Quick Hands Quick Feet Workout
by Steve McGill
Many of the workouts and workout progressions I come up with are created organically, in the moment, as I’m working with an individual athlete, troubleshooting problems. Such was the case with this month’s workout, which was inspired by a training session with high school junior Malik Mixon. In another article in this month’s issue, I detail how that session went and how the purpose of it was to get Malik – a very strong and powerful runner – to learn to relax and to run more lightly on his feet. Here, I will provide the details of the workout, as it can be used not only to teach relaxation, but also to challenge more advanced hurdlers to address rhythm and crowding issues, as well as technical issues. There is also an endurance element to this workout as well.
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The Workout
10 reps of the lane-line drill. I originally designed this drill to help my hurdlers who use the cycle-arm action that I invented, as cycling the arms very low and very quickly can be difficult and confusing. But it can also be used to teach any advanced hurdler to use quick hands and quick feet between the hurdles. The drill involves using the lane lines as “hurdles,” and fitting in three quick steps between each line. The video below can also be found in the article in this month’s issue “Learning to Relax,” but I’ve also inserted it here for convenience purposes. The purpose of doing this drill first is to establish the rhythm and tempo and light-footedness that we’ll want to carry over into later in the workout, when the athlete is running faster.
5 reps of the 5-Step Drill over 5 hurdles, race height.
Hurdles are spaced four feet further apart than race spacing. The purpose of 5-stepping is to give the athlete more time to think and react between the hurdles, in preparation for the next phase of the workout, when there will less time to think and react. The five steps between should not be an even five steps; instead, it should be an easy, slower first two steps (these are considered recovery steps), followed by three quick steps into the next hurdle.
5 reps of the Quickstep Drill over 5 hurdles, race height.
With the quick-step drill, the hurdles are 24-25 feet apart. The start line should be 30-33 feet before the first hurdle for a 6-step approach. This spacing to hurdle one will also work for the 5-step drill, by the way. Here, the focus is on reacting reacting reacting! The tempo should feel close to how it felt in the lane line drill.
3 Block starts over one hurdle, race height.
This part of the workout is optional. Opt in only if the athlete has looked good enough in the drills that it’s worth seeing how things will look at full speed. You don’t want to discourage the athlete by pushing ahead too far before the athlete is ready. But this part of the workout can serve as a very good gauge as to how well the lessons learned in the drilling have been ingrained.
Variations
Depending on how the athlete is progressing, you might need to make adaptations as you go. You might need to do dozens of reps of the lane-line drill if the athlete is not picking up on it. Don’t move on to the next drill until you’re satisfied with the progress the athlete has made with the current drill. So even though it may say to do five reps of the 5-step drill, don’t stop at five reps and move on to the quicksteps if the athlete is still looking sloppy after five reps. Add a sixth rep, a seventh, etc. Make it clear to the athlete that you’re not moving on to the next drill until you see what you want to see with this one.
Another variation would be to play with the height of the hurdles. I use race height for hurdlers whom I know won’t benefit from lowering the hurdles. But if the athlete needs to try the 5-step drill and the quickstep drill at lower heights first, then by all means do so.
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