The Lead Arm: Why it Matters, How it Can Create Breakthroughs
by Steve McGill

I have always argued that, of the four limbs, the lead arm is the most important when it comes to generating speed off of hurdles and reducing air time over hurdles. All things being equal, the lead arm must be tight and efficient in order for the lead leg to be tight and efficient, and in order for the trail leg to come through high and tight, and in order for the trail arm to stay close to the body. While we spend a lot of time focusing on lead leg mechanics and trail leg mechanics, the lead arm mechanics will ultimately determine whether or not we’re able to do what we’re trying to do with both legs. A lead arm that swings from side to side will create a lead leg that swings from side to side and a trail leg that flattens out too much. A lead arm that hangs in the air too long will create a lead leg that hangs in the air too long and a trail leg that hangs behind too long. 

On the flip side, a lead arm that stays moving in an up-and-down motion will enable the lead leg to drive straight at the crossbar in an up-and-down motion, which will allow the trail leg to come through without pausing before driving to the front. A lead arm that doesn’t pause at the top will create a lead leg that doesn’t pause at any point in hurdle clearance. So, for me as a coach, when I have a hurdler who is doing well, has good technique, but seems to have plateaued, the lead arm is the first thing I’ll look at in terms of addressing the question of how we can run faster.

Such a scenario occurred this year, culminating with a meet two weeks ago. The athlete was Ayden Thompson, the high school senior I’ve been working with in my private training for the last two years. When I first started with him in the summer after his sophomore year, he was running in the low 17’s. By the end of last year, he was running in the 15.8 range, although he did run a 14.89 at a home meet. His head coach at his school believes that time is bogus because that race occurred on a very windy day. Though I wasn’t there for that meet, I tend to agree that the time must’ve been bogus because he never came close to it again. This year, we trained intensely in the fall, and Ayden ran a full schedule of indoor meets for the first time, and got his 55H time down to the 7.6 range and qualified for nationals. Based on his indoor times, it looked like he was ready to go about 14.9-15.0 to start the outdoor season.

All of that progress was based on him getting himself stronger in the weight room, and our emphasis on refining his 7-step approach to the first hurdle. We also did a lot of hurdle conditioning work that served to ingrain a lot of good habits when it came to his technique. As for the lead arm, I liked how it looked. Punch it straight up on the way up, punch it straight down on the way down. Don’t let it get higher than the forehead.

He started the season in the 15.0 range on a cold day in March, and I felt confident that he’d be in the 14.8-14.6 range within a few meets. But instead, he stagnated. Though he was winning races and executing everything we’d been working on, his times stayed in the 15.0-15.2 range, and he still hadn’t run under 15.00. 

Then in practice one Sunday a few weeks ago, while I was watching one of his reps from a head-on angle, I had a light bulb moment when I realized we could make an adjustment to his lead arm. People who know me and my coaching philosophy when it comes to hurdles know that my aim is always to eliminate as many pauses as possible in the action so that the movement over each hurdle is fluid and minimizes wasted effort. With advanced hurdlers I’ve had in the past, I’ve taught them not to just punch the lead arm up and down, but to cycle it. With this lead arm style, the hand of the lead arm reaches forward slightly when it reaches the top instead of punching straight down. By reaching forward a little bit, that eliminates the pause and keeps the moving continuously, speeding up its downward movement and speeding it up as well. As suggested above, speeding up the action of the lead arm in this manner forces the lead leg to speed up right along with it. The trail leg, because it’s coming from behind, may or may not be able to keep up with the increased speed, especially when learning the new movement. But with enough reps, the trail leg will learn to speed up, and when that finally happens, the payoff will be huge.

So, when implementing this cycling lead arm style to Ayden, he immediately looked quicker in clearing hurdles, and he also looked faster between the hurdles — a benefit I hadn’t anticipated, but which made a lot of sense. Of course, when you quicken things on top, you speed things up. He was suddenly feeling even more crowded than he was before. Interestingly, he looked wilder, less in control, but we agreed that was a good thing. His trail leg was still the same old trail leg it has always been, for the reasons I explained above. But as I told him, because he’s 6-4, we can get away with a lazy trail leg for now. I told him to just focus on keeping the lead arm humming and keeping the lead leg humming and staying fast between the hurdles.

In his next race he ran 14.58. An almost .5 drop from his previous personal best. In his next meet this past Saturday, he ran 14.66 to qualify for States. After the 14.58, which I didn’t see, I asked him how it felt, and he said “I was moving so fast I can’t even remember how it felt,” which was exactly what I wanted to hear. The fact that he ran in the same 14-mid range two races in a row after the adjustment we made with the lead arm informs me that the adjustment is working. 

I don’t tell my athletes everything at once. I give instruction based on their current level of progression. That’s why I didn’t introduce Ayden to the cycling lead arm from the start of our time together. If he would’ve tried to do it back then, that would’ve thrown everything out of whack. But now, it’s the perfect next piece of the puzzle. But, to conclude, don’t sleep on the lead arm. Speeding up the lead arm can speed up the whole race.

Below is video of Ayden working on his lead arm: