This story is part of Men’s Health‘sNFL Strong 2026 package, a series of stories that explore how athletes build and maintain strength for the ultra-physical game of football. Read all the stories here.
FOOTBALL’S OFFSEASON CAN feel long. But that doesn’t mean NFL players haven’t kept fans engaged. Because this summer, the era of NFL training #content officially arrived. Throughout the offseason, players, teams and top NFL trainers alike have been posting their best, most explosive workouts across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And fans and fitness junkies alike have fallen in love with the new class of workout clips.
It’s a new brand of fitness content, with some of the world’s biggest, strongest, fastest athletes showing you exactly how they’re pushing to get even bigger, stronger, and faster. (Twenty-four of those athletes made our fourth annual MH Strong All-Pro team too. Check it out here.) And that means a wide array of exercises that build strength, power, and explosive athleticism.
Sure, many of these moves (see: Rams RB Blake Corum’s highlight reel) are super specialized and don’t serve a purpose for your training. But you still can mine these NFL clips for fitness lessons. Here are five tips we picked up:
Get Twitchy
RB BLAKE CORUM rushed for 746 yards and six touchdowns on 145 carries in a breakout 2025 season, and he oozes explosive power. His video clips, from trainer Kevin Johnson, have taken off this summer, too, partly because they showcase ultra quick feet.
Most of his moves seem otherworldly, and they likely won’t fit into your routine. But there’s one theme to all of them, says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, CSCS. “He moves with explosive intent,” Samuel says. “That has a ton of value for athleticism. You don’t always need to lift your heaviest. But it’s worth trying to move whatever weight you’re lifting ultra-fast.”
One move (let’s call it the Quick-Switch Single-Leg Hip Thrust) that Corum does can tax your glutes. Start on your back, feet near your butt, then squeeze your glutes, driving your hips upwards. Lift your right foot and leg off the ground. This is your start position. Now explosively power your left foot off the ground; quickly shift your right foot to the ground to maintain hip position. Do alternating reps for 30 seconds, then rest for 60 seconds; do 3 sets. You’re training yourself to sprint quickly and building glute power and balance, an engine for serious performance.
Trust The Basics
YEAH, YEAH, THE basics are boring and other exercises can seem more fun. But 6-1, 234 pound Rams receiver Davante Adams would say other wise. And Adams, who’s in his 12th season, just may known a thing or two about smart training: He caught a league-high 14 TDs last year.
He relies on simple exercises in his training, like this 110-pound dumbbell press done for pristine reps. To Adams, athletes are best off when they keep their strength training focused on building strength (which is best done with basic motions like bench presses and deadlifts). They can then work on speed and agility when they hit the field.
As Adams said to reporters in January of 2022: “Go run routes. And run full-speed routes. Because you do all these drills, I don’t want you to be out there doing stuff that ain’t going to translate to the game and help you….You don’t need to do a bunch of drills on Instagram that look cool. We play football. And that’s what I do. I don’t share a lot of what I do behind the scenes because I like to think that it shows the proof is in the pudding. It’s all in the film.”
Don’t Overfocus On Strength
MIAMI CENTER AARON Brewer is 6-1, 290 pounds, but you’ll rarely see him grinding through reps of ultra-heavy bench presses or squats during the offseason. Brewer, 28, does often do multiplanar exercises that force him to twist or move laterally. Among them: he sets up in position for a lateral lunge, holding a landmine and slides back and forth. He’ll also do lateral lunges holding a single dumbbell in a goblet position, with one foot on a slider.
“Both moves hammer your inner thigh muscles,” says Samuel, “and that muscle group plays an underrated role in sprinting and changing direction.” Brewer also does kneeling box jumps, a move that’s about explosiveness. Try either move for 3 sets of 3-5 good reps.
Innovate With Planks
YEAH, YEAH, PLANKS are simple and basic. But they can have a purpose when used correctly. Just check out Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean (who also has serious hoops game, too).
DeJean does plenty of high-octane explosive exercises and heavy lifts in his YouTube workout showcase.
But he also spends plenty of time planking too. No, that doesn’t mean holding for as long as possible. Instead, you’ll see him tightening his legs around a bench, upper body hanging off of the bench, catching and throwing a medicine ball at a trainer. He also stays in plank position and slides a kettlebell forward and backward across the turf.
“Both planks challenge your more than basic stability,” says Samuel.
Once you can hold a plank for 90-120 seconds with flawless form, consider working other variations into your training, says Samuel. No, they don’t need to be DeJean vicious. Start with a plank shoulder-tap, owning a plank position and alternating tapping right hand to left shoulder and left to right shoulder for 30 seconds at a time. Do 2-3 sets.
Jump Around!
RAMS DEFENSIVE END Myles Garrett is one-half of the most fearsome pass-rushing duo of this era now that Aaron Donald is back in action. And Garrett’s calling card has always been his explosive power.
He does a host of exercises to build that power. Among them is a unique single-leg jump/step-up hybrid. Garrett starts with left leg bent on a box, his right leg on the ground. He then straightens his left leg explosively, jumping off the box as high as possible, before landing back in start position.
Moves like this teach Garrett’s body how to generate force into the ground, critical for sprinting and jumping. “It’s also a more scalable move than you think,” says Samuel. “Start with a very low box or even a step, and work on jumping this way.” Do 3 sets of 6-8 reps per side.
To read other stories in Men’s Health’s NFL Strong 2026 series, click here.
Anna Katherine Clemmons is an adjunct professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, and has written for numerous publications, including ESPN the Magazine and The New York Times.
