And now, the famous Bavarian, or is it Bohemian sandbags

TA DA!!!! Presenting the; what's this

called again?

The Balgarian Exercise Bag. Ok, so what's this all about and why is it a featured item on the Corhnole Gallary?

Well, I think the big deal is that a group of people actually use them for their exercise program. The actual proper use is done by Blue Chip Strength group and they are at http://www.bluechipstrength.com/ . There you will find the links to YouTube to see how to use these bags.

But the real fun is in the making of the bags. My son, the personal trainer, ordered about 20 bags, each to weigh 15 pounds each.

The first pair were for him and they weighed 25 pounds per bag.

I wanted to post this a couple weeks ago, but missed the boat when he took all of them when they were finished before I could get a picture of them. My fault. Well, now he needed one more at 15 pounds and two for the grandaughters at 5 pounds each. I managed to get a picture before he nabbed them.

As mentioned, the fun is in the making of them. You need blue jeans worthy of being cut up, nylon wire ties, duck tape, wide adhesive tape (the white medical stuff) and of course, enough dry playsand for whatever weight you are making.

Cut the legs off jeans way up near the crotch. Grab the end with you hand and wire tie this section off as it is now to be a handle on one end. There is another handle on the other end as well. Take the duck tape and wrap it around the part you designated as the handle and then wrap it again with the medical tape.

Now you have a bag of sorts. A denim bag ready to load up with sand. Figure out how you are going to weigh it out then put the appropriate weight into the pants leg. Wire tie, duck tape and medical tape just as you had done previously, only this time the bag will be finished.

The sand should be free to shift around inside the bag so the weight moves about. Don't know exactly why, but the trainer wants it this way.

We later figured out that it might be better to put the sand into a plastic bag, such as the bags from all the stores when you shop, or perhaps a large freezer bag. The reason is the sand releases a dust right through the denim and can be annoying to the user.

Nonetheless, this is a good workout. I played around in my driveway with one of the bags and it got pretty tiring after a short while.

It you got any instructions from YouTube or have heard others making them, they probably used a automobile tire rubber inner tube. This is what they are using on web to make the Balgarian bag, but the cost is very high for a quanity of them. Besides, an inner tube is for much more weight and we simply did not need that kind of weight. So once we get the dust issue under control, these will work just fine.

In case you were wondering about the cost? Jeans are half price at Unique on LSB in Willowick on Mondays, and sand is around three dollars for 50 pounds at Lowes. Wire ties are cheap at Harbor Freight as well as their gray tape, but it is not really Duck brand, which I prefer. Medical tape is reasonable at Dollar General. So all together, 20 bags probably cost under $50 and took a couple hours.

It is a good workout.

Stay safe this weekend and God Bless America. Bless our troops and bring them home.