How to Train: Hurdle Technique

[Music Playing] Let us look for a minute of technique. Anytime we are doing a drill to train the body for specifics, we want to make sure that we are reinforcing positive patterns of behavior. Some of those things that we want to focus on here during the hurdle drills are the same as what we have with our normal linear running technique. [Music Playing] We want to drive the elbow back, lifting the leg up in front for good recovery. This is a power position so that we put force down into the ground. The other thing we want to have is good posture. We want the hips to be tall, the chest to be tall and the eyes to be up and forward. When you push off the ground, this is called plan reflection or extension. [Music Playing] From there we go right into Dorsey flexion, pulling the toe up toward the shin so that we lower the ankle when the foot is in the air. That way, when it comes back to the ground, the ankle is loaded and all we have to do is worry about push off and we do not have to load to explode. The Dorsey flexion is going to help us on our movement because when we load the ankle, we push back away from the direction we want to go. Push back and move forward in terms of our running speed or push back away from the direction we want to go laterally so we push away from the direction that we want to travel. [Music Playing] Another important point to remember when doing hurdle drills just like in actually performing skill is that the knee recovers in front of the body. When we are running straight ahead, the knee should recover in front of the body. The knee comes here, the hip flexes, the heel comes under the hamstring and the toe comes up in Dorsey flexes. When moving laterally, it is the same. The knees come up in front of the body as we push and move laterally. This is a very important principle because that puts our self in a power position to put force in to the ground that is how we generate greater speed. Another thing to look at is start slow. Always build on skill progressively. You cannot jump right into a hurdle drill or any drill and go at maximum speed without starting first with an educational principle of start slow, reinforce positive patterns and then add speed with control. Very important aspect of training is you got to learn how to relax and be explosive. Do not tighten up and force movements to happen. Relax and let things happen. This allows your muscle to work though a greater range of motion. When you get the greater range of motion, we can deliver more force into the ground so that we get greater speed, greater explosiveness when we compete. [Music Playing] A very important teaching aspect of doing a hurdle training as with any of the linear drills exercise is your arm mechanics. What I mean there is what we have to have is the elbow driving back so when we run, arms go straight ahead and our recovery is back behind the body. We want to try and hold the arm at 90 degrees.