One of the most feared NFL players right now is the Detroit Lions Ndamukong Suh.  This guy’s attitude and ferociousness has changed the whole perception of the Detroit Lions and now the team is being talked about as a possible playoff contender.  Suh is a second year player and is already starting controversy as some critics call him a “dirty” player.  Love him or hate him, there is no denying this guys physical presence and abilities.  He had one of the more impressive combines in 2010, so I’m going to discuss that and Ndamukong Suh’s workout to show you what type of hard work it takes to make it to the NFL level.

At the time of his combine, there was debate of who to take between Suh and Gerald McCoy, a defensive tackle out of Oklahoma.  But, after this combine, it was clear that Suh should be your first choice of the two and he was selected #2 overall to the Detroit Lions (Sam Bradford was your number 1 pick).

Ndamukong Suh was listed at 6′ 4″ and 307 pounds.  He ended up running the 40 yard dash in 4.98 seconds.  The first 10 yards was run in 1.69 seconds and the first 20 yards was a 2.81.  If you remember my newsletter about Tim Tebow , when you subtract those two numbers, you want that result to be at least .3 of a second difference or faster to show acceleration.  What we get here is a 1.12 which is .47 seconds difference which is great acceleration.  As a reference DeSean Jackson’s difference is .54 seconds, he just gets out of the gate a little quicker.

His other numbers though are what really separated him from McCoy.  His bench press of 225 pounds for reps was 32 straight (McCoy was 23).  His vertical jump was 35.5 inches (McCoy was 30.5 inches).  Suh’s standing broad jump was 8′ 9″ and his 20 yard shuttle was 4.44 seconds.  I didn’t have McCoy’s numbers for those two events, but needless to say many scouts pointed at that bench press and were disappointed McCoy’s numbers weren’t better.

To prepare for his combine, Suh went down to Michael Johnson Performance in Texas.  Michael Johnson is one of the all-time track greats and former record holder in the 200M dash and current record holder in the 400M dash.  So, if anyone could get him to run fast, it is Michael Johnson.

His training basically included a bunch of squats, bench presses, sprints, and 60 yard shuttles.  In a nutshell, stuff to get you stronger and faster.

His weight training would be in a 4 day split.  Monday and Thursday would be lower body days.  They would do a lot of squats with heavy loads i.e. using chains and resistance bands on the bar.  At Nebraska, Suh was known to squat 460 pounds with an additional 315 pounds with resistance bands.  I haven’t used bands and chains all that much, but the theory is that the load is a little lighter at the bottom of the movement and heavier as you keep pressing all the way up.

They would usually have a heavy day and then a speed day.  Meaning, he would have a lightened load and then squat to the bottom position and rest the bar on some safety pins for two seconds then fire up.  He would also do a lunge with a slider to help with his acceleration.  So, he would do a reverse lunge with a cable attached to his waist, facing away from the resistance.  He would have a slider on the leg he is stepping back with and then fire it back to the starting position.  He would have the lead leg in an angle where the knee goes past the toe a little bit.  This contradicts a lot of traditional lifting guidelines, but this is designed to help with horizontal explosion not vertical.  When you start out of the blocks for a 40, that is how your leg looks so you want to mimic that movement pattern.

For Suh’s upper body, they would do a bench press test, then combine it with heavy reps of 2 or 3.  They would then burn out with a resistance band for 30 reps to help build up his endurance.  To balance all the work they are doing for the chest, he would work his back with some cable rows, one arm dumbbell rows, and horizontal rows.  These upper body lifts would happen on Tuesday and Fridays with Wednesday used for recovery and underwater therapy.

The lifting sessions would usually take around 90 minutes.  He starts off with some ankle mobility and then a 120 minute session of plyometrics, speed training, and position specific drills.  It was tough to find out specifically what he did for this type of speed training, but here is what I did discover.

Technique was big, especially his 40 yard start.  Michael Johnson would work on his start trying to keep him low out of his stance and not rise up immediately.  He also wanted him to over-exaggerate his arm swing to help power him through the run.  If you watch his 40 on Youtube, he was very coached up with that run.  His technique was excellent and looks good for a guy of his size.

Suh would then do some assisted runs with a sprint cord to improve his speed.  He also did different bag drills for footwork and cone drills.  He also practiced getting his steps down for the 20 yard shuttle.  There is a lot of technique that goes into running a 20 yard shuttle and the first 10 yards of a 40.  Once you get that technique down, you just need to keep practicing it.

His numbers just kind of reaffirmed to the Detroit Lions that they need to draft this guy.  He continues to improve with each week of the season.  Sure he is nasty on the field and powerful, but this is a violent game.  I will continue to marvel at watching his power and speed on that playing field until this guy retires.