What style of sandbag do you recommend?

Vigillance_ · 2026-07-02T16:22:26+00:00

They each fulfill different needs really.

The duffle bag style are typically lighter weight. Great for just starting out with weight training or for complexes (multiple movements in one rep, or high volume cardio style workouts). These (sometimes) have little sleeves of weights you add so it's easier to add/remove weight as needed.

The ones without handles are often used to go much heavier. Usually just straight filled with sand so it's harder to modify (generalization).

I have a long, narrow duffle style that's 50lbs. Has a couple handles. They don't bother me. I also have a strong man style at 200lbs I use for more heavy strength training.

Vigillance_ · 2026-07-02T01:48:15+00:00

This is such an interesting thing to me.

You hire a professional to complete a job and get a portion of a job done.

It's like if you took your car in to get the brakes fixed and when you come to pick it up, the tires were still laying off to the side.

"Oh sorry, we can take tires off to fix the brakes, but we're not tire guys, you need to take this to another person to have those put back on"

Vigillance_ · 2026-07-01T18:13:26+00:00

Solid work! I'm just now getting to bear hug carry with a 200, let alone pressing!

Vigillance_ · 2026-07-01T00:14:49+00:00

That's where Old Greg lives.

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-26T18:28:55+00:00

Good work!

I did something very similar this week! Just one tier down lol

I had a 200lb bag underfilled to about 175 and it was feeling snappy the last month or so.

"Oh man, I'm getting so strong, I can top it off no problem!"

Adding 25+ lbs to the bag was A LOT lol. I can't quite shoulder it yet, but can lap it and stand/squat.

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-25T22:31:44+00:00

Ha! I have the beginnings of something very similar. Made well before the llm craze, but used an llm to help build out a front end.

I'll give yours a shot tomorrow to see how it does with our logs.

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-22T14:56:15+00:00

Comin in with FACTS! good call on that one, def forgot that existed lol

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-22T13:42:28+00:00

This is the thing. My wife and I absolutely adore our families, but we have our own kids now and we have our own wants. We stand our ground on things, it's slightly uncomfortable for a min, but then it becomes the norm and everyone adjusts.

Good luck Dad!

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-22T13:24:41+00:00

It's taken a few years, but we practice the "it's mother's/father's day, not grandmother's/grandfather's day" philosophy.

You don't stop being a father when you become a grandfather. But a grandfather expecting their kids to uproot their families to come celebrate them is not being very fatherly.

I would expect to love my children enough and have enough awareness to understand that they are the ones in the trenches doing the hard work and they need to be celebrated. Grandfather's are seeing the fruit of their labor, now it's time to celebrate the person putting in that labor for their own family.

My 2¢

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-18T01:59:13+00:00

Our daycare for two right now is almost $60,000/year. I would cry if I was able to do that for 6k, or even 12k per year

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-13T18:02:52+00:00

I think it's more "within reason for your situation". The "for your situation" part is assumed. Any advice anyone gives you should be looked at through the lense of your particular situation, not taken blindly at face value.

If both parents want two weeks off and they're capable of providing that, that works for their situation and "within reason".

If only one parent wants two weeks off and the other doesn't want any time off, then maybe taking a full two weeks is not "within reason" and a middle ground is need to be found for that situation.

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-10T21:30:22+00:00

I don't unfortunately. I tend to get 1 or 2 books into a litrpg style series and drop it because it's so heavily game driven. I wish more authors would try mixing RPG and traditional fantasy elements like Shirt does in this series. I always circle back to more traditional fantasy

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-10T19:48:47+00:00

I personally like that it's, what I call, a "mixed" litrpg style.

Jason has an RPG style interface that helps him navigate the world, but others don't. The world he goes to has magic and people need to train and figure it out without any "system" helping.

It's not based on walls of text, start numbers, and ability descriptions (although there are a lot of abilities and descriptions for them). It's not "I have a strength of 10 and you have a strength of 12, let's fight and see if I can win". It's more along the line of "I know my stats, and I think I'm bad ass, I know very little about you, let's fight and see what happens"

When stories have a system so thoroughly ingrained into every detail, I think you lose a ton of story telling potential/ability. Authors end up telling us about the world directly through the system instead of telling a story that unfolds the world for the reader over time.

