We know that athletes will go to great lengths to improve at the their craft, but we’re not sure what to make of this one. On Sunday, a video emerged featuring Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald dodging knives!

As expected, the video raised plenty of questions.

How is that allowed by the Rams? Shouldn’t that void his contract or something? Why would any normal human do this? And, of course, is this real?

The video was released on April 1, so plenty of people were skeptical, especially after Anthony Davis tried to convince the world he shaved his unibrow. Davis’ stunt turned out to be an April Fools’ Day prank.

Donald’s wasn’t exactly a prank, but it’s also not what it looks like upon initial view. That video is real, but the knives are not. Donald confirmed as much on Twitter.

Yeah, that makes sense. Athletes might be willing to go to extremes to get better, but using real knives would have been both dangerous and irresponsible.

Why train with fake knives? It’s probably a way to trick your brain into thinking the danger is real so that you have to focus even more on the task at hand. And it seems to work. Donald doesn’t forget where his hands need to be throughout the drills.

Think about how you felt watching the video for the first time? There was probably a part of you that felt genuinely terrified for Donald, hoping he would make it through the whole thing unscathed.

Now, imagine you’re in his position. Even if you know the knives aren’t real, you’re probably still going to try your hardest to not get fake stabbed.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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