Keeping the Hips Tall
by Steve McGill
Originally, I was planning to write this article specifically about adjusting to the 42-inch height for males transitioning from high school to college, but I think the importance of keeping the hips tall applies to all hurdlers to some degree, so I’ll broaden the focus while still honing in on clearing 42’s specifically. The origins of the style of hurdling I teach now, which I refer to as “downhill hurdling,” began when I was in college adjusting to the 42’s, and I was clobbering hurdles right and left. (Back in those days, the crossbars were wooden, so hitting hurdles really, really hurt, which meant that avoiding contact was a high priority). The biggest reason for my inability to run clean races in my freshman year of college was that my hip height was too low. At 6-0, I was tall enough to have no problems over the 39’s, but over the 42’s I was having so much trouble that I basically had to re-teach myself how to hurdle. As I’ve developed my own approach to coaching hurdlers over the years, I’ve come to realize that the things I did while experimenting in college (with myself as the guinea pig) can benefit all hurdlers at all levels, even taller hurdlers whose hips are already higher than the height of the crossbar.
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As I’ve said before in previous articles, the hips are the constant horizontal element in hurdling. The hips should always be pushing forward, even as the legs are moving up and down, and the arms are as well. There should be no up-and-down action with the hips. They should push forward, push forward, push forward. For smaller hurdlers, there might be the necessity to raise the hips in order to clear the hurdles cleanly, but we want to minimize the vertical element as much as possible. When I was a college freshman, coaching myself, I discovered through practice reps that if I forcefully pushed off the back leg at take-off, my hips were then tall enough that I was no longer hitting hurdles. But I was floating. So I developed a style where I would push up at take-off, and then push down after my lead leg foot passed the crossbar. Push up, push down — that was my cue. Push up push down.
Though I was no longer hitting hurdles, and was in fact dropping time, the hurdling action felt like two separate motions. The push up was one motion, and the push down was a second motion. It wasn’t fluid. And it took a lot of effort to execute. Plus, back then, I didn’t know to lean forward from the waist; instead, I was driving my forehead down to my knee, with my eyes facing down. So, that created more work too. But the fact that I was running faster and wasn’t hitting hurdles informed me that I was onto something. Pushing forcefully off the back leg worked when it came to raising the hips and making my 6-0 self feel more like a 6-1 or 6-2 guy.
So, the downhill style that I teach now is an evolution of my experimentations back in my college days. What I came to realize later in my coaching career is that you can push up and push forward at the same time. That’s what the marching popover drill is all about. The idea is to push up off the back leg and to push forward with the hips at the same time — at take-off. That way, the push off the back leg makes the hips are taller, and it makes the hurdle feel smaller (creating a downhill angle), and the hips help to create speed through the hurdle. The action is fluid and allows for a continuous acceleration in the early and middle parts of the race, and minimizing deceleration in the later stages of the race.
When adjusting to 42-inch hurdles, the process can take quite a while. Some hurdlers are able to adjust instantly, but for many it can take two or three years or even more. That’s why I always say that the women’s race and the men’s are two entirely different universes. The majority of women hurdlers can clear the hurdles at a downhill angle with little to no effort. The push off the back leg therefore isn’t necessary to raise the hips, but can still be beneficial in creating more speed. The angle of the push will just be more horizontal, less vertical. And stepping over the hurdle is as effortless as stepping over a bookbag in the hallway. That’s what Jasmine Camacho-Quinn does. For men it’s different. Even taller hurdlers like Grant Holloway need to lean deeply, and his push off the back leg does need a vertical element to ensure that the hurdling angle has a downhill element to it.
One of my former athletes, Josh Brockman, is a junior at North Carolina State University, where is coached by Allen Johnson — one of the greatest hurdlers and hurdling minds ever. But even with such an outstanding coach, the transition to the 42’s was a difficult one for Josh. He had a breakthrough this year, finishing the season with a personal best of 13.60, qualifying for nationals, and finishing in the top 12 in the nation. Hurdling really becomes a calculus equation over the 42’s. The hip height, the lean, the trail leg, the lead leg, the lead arm, all have to adjust. The trail leg, especially, has a lot of adapting to do. The groin has to open wider, and the knee has to raise higher, and it all has to happen in a condensed amount of space. The video below consists of some practice clips Josh sent me showing his progress from freshman year to nationals.
As the clips indicate, the margin for error over 42’s is infinitesimal. Especially for athletes who are running in the 13’s. In the first clip, Josh crashes into the second-to-last hurdle in the drill. In the later clips, you’re seeing him skim the hurdles, making minimal contact, as he has found that sweet spot where he’s getting his hips tall enough and he’s not letting his trail leg lag. At nationals, he didn’t run a clean race, as he hit several hurdles, but he still ran 13.60 again. This showed two things: 1) adjusting to the 42’s is still a work in progress, and 2) the progress he is making indicates that he can drop down to 13.3 or 13.2 next year. When you look at the gradual progress that Devon Allen has made, and that Trey Cunningham has made, you can argue that we’re seeing the same thing — a gradual acclimation to the higher height that took years to achieve and that still continues.
In Josh’s case, he was feeling so frustrated that he was contemplating giving up the hurdles altogether during this past indoor season. But he stuck with it and ended up having a breakthrough outdoor season. Hurdling over the 42’s ain’t no joke. From high school to college, the height of the hurdles rises, but the spacing between them stays the same. So there’s simply less room in addition to the fact that the hurdles are higher. And college training leads to more muscle, more power, more speed, which further limits the margin for error. So, to me, for a hurdler to effectively adjust to the 42’s, it is normal for it to take three years or more. That’s why a collegiate male hurdler can’t give in to frustration or allow it to become despair. Get a good push off the back leg, get the hips up, push the hips forward, and drive that trail leg to the front.
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