October 17, 2015
I just posted a long video on my YouTube page explaining a hurdling style that I’ve been experimenting with off and on over the past few years. Since starting my new job teaching English at a school near Charlotte, NC, much of my energy has been focused on teaching, and I haven’t been spending nearly as much time coaching. The fact that my new school has no track and has a very small track team has further put things on pause. The positive side of that though is that it’s given me more freedom to experiment without the pressure of getting athletes ready for races. So, the style I’ve been working on, which I call “cycle arms,” focuses on having the arms cycle (instead of thrusting up and down) in the same manner that the legs cycle. The cycling action doesn’t just take place over the hurdles, but in every stride. Once you’ve had a chance to watch the video, let me know your thoughts by posting on my facebook page. The link for that is on the right-hand side of the home page of this website.
Here’s the description that I wrote in the video:
In this video I discuss my “cycle arms” theory as it applies to hurdling and sprinting. The idea is for the arms to cycle in the same manner that the legs do, so that the hurdling action consists of one continuous, fluid motion, with no pauses in the action at any point in hurdle clearance. In studying the principle of “Wu Wei” as expressed in the Tao Te Ching, and as popularized by Bruce Lee, I’ve been on a very long search for a hurdling style that emphasizes fluidity of motion – a style in which speed and power come effortlessly because of the fluidity of the technique. I don’t coach any hurdlers yet who have incorporated this style. I was working in the summer of 2014 with a post-collegian I had coached in his high school days, and he was picking up the style rapidly, but unfortunately, for job-related reasons, he had to move away. I did take some vids on my phone of him learning the style, and I will post those at a later date. In the meantime, I felt it was worthwhile to make this current video describing the style and how I came about developing it, as my larger aim is to move the event forward, whether or not an athlete of mine is the one who gains the most from my insights and experimentations.
And here’s the video:
