It is about as rare as a unicorn, but once every blue moon, I come across a targeted ad on Social Media that is tempting me to make a purchase.

A few weeks ago, I experienced one of these special moments, when I came across a sponsored Instagram video of a ripped dude overhead squatting with a water-filled bar in the style of a CrossFit sandbag.

I have been working out with a personal trainer consistently for the past 15 months, to a point where I started to look and feel a difference.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong currently is experiencing the “third wave” of the COVID-19 outbreak, all fitness centers have been closed for the past six weeks, and it might take some more until a regular gym workout is possible again.

So, if I do not want to lose my newly acquired arm, back, and chest muscles, I got to step up my home workouts.

Things 2020 brought: WFH (Working from Home) and WOFH (Working Out From Home)

WFH is possibly the acronym of the year, but WOFH became a thing too. As with working from home, working out from home has some advantages (no commuting, no queuing for equipment, no exposure to evil viruses) and disadvantages (videos replacing coaches, making do with less than ideal material, relying entirely on your intrinsic motivation).

Luckily, I have a small private rooftop, two Kettlebells (one too light, one too heavy), a suspension trainer, a mini balance board, and an Everlast Hydrostrike Heavy Bag (Amazon Affiliate Link, if you consider to get one and want to support Life-Sparring). However, I still lack the hardware for some staple exercises.

Seeing the promo video mentioned made it seem quite sensible to add a 20kg Aqua Bag to my rooftop gym to continue working on my deadlift form and adding double arm curls to my fitness regime, amongst other exercises.

As I would recommend to anyone falling for an Instagram ad, I checked out the website of the company behind the promo video first. Earned Athletic is the brainchild of famed HK based CrossFit champ Ant Haynes, his gym-owning brother Ed and another CrossFit guy. They started posting content in May of this year, so apparently, it is a brand-new venture, maybe driven by COVID-Boredom.

At HK$ 450 / US$ 58 inclusive free shipping within Hong Kong, the price of the Aqua Bag was fair, in line with similar offers on Amazon.com, where the “Tidal Tank” (Another Amazon Affiliate Link) seems to be the best-selling comparable product at US$ 59.

After making sure, I was not getting ripped off, I went ahead and placed my order. As the Aqua Bag was a preorder, I had two weight three weeks until the parcel showed up at my doorstep.

Filling-Up and Getting Started

Just receiving the parcel shows why water-filled equipment is so appealing. The mailer box for the 20kg (44 lbs) bag is tiny and barely weighs 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs).

There is much of an unboxing to talk about: a brown mailer box with a large Earned Logo, the bag, an insert card, and the pump to fill up the remaining space in the bag with air. It is as straightforward as it gets.

I watched the how-to video in preparation, so filling up the back was not much of a challenge. If the valve is in the right position, you can’t do much wrong here. Push the valve pin in by attaching the connector and start filling the bag with water.

The way the Aqua Bag works is that you fill water to the mark that corresponds with your desired target weight. The 20kg Aqua Bag has markings for 5kg, 10kg, and 15 kg.

If you don’t fill it to the brin but stop at one of the marks mentioned above, you use the included foot pump to fill up the remaining space with air.

As with all inflatable products, the tricky moment is pulling out the adapter and closing the valve. No matter how hard I try, some air always escapes. So with just 15kg of water filling, the bag bends slightly when you lift it, and the movement of the water from side to side ads an element of balancing to the exercise you are doing. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, as balancing challenges your core. However, it felt pretty strange at first.

With a full filling to 20kg, the Aqua Bag resembles a firmly filled sandbag. Two sets of horizontal and vertical grips offer different ways to handle the bag.

The Verdict: Not Perfect, but a Good Compromise in Difficult Times

Is the Aqua Bag the perfect workout equipment? No, but we living in a time were good compromises are worth a lot.

Just like it would have been challenging to haul a heavy bag filled with sand or cloth to my roof, a barbell or even a real CrossFit sandbag would be not very practicable.

The Aqua Bag is a decent replacement that can be used for a wide range of exercises: squats, lunges, deadlifts, curls, or cleans.

With the option to fill the bag to a different level, you can cover a range of weights, obviously not between sets, but to match your training progress. Drained, you can store the bag easily or even take if on a trip.

While I like the handling of the bag better when filled up, I can see myself getting used to balancing the semi-filled Aqua Bag too.

My only concern is durability. For a US$ 60 price tag, I would be disappointed if my Aqua Bag starts leaking anytime soon. Only time will tell if it stands up to the aging test.

How are you holding up during these crazy times? Did you add some COVID fat rolls or managed to finally fit a regular morning workout in your schedule, without the commute to the office? How does your home gym setup look?