Doing the Marching Popover Drill Correctly
by Steve McGill

The marching popover drill is one that I created several years ago in an attempt to help my hurdlers become more balanced in their movements instead of relying on the lead leg way too heavily to get themselves over hurdlers and down the track. I never have my athletes do the drills over hurdles at race height. Most often, the hurdles are two clicks below race height, which, for females, means using fold-up hurdles or similar practice hurdles that go down to at least 27 inches. Often when first teaching someone the drill, I’ll start with 24-inch banana hurdles, or I might even use cones so they can grasp the concept of it and get the rhythm of it first. Over the past few years, as the drill has caught on in other places and other coaches have been using it, I’ve been seeing many versions of the drill that do not fit my vision of it or my purpose for using it. I know that such things happen; once you put something out there, others can interpret it and adjust it to their purposes as they wish. But if you want to understand what the drill is supposed to look like and what its primary purposes are, read on.

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In the video above you’ll see what I can consider a perfect version of the marching popovers. This video is of Josh Brockman, a hurdler I coached five years ago and who then went on to star at North Carolina State University, where he made it to Nationals two years ago. (Last year he red-shirted, and will use his final year of eligibility at the University of Florida next year). The most important element of the drill involves the take-off. The reason for having the athlete march to the first hurdle (instead of running or high-kneeing) is so that the athlete is not able to gather speed into the first hurdle. Without speed, the push off the back leg becomes the only way to gain enough momentum to get over the hurdle and to push toward the next one. Hurdlers who have grown used to using speed to mask their flaws struggle mightily with the drill the first time they do it. They instinctively want to speed up in that last stride right before the hurdle. And when I don’t allow them to, they find it difficult to gain any momentum at all. That’s because they’re accustomed to kicking out the foot of the lead leg. This drill forces you to drive the knee of the lead leg up, keeping the foot tucked under the hamstring. This action with the lead leg allows the trail leg to drive to the front right behind the lead leg, without pausing after it pushes off. Hence, we get a fluid cycling action in which the motion of stepping over the hurdle is as easy and efficient as stepping over a bookbag in the hallway.

In the video above, look at Josh’s posture between the hurdles. The eyes stay looking forward, the chest stays pushing forward. There is no standing erect coming off the hurdles. I tell my hurdlers that we want to stay forward the whole race. We never want to come out of our lean. In essence, the lean over the hurdle isn’t really a lean. Instead, because our chest is pushing forward the whole time, it just pushes forward more when it’s time to clear a hurdle. So, we’re not doing something different at the hurdle; we’re continuing to do what we’ve already been doing, but in an exaggerated manner because of the presence of the obstacle.

Then look at his cadence between the hurdles. The march stays a march the whole time. This is the biggest issue I’ve seen with others doing this drill. They don’t keep it a march; instead, they run off the first hurdle, which ruins the purpose of the drill. The purpose of the drill is to generate speed and momentum by pushing off the back leg forcefully, and by pushing the hips forward at the exact time. This forward push creates speed so that you don’t have to try to speed up. You don’t have to work between the hurdles. Your momentum will carry you, the same as if you were running down a hill. It feels like the speed is happening to you, and that you’re just along for the ride. Hence, you can run a whole race without fatigue ever becoming a factor, without late-race breakdowns ever occurring. If you look closely at Josh’s strides between the hurdles, you’ll see that he is speeding up, but you’ll also see that he’s not trying to speed up. He’s letting the rhythm take him; he’s letting his momentum take him. When that “falling forward” feeling occurs as he lands off each hurdle, he allows himself to fall forward and keeps on marching. Also, notice how his third stride between every hurdle is a legit cut step — significantly shorter than the previous stride — which mimics what will happen in a race. So, mastering the rhythm of the drill equals mastering the rhythm of a race. 

The video above is of another former athlete of mine, Falon Spearman, doing the marching popover drill  four years ago. Falon is much shorter than Josh — 5-3 compared to his 6-1. So the hurdles are lower, but the spacing is the same. Nevertheless, I keep the spacing between the hurdles the same: 12 feet. The logic to that is twofold: 1) As stated above, I want the rhythm of the drill to mimic the rhythm of a race. So, however crowded you feel in the drill will ultimately mimic how crowded you feel when sprinting full speed from the start line with the hurdles at race height and race spacing. 2) I don’t want to encourage running between the hurdles. As I said above, keep it a march the whole way. I’ve seen videos of people doing the drill with the hurdles spaced 14-15 feet apart, and to me, that’s too far. I have variation drills, such as the one where I’ll want the athlete to march to the first hurdle, and then transition into the cycle drill (a drill discussed in another article in this month’s issue) off the first hurdle. Then, and only then, will I increase the spacing. And I’ll only do it with athletes who have already mastered the marching popover drill first.

The video above is of Ayden Thompson, whom I’ve been coaching the past two years, and who will go on to run at a DII college next year. For the first 50 seconds or so of the video, Ayden is doing the marching popovers. I included this video in the article because Ayden is 6-4, way taller than Falon and noticeably taller than Josh. So, with Ayden, the strides between the hurdles are super-quick compared to the other two. But yes, he is still marching, not running. So, this shows you that although the rhythm will vary from athlete to athlete, the drill remains the same. The push off the back leg remains the key component over every hurdle.