Hurdles Manual

7/25/2019 Hurdles Manual

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What are Mini & Micro Hurdles?

(Mini) Mini-Hurdles are an innovative teaching tool for the enhancement of an athlete's speed, agility,quickness, and power. Mini-Hurdles can be used in a variety of exercises designed to develop quickfeet, powerful explosion, and proper running technique. The 12-inch hurdle can be used on grass,weight room flooring, gymnasiums, or any other flat surface. They are great for stride development(stride length & stride frequency), lateral agility, plyometrics, and anaerobic conditioning.

(Micro) Micro-Hurdles are designed for athletes who need to keep their feet low to the ground forchange of direction and quick lateral motion. They are only 5 inches high, teaching athletes propermovement form without any exaggerated motions. Micro-Hurdles are ideal for court-sports such astennis, basketball, and volleyball, as well as the cutting motions of soccer and football. A secondaryrole of Micro-Hurdles is to be used by very young or very small athletes to perform the small linearand power drills as those of the Mini-Hurdles.

Lateral speed and agility development cannot come from general conditioning skills. Modern sportscience clearly indicates that an athlete must match preparation with performance. Sport specifictraining will develop the muscles most associated with that particular movement. The Micro-Hurdleswill prepare you for faster sidestepping; linear bursts and reverse drop sprints out of lateralsidestepping, cutting, direction change, and agile footwork.

Both Mini- and Micro-Hurdles are made of durable, molded PVC plastic, designed to withstand theabuse of all types of athletes. This construction emphasizes safety for the athlete's workout, whilemaking the hurdles virtually indestructible.

Principles of the Hurdles:

Quick feet and proper running mechanics are skills that are improved through repetition. Using theMini- and Micro-Hurdles on a regular basis will improve footwork and running form. Although they aresimple to use, this simplicity when practiced over and over teaches you to overcome complex runningproblems. This will result in the development of power, speed, and quickness.

Mini-Hurdles force the legs to utilize correct running form and adapt to fast patterns of running stride.

The Mini-Hurdles are designed 12" inches in height to enforce correct biomechanics of stride for themajority of athletes. These hurdles emphasize the important technique of driving the knee up with thetoe close to the opposite knee while keeping the heel close to the hamstrings in the recovery phase.They also train the athlete to fire the foreleg down in a wheeling (like riding a bike) motion ant to stayin a "hips tall" running position.

Micro-Hurdles are 5" inches in height. They teach athletes proper lateral movement form and helpathletes adapt to faster patterns of footwork. They are great for preparation in all areas dealing withlateral-speed training. As stated before, the 5" inch hurdles can also be substituted by smaller athletesfor the larger hurdles.

Hurdle Setup

The spacing between the hurdles can be varied from drill to drill, as well as athlete-to-athlete. It isimportant on linear sprints to set the hurdles at a consistent space. An easy way to do this is to takeregular "paces" and make sure the hurdles are in a straight line. Start with one pace (approximately 3feet apart), as your drill progresses you can widen them to 4 feet, 5 feet, etc. The hurdles can also bestaggered laterally for drills to improve agility and quickness in change of direction drills. The hurdlesare a very versatile tool; the drills are abundant and only limited by imagination.


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Basic Form

No training device will help you run faster if you fail to concentrate on the details of correct runningmotion. You can only run as fast as your technique allows. When running forward, always run withcorrect sprint posture, which is running tall with the hips forward and a straight line from your earthrough shoulder, hip, and knee, all the way to the ankle. When running laterally (shuffling), run lowin a defensive posture. It is important to concentrate on your arm action, keeping your arm cocked at

a 90-degree angle, while firing your arm back from nose to hip pocket. Finally, concentrate onspringing off your toes, pushing off hard until the leg straightens. Make sure to keep your foot in adorsiflexed (Figure 1), or toe-up position, so that it is loaded for the next contact with the ground.Your foot should never be in a plantars flexion (Figure 2), toe-down position, while performing anydrills unless the drill specifically dictates this method.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Linear Movement Drills

