The Redskins Blog

Brian Orakpo's Workout Is Predictably Impressive

Linebacker Brian Orakpo recently launched a website, BrianOrakpo.com. It’s still a bit of a work in progress (as these things tend to be at launch), but there’s at least one interesting tidbit of information in the first post on the Blogs section: the workout that Orakpo credits with powering his stellar rookie year.

It is, needless to say, not something that I’d be able to do routinely. Or at all. Check it out:

You feel the weight of a 45 pound vest bearing down on you as you exert maximum effort until you are out of breath. You don’t stop your sprint until you reach the top of the hill. It feels hell, but you still have nine more left.

This is my favorite workout and it helped me produce a monstrous rookie season in 2009 with the Washington Redskins. I finished with 11 sacks, a Redskins rookie record and the most of any rookie in the league. At the end of the season, I finished fourth among all rookies for the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year award. I also earned a spot on the NFC Pro Bowl team. This year I plan to do better.

Every Monday, I complete the grueling set of sprints and plyometrics up a hill near my home in Leesburg, VA. It consists of 10 sprints, five side laterals to the left, five side laterals to the right, five backward pedals, five forward lunges and five backward lunges. I finish the workout with five more sprints.

Yep. Sprints, up a hill, wearing a 45 pound weight vest, in the occasionally scorching Leesburg heat. Then again, ask Alex Barron what it does for the guy.

Anyhow, there’s a lot of promise in this site. Orakpo’s an interesting dude, and if he keeps this updated it’ll be a must-read.