Trent Richardson is known by many as one of the most jacked players in football today.

NFL running back Trent Richardson is hands down one of the most jacked football players. His workout training routine is as intense as they get, providing him with a strong, muscular build. Richardson has been known as a “Workout Freak”. He knows that he has been blessed with a natural ability, but he is also a “Gym Rat” to label him as “The Freak”, “The Beast”, and “The Hulk in the Hoodie”. He embraces those nicknames and has rightfully earned them. His performance in the weight room during his college days at Alabama are downright legendary.

Richardson has called the weight room “his cave”. It is his place of worship and he is simply obsessed with it. At 5’11 and only 220 pounds, he has a power clean of over 365 pounds, a 600 pound squat, and a bench press of 475 pounds all to go along with lightning quick speed of a 4.4 40 yard dash. His coach has said that he picked up 365 pounds like it was a toothpick. However, his coach will not let him go heavier than that for fear of injury, saying “The last thing I need to do is mess this kid up”, indicating that we’ll never know his true one rep max.

Here is Richardson performing a snatch and demonstrating his ridiculous strength, even as a young adolescent. Heavy compound movements are essential in maximizing athletic potential.

His strength and conditioning coach labels Richardson as having a ridiculous work ethic, stating that every time he steps up into the weight room, he is going to give it his absolute all: all 100% of him. Trent Richardson’s workout routine consists of explosive compound lifts such as power cleans, deadlifts, squats, leg presses, shrugs, pulldowns, and incline dumbbell presses. So we know Richardson is a beast when it comes to weights, but how does that translate over to the field? Richardson said in response, his strength provides him with the ability to “run folks over”, “I throw them off of me”, and “I’m never going to be taken down by the first person”. If you’ve ever seen an Alabama Crimson Tide game, he looks like a bowling ball bouncing around and knocking pins over all while looking like Muhammad Ali when he’s dodging tackles with his explosive energy and quickness.

He also builds up his athletic prowess by running a ton of sprints, especially his famous uphill sprints in the sand. The sand moves from underneath his feet making the stability and traction much more difficult to deal with than a track or grass, yet the uphill battle makes this process 10x more difficult. He handles it like a champ. These torch the quads, hammies, and calves and bring an unparalleled level of explosiveness to your game. If you haven’t tried these, you’re missing out on an increible way to improve leg power and athletic ability.

Richardson also makes sure to do speed drills in between his sets in the weight room instead of standard rest periods to become a completely and totally conditioned athlete. He will do the jump rope for 30 seconds or ladder drills between sets to enhance his speed development, as followed by Scott Cochran, Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Crimson Tide. It’s not his insane weight room numbers that make him one of the best running backs in the game though, but it’s his ability to transfer that strength and power and speed onto the football field in a sport-specific environment.