​ Proper Training for 3-Stepping 

by Melinda Burris

3-stepping is a technique used by 100 and 110-meter hurdlers to maintain optimum speed while successfully clearing hurdles. The ability to 3-step or take just 3 steps between each hurdle is essential to remaining competitive. This article expounds on Coach McGill’s philosophy on the challenges of teaching and learning to 3-step and offers a series of drills former Olympic hurdler, Coach Hector Cotto, employs to teach his students rhythm, the element he maintains is the essential core of being able to master 3-stepping while maintaining proper execution and the speed necessary to clear hurdles and win races.
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Coach McGill’s Take

For some learning to 3-step is a challenge. But for others, Coach McGill explains, “it’s never an issue.”¹ Athletes who are naturally tall, fast and aggressive often are able to to 3-step right away.

McGill explains that when you are confronted with a hurdler who does not posess this natural ability, it is vital that you put in the effort to identify the root cause of their struggle. In Coach McGill’s experience, the difficulty generally comes down to one of three causes: the athlete lacks aggression, is too slow, or simply has a small build.

Each cause requires a different corrective action. If the athlete needs to be more aggressive, McGill finds that lowering the hurdles usually solves the problem. The athlete builds confidence as they clear lower hurdles and as the athlete improves, the hurdles are slowly raised.

When the issue is a lack of speed, Coach McGill has the athlete do a series of short-distance speed workouts (preferably in the 30-60 meter range). McGill explains these drills are designed “to help the athlete develop the power and force application to cover the found ground necessary to 3-step.”¹ 

Coach McGill is quick to stress that it’s imperative for coaches working with athletes learning to 3-step to “place a heavy emphasis on proper sprint mechanics for such an athlete, because improper sprint mechanics (back-kick, low arm carriage, running flat-footed or on the heels, etc.), can directly result in an inability to 3-step.”¹

McGill acknowledges that those athletes who struggle with learning to 3-step due to a small build or short stature, “may just have to wait until they grow taller or get faster.”¹

Coach McGill’s Key Takeaways on Teaching the 3-step

When asked how hurdlers should be taught to 3-step, Coach McGill’s reply is clear:

​“The overall answer to the question of how to teach hurdlers to 3-step is to always start low and slow. Lower the hurdles and move them closer together so that the athlete can run at a slow pace. Allow the athlete time to ingrain the 3-step rhythm—because hurdling is all about rhythm.”

Coach McGill expounds on his 3-step teaching philosophy by sharing his primary rule: “DON’T FORCE the 3-step. Don’t overstride in the attempt to 3-step. You can develop very bad habits that way and those habits will be darn near impossible to correct later if they become ingrained.” McGill expresses the firm belief that it is better to take your time and slowly teach an athlete the correct way to execute the 3-step (or any other maneuver), rather than hurry them along and in so doing, reinforce harmful habits that are contrary to good form and could be detrimental not only to the athlete’s long-term chances of success in competition but could also put them at increased risk for possible injury.

Instead, McGill is a proponent of modifying hurdle height and spacing until the athlete masters the rhythm necessary to meet that challenge, and then gradually increase hurdle height and spacing until eventually, the hurdles are at the race height and spaced at race distance. McGill maintains that this measured, gradual approach results in the athlete learning to 3-step in a natural way. This is vital, as Coach McGill asserts, “The 3-step should ALWAYS feel natural and fast. If it feels like a reach, the athlete isn’t ready yet to graduate to the next height/spacing.”¹

Coach Hector Cotto’s Approach to 3-Stepping: It’s All About the Rhythm

Coach Hector Cotto is a former Olympic hurdler who represented his native Puerto Rico in the 2008 and 2012 games. He is now a hurdles coach and author.² Coach Cotto emphasizes one thing repeatedly in explaining his approach to teaching 3-stepping: To master hurdling you must learn and respect technique, but unless you also achieve the ability to run at your full speed while clearing the speeds in rhythm, technique will never be enough to make you an elite athlete. Cotto goes further asserting, “Three steps are all you get to create as much speed as possible, and the athlete who can do so without crashing wins.”³

Coach Cotto’s response to the proper hurdle height echoes Coach McGill’s staunch belief that low is the way to go. Cotto contends, “The hurdles should be at their lowest height year-round.”³ Coach Cotto is a firm adherent to the policy that beginners should never “run over race-distance hurdles in practice” and he doesn’t “allow them to do so.”³ Instead, he insists inexperienced hurdlers take the time they need to progress at their own pace, so they learn how to jump and 3-step properly before advancing to higher hurdles.

