3-Point Start Workout
by Steve McGill
This time of year, with athletes either finishing up fall sports or coming off foundational base-building workouts, I don’t like to throw too much speed work at them too soon, and I’ll only do block starts with athletes who I’ve had time to work with during the fall and who are ahead of the game in terms of developing their speed and strength. Even in such cases, any speed work over hurdles will begin with 3-point starts, as I feel that going straight to the starting blocks after only doing hurdle drills for a few months can lead to injuries at worst, and at the least can lead to confidence issues, as the power required to really push out of the blocks most likely isn’t there yet.
[am4show not_have=’g5;’]
[/am4show][am4guest]
[/am4guest][am4show have=’g5;’]
Three-point starts allow me as the coach to teach or re-teach proper alignment and body angles and positioning, and it allows the athletes to get in more reps, as the 3-point start doesn’t require the same amount of explosion as a block start does. The 3-point start, therefore, serves as a good segue between constant hurdle drilling and block starts.
With this workout, I like to start with one hurdle, and then build up to three, just like we’ll do later in the year when we put the blocks down.
The Workout:
After a warmup that includes a series of dynamic stretches, conclude the warmup routine with three 40-meter sprints from a 3-point start. This tail end of the warmup also serves as the beginning of the workout. I’ll be sure to put something (a cone, a water bottle, a mini-hurdle) one lane over from the lane the athlete is running in, and instruct the athlete to drive for the first eight strides in the same manner he or she would if the hurdle were there in his or her lane.
Next, we’ll do maybe three or four reps of hurdle drilling — usually an easy 3-step over three hurdles, just so we get our legs over hurdles before going full speed.
Next, we’ll set up the first hurdle at race height, or at one click below race height, depending on the individual athlete. Some hurdlers prefer (or need) to start below race height in order to get into a flow, while others prefer to go straight to race height. Whichever the athlete prefers, or needs, is what I’ll go with.
For girls, I’ll put two cones on the lane line — one at the five-foot take-off mark and one at the six-foot take-off mark. For boys, the cones will be at the six-foot take-off mark and the seven-foot take-off mark. The cones are for me, to let me know, mainly, if we’re taking off too far away. For advanced athletes, I might need to make sure we’re not taking off too close.
I’ll do a minimum of three reps over the first hurdle, maybe more if we’re having issues with take-off distance, forward momentum into the hurdle, or technique over the hurdle.
Next, we’ll add a second hurdle and continue the process. This time of year, I’ll move in the second hurdle two feet, maybe even three if we’re on a really slow track. The idea is for the athlete to accelerate through hurdle one and to feel at least a little bit crowded going into hurdle two.
After at least three reps over two hurdles, I’ll add a third and continue the process. Again, we’re looking for continued acceleration and increasing speed. Though I’ll look for technical flaws, I won’t address them yet. I want the athlete focused on staying fast and staying forward. A general rule of mine is that we never want to try to fix technical flaws when we’re going full speed from the start line. Doing so will only lead to frustration, as technical flaws can only be corrected in drills, when the body isn’t moving as fast and the mind has more time to think.
After three reps over three hurdles, we’ll conclude the workout with some hurdle drills that address some of the flaws we saw in the 3-point start reps. Usually I’ll go to my go-to drills here — marching popovers and/or cycle drilling over hurdles at least one click below race height. An example of one of my athletes doing the workout is below:
[/am4show]
