Standing Starts Workout
by Steve McGill

Getting in quality hurdle work on a regular basis can often require some creativity and critical decision-making on the part of the coach, as hurdle training needs to be highly individualized to fit the needs of each hurdler. I have found that in working with hurdlers who are beginners and/or who still have a lot of flaws to correct, a fairly heavy (or very heavy) amount of volume is essential when it comes to ingraining habits that add to the hurdler’s efficiency and speed, and to ridding the hurdler of habits that lead to slower times and inefficient hurdling. 

My usual progression with young hurdlers is to work on technique and rhythm before adding in the speed element. With each successive drill, the spacing increases, the height of the hurdles increases, and the speed between the hurdles (and to the first hurdle) increases. When drilling, we never take a full approach to the first hurdle. Instead, we’ll take a four-step approach or six-step approach. I let the athletes know that when we start from the actual start line, that means that speed moves to the front of the line in order of importance. Technique and rhythm have to come more instinctively, because if the athletes are still focusing on those elements, they’ll forget to sprint full speed, which is the most important thing to do.

So, while block starts are of utmost importance when it comes to race prep, going from drills straight to block starts can be a bit too big of a leap for some athletes who still lack the confidence to truly sprint fearlessly when there are hurdles in their lane. That’s why I propose standing starts, as the title of this article indicates. Three-point starts are also a good segue before putting the blocks down, but the focus of this article is standing starts, as this time of year lends itself more to standing starts because of the cold weather.

When doing standing starts, I’ll tell the athletes to stand behind the start line with their front foot about one foot to 18 inches behind the line. That way, when they transition to block starts, the placement of the first stride will be the same or similar. If they start with the front foot right at the line, then their first stride will be farther out than it will be when coming out of the blocks, which can lead to the athlete struggling to reach the hurdle when coming out of the blocks.

Another key advantage of standing starts is that they allow for more volume. With block starts, the amount of explosive power required in the first three strides, and even in just the first stride, leads to the need to reduce the amount of reps. Generally, when I’m having an athlete do block starts over three to five hurdles, we’ll do about ten reps, maybe twelve, with a good three minutes or so between reps, as we critique the previous rep and strategize for the next one. The body is going to need that much time to recover and go full speed again, even if the athlete doesn’t feel tired. Often, an athlete’s legs can feel tired without the athlete feeling tired, and the fatigue will be exposed by the quality of the reps deteriorating. One girl that I work with in my private coaching is good for about five or six reps before the quality starts to go down the toilet.

So with the standing starts, the athletes will be sprinting faster than in any drill, but not quite as fast as when doing block starts. That alone allows for more volume. But it also allows for the ability for coach and athlete to focus on at least one element of technique while also keeping the main focus on speed. 

With one of my athletes in my private coaching, Teri Pridgen, we’re getting her back into hurdle mode after a hiatus of three years. As I discussed in a previous article about her, I was working with her during the offseason of her freshman year, but then we got railroaded by the pandemic, so she switched to the sprints. This year, as she prepared to enter college next year, she decided she wants to return to hurdling for the simple fact that she’s good at it and has a lot of potential. She actually wanted to start hurdling again last year but injured her hamstring. Anyway, in getting her back up to speed, we’ve spent a lot of time doing standing starts. It has helped her to increase her hurdle endurance and to reestablish her hurdling instincts. 

The video below is from a recent session of standing block starts with Teri.

As for the nuts and bolts, the details can vary, but the workout would look something like this:

• Set up 3-5 hurdles, with the first hurdle at the regular race mark and the rest of the hurdles moved in either one foot or two feet.
• Hurdles should be at race height or one click below race height.
• Athlete will clear the hurdles in sets of five reps at a time.
• Coach must be available to critique each rep and provide feedback.
• Total amount of hurdles cleared in the workout should be in the range of 60-80. More is okay if quality is being maintained.