CAMP PENDLETON – The Wounded Warrior Center at Camp Pendleton is utilizing old-fashioned sandbag training to assist service members going through rehabilitation. A vital component of the center is the Battalion’s Warrior Athletic Reconditioning – Program (WAR-P), where a state-of-the-art physical training facility and staff of sports specialists and coaches dedicate day-in and day-out to provide the best care available.

One of the most recent additions to this critical process of rehabilitation is the Portable Kettle Bell sandbag (PKB), a strength and conditioning tool designed to be used as a kettle bell or bar bell but without the danger of dropping a heavy, steel weight on your feet or other vulnerable part of the body.

"Not only is sand or even dirt way more readily available and less expensive – often free – than steel, it’s much Advertisement

[ Murrieta Volkswagen ] safer too," said John Rarity, founder of PKB sand bags. "There is also the important benefit of the shifting load of sand for strength training and conditioning."

The shifting of weight that occurs as you lift a bag of sand further stimulates and develops multiple muscle groups in ways that a solid weight cannot. Some refer to this as real-world or ecologically valid conditioning, where the distribution of weight of an object is not uniform or evenly distributed, e.g. a heavy bag of equipment, a crate of supplies, the human body, etc.

There are dozens of exercises where the PKB sandbag can be used to obtain a full-body workout without the need for multiple weights or concern for dropping a steel plate or barbell.

For more information on Wounded Warrior Center at Camp Pendleton, visit www.WoundedWarriorRegiment.org.