Cotto carries this philosophy through to his mature hurdlers who know how to 3-step. These athletes also train for the majority of the season with the hurdles “placed one notch lower than race height.”³ As a practice, Cotto does not allow even these experienced competitors to run at full speed with the hurdles at their full competition height during practice sessions.

Cotto’s approach to proper 3-step instruction consists of 3 stages that concentrate on teaching athletes to run with rhythm. At the heart of his method is his firm conviction that “keeping the hurdles close is the key to building the good habits and confidence” hurdlers need to develop and build on to reach their full potential in mastering the 3-step and winning races.³

To Begin: Hurdlers Must Learn Rhythm Until It’s Ingrained

For hurdlers training with Cotto, despite age or experience, the season kicks off with approximately full two weeks of repeatedly practicing the following 3 drills, while wearing flat shoes and running at a normal pace. The emphasis here is learning to establish a solid rhythm while performing the fundamental mechanics of jumping using proper form and technique.³

• The One-Step Drill: For this drill, the hurdles should be placed as low as possible and at a distance of 6 to 7 feet apart. The athlete should practice going over the hurdles until they can do so at a consistent, rhythmic pace.³

Initially, this drill should be done using five hurdles. As the athlete begins to clear the hurdles with more speed, increase the number of hurdles to 7-10.³ This is an example of gradually increasing the challenge for the hurdler until they develop a rhythm.

• The Cycle Drill:

The cycle drill calls for hurdles to be placed at a distance of 15 feet apart. Coach Cotto maintains that any athlete over the age of 11 should be able to 5-step between hurdles at that distance, “which is why this is the perfect starting distance for the cycle drill.”³ What the coach is looking for here is a natural progression is rhythm, with the athlete demonstrating a growing ability to move quickly over the hurdles, ready to continue moving forward.³

Hurdlers should advance fairly rapidly and be able to complete this drill at a distance of 17-18 feet in a short amount of time. Once they have mastered this exercise, they should move on to the cycle ladder drill.³

• The Cycle Ladder Drill

The goal of the cycle ladder drill is to teach hurdlers to clear increasing longer hurdle distances “without shocking the system with full-speed running.”³ The drill is performed just as the cycle drill is done with one key difference: the athlete should concentrate “on driving the trail leg down to the track off the hurdles and ensuring the trail leg lands near the lead leg, to achieve a definite push forward.³

The cycle ladder drill should begin with two hurdles spaced at a distance of 11 feet apart; each subsequent hurdle should be 2 feet further apart. There should be 5 hurdles in total at a distance of 11-11-13-15-17 feet. Once this challenge has been successfully met, the first hurdle is moved to the back for a progression of 11-13-15-17-19. When a hurdler can execute this drill in rhythmic motion for a distance of approximately 20 feet, Coach Cotto deems them ready to run hurdles at full speed.³

The ultimate goal of the above drills is to get the hurdler to the point that rhythmically clearing the hurdles is second nature, so while two weeks is generally what it takes, like Coach McGill, Cotto stresses the process should not be rushed, and practice should be repeated until each hurdler has a natural rhythm established.

These drills comprise stage one of Coach Cotto’s 3-step training process, teaching the fundamentals of running and jumping with rhythm and proper form. Mastering these basic principles clears the way for the track athlete to progress to the next two stages of Cotto’s 3-step training, which prepares athletes to meet the need for speed and to build endurance to go the distance in competition.

This illustrates that learning to 3-step or perform any essential element of this sport is a marathon, not a sprint (pardon the pun). The mechanics required in hurdling and track events are complicated and must be taught by experienced coaches with a deep understanding of physiology, kinesiology, and simply how to break training down into stages so athletes can learn slowly, a little at a time until muscle memory kicks in and what is needed to turn in a peak performance becomes second nature to disciplined athletes who take instruction to heart and apply the lessons they are taught.

References:

1. McGill, S. (11 January 2021). Email interview.
2. org. (2021). Hector Cotto.
3. Cotto, H. (2013). Fundamental Hurdling Drills.

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