In the video, Brown launches into an exhausting-looking uphill sprint.
"Overall, this workout will make your quads burn, and it'll also help you lengthen your stride," says Men's Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel C.S.C.S. "Especially on on the sprints, it's reinforcing the idea that knee height must exceed hip height in the high-knee phase of the run. It's also going to help with body lean, too, which is key in a sport that requires short-area acceleration like football (less necessary in, say, basketball or soccer where acceleration can often happen over a few steps and the start is less critical)."
My legs are on fire just from watching this Hollywood workout @Primetime_jet @Ravens (via @Primetime_jet ) pic.twitter.com/sTlxVOfdiN The Checkdown (@thecheckdown)
Brown follows the sprint with a series of single and double-leg bounds, also uphill. "Don't underestimate what happens on every landing," adds Samuel. "He's landing on an incline, creating plenty of room for his Achilles/calf to stretch more, and then reactively explode into the next jump. Key on the single-leg bounds is shin angle too: he's never letting his knee track inwards, protecting against any valgus collapse."
Another perk to this kind of workout? It's over quickly. "He's not going to do this for two hours," says Samuel. "He's going to do two, maybe three sets of each, and get out of there. Less is more."
Brown isn't the only NFL pro to reap the benefits of training on a slope; Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry recently shared a clip of his own intense uphill running regime.