Best sandbags (for weighted training)

Anyone have a recommended sandbag bag/duffle for training? Lots of articles reviewing these online of course, but I was wondering if anyone had any really affordable (~$20), yet functional recommendations.

For context, back in high school I put together a 75lb sandbag using a military duffel I bought for about $15. It didn't have as many handles as all the new fancy ones and was a bit too large in volume. Sold that years ago and am on the prowl again. I may end up getting one of those built-for-exercise sandbags as some of them keep are a tight enough weave to keep even fine sand in.

Thanks!

I bought a big army duffel at the surplus store for $10 and filled it with rubber mulch. I don't have to worry about the sand leaking and it has a better shape to work with.

I doubt you can do it for $20, but dive shops will have stainless "shot" usually in 2 or 3lbs mesh bags (lower right in photo).  Much cleaner, easier to pick the weight you want and you can use any existing pack.  They also sell dive-belts for them, which is what I have and is really nice for weighted climbing, but you can't put on 75lbs.

I use 25 lb. bags of birdshot in a sturdy old backpack. 

What are you doing with a duffel bag full of sand? This sounds more like a jiujitsu thing than climbing.

The dive belt and birdshot are interesting options. They don't seem super affordable unfortunately unless I'm looking in the wrong place for birdshot. May need to look more into the rubber mulch to see how much volume that would be.

J C wrote:

What are you doing with a duffel bag full of sand? This sounds more like a jiujitsu thing than climbing.

I'm mainly using it for squats and lunges, get-ups, and maybe loading it into a pack for stairs/hills. I see it as a fairly versatile tool that's also affordable. For context, I did a couple cycles of the Uphill Athlete's "Steve House's Eiger North Face Training Plan" last year and am starting it again. I have a 35lb kettlebell, 7 gallon water jug, and random heavy objects. While I was able to load a pack up and make all the exercises work, I wasn't always able to hit the weight values I wanted. In my mind I think a reasonably shaped sandbag with removable filler bags (for changing the weight) may do the trick, but interested to hear other thoughts.

The onnit sandbag might be a little more than you want to spend, but it’s the best one I’ve used.

My weighted training consists almost exclusively of weighted pull ups and fingerboard. At first I used a big pack, but a couple years ago I made a set of rocks with a bolt in them to hang from a harness. 

For weighted hill climbs, I've always used rocks from the location then dumped at the top.

I think a set of rocks would be a cheap way to get some heavy weight in a pack. Anything besides rock or iron just isn't dense enough, and you end cup fighting the volume rather than the resistance. Could totally understand wanting a big heavy sandbag for certain exercises, just not the things I do the most.