Two-Step High Knee: Place the 6-10 hurdles approximately 1 yard apart. Run through the set-upwith both legs hurdling, leading each time with the right leg (repeat equal repetitions with the left legleading). Both feet should strike the ground between the hurdles, lead the entire way through withone leg repeat with opposite lead leg. Emphasize knee lift and good rhythm as you run through thedrill. This is a run-do not jump over the hurdles or get out of rhythm. Perform 2-4 sets. (Figure 3 & 4)

Figure 3


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Figure 4

One-Step Run: Again, place the 6-10 hurdles approximately one yard apart. This is an aggressivesprint through the hurdles, focusing on the leg cycle, knee-lift, dorsi-flexion, and upright bodypositioning. There should be a single foot strike between the hurdles, remember, never swing the footsideways around the hurdles. Once again perform 2-4 sets until the drill is mastered. (Figure 5 & 6)Lateral Movement Drills

Figure 5

Figure 6

Two-Step Laterals: Take 6-10 hurdles placed in a straight line spaced about 1 yard apart. This drillis very similar to the Two-Step High Knee, but the drill is performed in the lateral plane. Never twistyour torso, always remain facing forward with shoulder squared. Take two steps over each hurdle;focus on pushing off with the trailing leg, not reaching with the lead leg (both feet should plantbetween each hurdle). Keep your hips low as in a defending position, balance on the balls of your feet,

and never crossover during this drill. Always do equal repetitions to the left and to the right sides. Asimple variation of the drill is to plant only one foot between each hurdle, concentrating on a

lengthening lateral movement, once again do not crossover the feet. Two sets to each direction arerecommended. (Figure 7, 8, 9)


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Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Change of Direction Drills

Quick Change: Place four hurdles in a straight line one yard apart. To emphasize change of directionrather than lateral movement, it is important that no more than four hurdles are used in the drill.Begin by two-stepping laterally as mentioned in the above drill. Upon reaching the outside of the lasthurdle with the lead leg, reverse direction and two-step back to the starting point. Only one foot (theoutside foot) should ever touch outside the hurdles. Avoiding a "double touch" is one of the keys toimproved cutting. Mastering the change of direction skill occurs by the lead leg and the trail leg, at aninstant, swapping roles with the lead becoming the trail and vice versa. Another variation to the drill isthe set-up of 6-10 hurdles in the same sequence. The coach will begin the drill by pointing in onedirection.The athlete begins two-stepping laterally through the hurdles in the direction of the coach'ssignal. The coach then points right and left randomly. The athlete reacts with a quick lateral change of

direction in response to the coach's signal, which can be visual (pointing), audible (whistle), orphysical (touching from behind). 2-3 sets will be adequate until the drill is mastered flawlessly. (Figure10 & 11)


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Figure 10

Figure 11

Power Drills

Single Hurdle Jumps: Stand next to a hurdle with your feet together and jump over the hurdle asquickly as possible for 10-20 seconds. Do the jumps from front to back for 2-4 sets and then side-to-side for 2-4 sets. (Figure 12, 13, 14, 15)

Figure 12

Figure 13


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Figure 14

Figure 15

Hurdle Maze: 6-10 hurdles should be set-up in a staggered pattern as seen in photo. There is no setpattern, just use your imagination; vary the distance between hurdles as well. The athlete should facethe first hurdle with shoulders faced forward and square. The athlete should then proceed to jumpover the hurdle concentrating on keeping both feet together in unison and also jumping and landingon the balls of the feet. The individual should then try to jump through the maze while keeping theshoulders square facing the original starting position throughout the entire drill. Simple variations canbe done by just changing the two-foot jumps to a single leg hop. 3-5 sets are recommended. (Figure16, 17, 18, 19)

Figure 16

Figure 17


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Figure 18

Figure 19

Mechanics

Dead Leg Drill: Place the hurdles in a straight line one pace apart. Run on the outside edge of thehurdles (on leg outside the hurdle and one leg inside). Only the inside leg will go over the hurdles. Theoutside leg stays straight, with emphasis on bouncing off the ball of the foot, while the moving legcycles up and over the hurdle. After completing the drill 2-4 times with one leg, alternate to the other.This drill relies heavily on rhythm and balance; therefore take time to master the sequence beforegoing through with speed. (Figure 20, 21, 22, 23)

Figure 20

Figure 21


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Figure 22

Figure 23

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