Aaron Donald's pass rush workout
Anytime you can learn from the best, do it. That's why for this week's D-Line Examples I'll be breaking a pass rush workout Aaron Donald uses to improve his fundamentals. Enjoy!
Warm up the legs
First thing Aaron does in his workout is warm up his lower body with lateral & vertical movement utilizing bags so he doesn't pull a muscle. Here are his warm up exercises. Remember, finish all these drills with a 3-yard burst.
One foot in (1 rep each side)
2 feet in (1 rep each side)
Lateral shuffle hip flip (1 rep each side)
Lateral step over (1 rep each direction)
Footwork gauntlet
Next, Aaron utilizes a drill that running backs typically use to improve his change of direction, foot speed & conditioning.
Here's a break down of each part of the drill...
Ring steps (right out, left out, right in, left in 2 reps)
Icky shuffle (1 rep)
Hurdle explosion (2 reps)
Icky shuffle (1 rep)
Ring steps (right out, left out, right in, left in 2 reps)
Speed burst finish (1 rep)
Tennis ball drill (2 reps each side)
Aaron Donald then improves his get off with the tennis ball drill. Have a partner hold a ball and line up 5 yards away. When your partner drops the ball, get off and catch it off of one bounce.
As you improve, line up 6, 7 & 8 yards aways and if you don't grab the ball off the first bounce, start over from the beginning and try to get it again.
Hands drill
Lastly, Aaron hones his pass rush moves with the hands drill. To execute this drill line up 1-2 yards from a pop up, tree or pole. Next, close distance, work your move, flip your hips & run run reach with your outside hand. Here's the moves Aaron likes to work...
The swipe (10 reps each side): When going against a high hand puncher use the swipe to deflect his hands
The chop club (10 reps each side): When going against a low hand guy, take one step, block the low hand with a chop and club the back of the shoulder pad.
With all these drills it's about repetition. Even Aaron Donald didn't know how to do these the first time he practiced them, but he kept practicing over and over and got better.
Eventually these drills will become second nature & that's where you dominate!
That's all for this week! See ya soon!
And whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
Learn how to develop top tier pass rushers and a lethal pass rush attack here (1,000+ students)
Learn how to turn your D-Line into a block destruction machine here (1,100+ students)
-Craig