Hurdle Take-Off Drill: Step 1

Track: Hurdle Take-Off Drill

Dick Moss, Editor

You can describe a skill a hundred times, but sometimes the only way to get athletes to understand is to let them experience it first-hand.

That's the advantage to this drill.

Hurdle Take-Off Drill: Step 2

It allows your hurdlers to actually feel the “hips tall,” “high lead-leg knee,” and “low take-off angle,” that are vital to successful hurdling.

The Drill
Instruct your hurdlers (one at a time), to face you and place both hands on your shoulders while they cock their lead-leg ankle upwards and bend their lead-leg knee for a good high-knee hurdling position.

Grasp the hamstring of their lead leg just above the knee and slowly move backwards, supporting their weight, until they've assumed a good forward-leaning position. By extending their back leg and keeping the upper body rigid, their hips will remain “tall” and they will be able to experience an ideal low-angle take-off
position.

Perform this drill several times and ask the athlete to “feel” this position so they can copy it when attacking actual hurdles.

References
1. Terry Crawford & Bob Bertucci, Winning Track and Field Drills for Women, Leisure Press, 1985.
2. Tony Veney & Latif Thomas, Complete Track & Field Conditioning: The Complete Guide to the Sprints & Hurdles [Kindle Edition], Amazon Digital Services, Inc, 2012.

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