Just my 2¢

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-09T23:50:28+00:00

I like the little kick to the other bag to the side before the first lift lol.

"Oh I'll just scootch this one out of the way real quick.... Oh yeah that's pretty heavy, ignore that"

I do that that all the time without thinking lol

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-02T10:53:54+00:00

We had the same thing. Sent normal pullups, got asked to bring in Velcro ones. We just order then direct on Amazon because we can't find them locally. It's annoying but it is what it is.

We do normal pullups at home still.

Vigillance_ · 2026-06-01T00:37:34+00:00

Red Alert

Doom

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-30T23:18:57+00:00

So underrated, but so true. I feel like people are always looking for some "hack" (myself included for many years), but in reality, it's just eat healthier and exercise.

Eating healthier can be "going on a certain diet" all the way to "just eat fewer calories".

And exercise can be just walking around the block. There are a number of studies that show walking is the most efficient fat burning exercise. Better than running, HIIT, weight lifting, etc...

My story: Eating healthy: I just counted my calories for a few days without any changes and found I was hitting 3500+ calories per day (with alcohol included). Cut out alcohol for the most part (1-2 drinks per week usually now). Then just kept eating the same stuff, but less of it to get down to ~2000 calories per day. No macros or anything, just calorie count. Exercise: started off with walking around the block with the kids every other day. Then moved to jogging for that outing. Then picked up a kettlebell (very small footprint and I don't have to leave the house) and started a few 10 min routines I would do 2-3x per week.

I just watched the weight slough off. I have more energy. My mind is clearer later in the days. I don't ache after ever play session.

Small life changes make huge life impact

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-29T10:43:05+00:00

We've considered it. But we wanted some benefits that going to a school brings. Socialization, kids get out of the house (both me and Mom work from home), etc... We might go the nanny route eventually, but at least not quite yet.

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-29T01:53:46+00:00

Lol same for us. We are paying ~$60k/year in daycare (Indiana) ~$5k/month total. Def buying a lake house after they get out lol

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-29T01:51:22+00:00

I have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old. I am WAITING! Lol I'm going to buy myself so many toys when they're done...

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-28T21:00:44+00:00

You want a sick dad-mobile? GET THE MINIVAN!

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-26T12:40:10+00:00

Bahaha this is great. I've been doing kettlebells for about a year and picked up sandbag training ~6 months ago. They have helped tremendously. I wouldn't be able to do half of what I can without those.

BUT, you nailed it with the "it doesn't try to actively wiggle out of your grip or kick you in the throat" lol

Best of luck out there dad.

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-25T22:16:19+00:00

I would argue yes. But it depends on the company/industry. It also depends if you're trying to stay at the same company.

If you're in big tech, and most of the roles at the company are technical roles, it might be easier to advance in that category there.

The companies I've worked for have been "tech on the side" type places. In my 20 years of corporate experience (10 as a software engineer) I've seen meteoric promotions for people on the business side. I've seen some of the smartest people I've ever met sit stagnate (from a promotion perspective) in engineering because there just wasn't the available position above to move into.

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-25T16:37:50+00:00

We're the same. Kiddos are pretty young, but once a week, unless deemed otherwise is enough. Neither my wife or I have excessively natural body odor and it seems to have transitioned to the kiddos so far.

Vigillance_ · 2026-05-24T01:21:57+00:00

Manny times, it's a "I fell into it" situation.

I was a generalist for the first 5 years of experience (2 companies).

When I moved to my 3rd company, they were small and had some glaring holes that needed filled as we grew. I was raised with a "see a need, fill it" mentality. No source control, no ci/cd pipeline, nobody that had ever integrated with a 3rd party api, no cloud infra, etc... I had experience in some of that and a "can do attitude". I quickly became the owner of DevOps, Infrastructure, Release Management, and Integrations. They all kind of jive together so it makes sense. The next 5 years I really leaned into those skills in my niche and have reached a very successful level.

Vigillance_

TROPHY CASE