

05-25-21 07:59 AM - Post#910619    

• Ville Said:

I'm not a fan of this aspect either. Placing multiple smaller bags of sand into the main bag helps a little, but I am thinking of using torn up rags or maybe rubber mulch as a 'filler' so the bags don't slide around so much. The other option is to jam the bag so full that there's no moving around to be done, but I'm not that strong enough yet...

05-25-21 11:36 AM - Post#910635    

• Rupert J. Nebblesworth III Said:

Part of the "charm" of sandbags though is just that sliding around, floppy quality, that makes them harder to manipulate and control.