Four-Step Development Workout

To go along with the article in this month’s issue on four-stepping for the hurdler who is not yet ready to three-step, this workout is designed to help the four-stepper trust both legs and maintain a quick cadence and smooth rhythm between the hurdles.

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Part One

• Set up four hurdles either at race height (for hurdlers with more experience and confidence) or one notch below race height (for beginning hurdlers who need to build confidence).
• Hurdles should be 12 yards apart for boys. For girls, put the hurdles on the boys’ marks.
• Hurdlers should approach the first hurdle with a less-than-full-speed bouncing approach, on the balls of their feet, knees up, ankles dorsi-flexed.
• Hurdlers should take five steps between hurdles, leading with the same leg each hurdle.
• Hurdlers should do fifteen reps of this drill. First five leading with the stronger lead leg, last ten leading with the weaker lead leg. Doing double the reps with the weaker lead leg serves to help the athlete gain a trust in that leg, so that when it comes time to four-step, he or she will trust that leg.
• Rest should be a walk-back to the starting line between reps. Athletes shouldn’t need to break this dill into sets. But if you’re noticing fatigue, sloppiness, then insert a break of two or three minutes where you feel it is necessary.

Part Two

• Have the athletes put on their spikes.
• Put the first hurdle on the race mark. Hurdles 2-4 should be moved in one foot from the race marks.
• Have the athletes do two 40-meter sprints from a standing start so they can make the transition into focusing on speed. Walk-back recovery between the sprints.
• Have the hurdlers do 10 full speed reps over the four hurdles, four-stepping in between. A 2-minute recovery time between reps should be sufficient. Give more, though, if quality starts to deteriorate.
• Have the hurdlers use a standing start unless they already have experience with a block start.
• Focus should be on developing and ingraining the four-step rhythm. Focus should also be on being aggressive to hurdle one. The aim is for the hurdlers to get to a point where they have equal trust in both lead legs. Doing this workout once a week, you can hopefully get the athletes to a point where you can’t tell which lead leg is the “strong” one and which is the “weak” one. Hopefully, as well, they’ll start progressing to where they can incorporate three-stepping part of the way.
• If the athletes are fit enough, add two more hurdles (6 total). Just be sure to monitor the quality of the reps.

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