Teaching a Beginner to 3-step
by Steve McGill
Of all the questions I receive on a regular basis, probably the one at the top is how to get a beginner to 3-step. Sounds like a simple question, but the answer is really complex because there are so many factors to consider. Height, speed, explosive power, agility, flexibility, sprint mechanics, muscle strength, and speed-endurance are factors that play a role in whether or not an athlete can 3-step. In some cases, the athlete is so fast that three-stepping comes naturally. In other cases, the athlete is tall enough that three-stepping comes naturally. So, this article is not about those athletes. This article is about the athletes who have average height and speed, whether we’re talking about an 11-year-old just getting started in the youngest age group or a high school sophomore who is fairly athletic and wants to give the hurdles a try.
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The first and most important thing is to teach the athlete proper sprint mechanics. I am not a fan at all of the fool’s gold that comes with three-stepping by reaching with the feet. Hurdlers who three-step by reaching are not, to me, genuine three-steppers. So, when people ask how to get a beginner to three-step, the question they should be asking is how to get a beginner to three-step with speed and aggression, so that there’s no hoping, wishing, or praying involved.
The most important element in sprint mechanics is dorsiflexion of the ankles. Dorsiflexion allows the athlete to land on the ball of the foot every stride. Next comes raising the knee and heel as one piece, so that the knee comes up under the hamstring. Too many coaches focus too much on the hurdling aspect of hurdling; I know that sounds ironic, but it’s true. An athlete who has poor sprint mechanics is going to struggle mightily to three-step unless he or she is simply a superior athlete. But we don’t want to use our athleticism to compensate for mistakes; we want to use it to make us faster as we move down the line. When I do camps, I usually spend the bulk of the first morning session having the kids do A-marches and A-skips. “How you sprint,” I tell them, “determines how you hurdle.” Bad habits in sprint mechanics will create bad habits in hurdling mechanics. That’s why it’s important to be very meticulous about sprint mechanics with a beginner hurdler. Once we get everything from the waist down looking right, we’ll then focus on upper body posture and arm angles. We want to make sure that the chest is pushed forward and that the arms swing in a tight cheek-to-cheek motion.
Again, all of these sprint-mechanic elements are taught via A-marches and A-skips. If necessary, the A-marches can be done in place at first. Sometimes I’ll even grab the athlete’s foot and guide him or her through the motion of taking a stride. I’ve become convinced that if the necessary work is done in teaching and ingraining proper sprint mechanics, regardless of how tedious such work may be, more than half the process toward building a three-stepping hurdler has been completed.
Once the athlete has mastered the A-marches and A-skips, it’s time to add some speed to the equation. High-knee cycles are good for evaluating the athlete’s ability to maintain a forward upper body posture when the knee lift is exaggerated and there is no skip action to provide a little rest.
From there, we start sprinting. Easy 40 meter runs from a standing start, at about 50% of full speed. Running with proper mechanics will feel weird at first, so you have to start slow and gradually implement more speed. From 50% move up to 60%, 70%, etc. Never progress to the next level of challenge until you’re seeing mastery at the current level.
When you introduce hurdling into the equation, you’ll want to go through the same process. Do starts from a standing start first so that the athlete can focus on being fast and aggressive. Set up 1-3 hurdles at least one click below race height, with the second and third hurdles moved in at least one foot. I’ll usually start with them two feet in, but I’m not averse to moving them in three feet in order to build confidence in establishing the three-step rhythm. At this point, I don’t nitpick hurdle technique, but I do nitpick sprinting technique. Mainly, I want to see an aggressive mindset and aggressive body posture.
We won’t move the hurdles up to race height until the athlete is sprinting between the hurdles at the lower heights.
Meanwhile, we’ll also be doing some fundamental hurdle drills to teach specific aspects of hurdle technique. We’ll definitely do the trail leg walk drill to teach the motion of the trail leg. We’ll also do some side walk-overs for lead leg and for trail leg. Once those look good, we’ll introduce the marching popover drill to get the athlete to emphasize the push off the back leg and the forward thrust of the hips. All of these elements, once mastered, will help to make three-stepping easier.
My biggest thing is, don’t rush. It could very well be the case that a particular beginner athlete can spend a whole year learning how to hurdle without running in a hurdle race until the following year.
One thing that must be considered is the idea of having the athlete compete in the long hurdles before competing in the sprint hurdles. In the long hurdles, there is more margin for error, and stride patterns can vary, so the athlete can compete as a hurdler early on. Also, working on stride pattern development in the long hurdles can contribute to three-stepping success in the sprint hurdles. If, for example, the freshman girl who takes 19 steps between the hurdles in the 300 hurdles learns to take 17 strides between the hurdles (even if it’s just for the second and third hurdles), she can expect the three-step to come easily in the 100 meter hurdles.
To summarize, potential hurdlers looking to three-step must be taught proper sprint mechanics, and they must be taught to be aggressive and in attack mode whenever there are hurdles in their way. Adding in the block start is the final piece. Athletes must be taught how to explode out of the blocks with power, and how to drive through the first hurdle without getting too erect too soon, because a poor start could mess up everything.
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