Easier Equals Faster
by Steve McGill
I would argue that 90% of flaws in hurdling technique are caused by trying too hard. The other 10% are caused by physical factors such as a lack of flexibility or strength, or by difficulty in managing one’s speed between the hurdles. But for the most part, extraneous effort is the source of almost all hurdling problems. In my coaching, I’m always looking for ways to make the hurdling action easier, and I’m always teaching my athletes how to rid themselves of needless effort. To many athletes, this idea of “not trying” seems counter to what they’ve learned all their lives about the importance of hard work, of putting forth the extra effort. But eliminating needless effort doesn’t mean not working hard; it means maximizing the effort that you do put forth, so that you can run with a fluid ease of motion that limits mistakes and limits fatigue. Athletes who learn to hurdle with minimal effort will run faster times. All things being equal, the athlete who wastes the least amount of effort is the one who will come out on top.
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Some of the effort-based mistakes include kicking out the foot of the lead leg, swinging the arms real widely, stomping the last step before clearing the hurdle, clenching the teeth, clenching the fists, tightening the neck and shoulders, and many more. I’ve found that, for a hurdler who has ingrained a lot of bad habits caused by trying too hard, it takes constant drilling to get that athlete to relax so that the habit is eliminated. At first, such athletes feel like they’re “cheating” when they just step over hurdles. And even when they understand the concept of minimizing effort in order to maximize performance, their bodies will resist the change; their bodies will still cling to the old ways. So I always have to start low and slow–low hurdles, slow-paced drills.
The style that I’m teaching my athlete Brandon Johnson, the style I refer to as the cycle arms, is the latest step in the process of eliminating wasted efforts in the hurdling action and creating a fluid, harmonious motion. Back in the day, the process started with switching from a straight lead leg to a bent lead leg–from a lead leg that kicks out and snaps down to a lead leg that cycles with no pauses. Later I added cycling the lead arm ala Sally Pearson and Dominique Arnold. We also emphasized keeping the torso pushing forward throughout the entire race–no standing up off of hurdles and no running with erect posture between the hurdles, as the forward posture made it easier to cycle the lead leg and to keep the hips pushing forward. Another piece we added was that of pushing forcefully off the back leg at take-off, and driving the trail leg to the front instantly, instead of the more traditional lag-then-whip action of the trail leg. The forceful push-off made the hurdlers hips taller, creating more of a downhill angle, and driving the trail leg instantly to the front in a high and tight action created speed off the hurdle. Now, there was a synchronicity between the lead leg and trail leg, and a singularity of motion, as opposed to one leg clearing, pause, then the other leg clearing.
In regards to the mindset, I want my athletes to be students, to be learners, not competitors. The only time to be a competitor is in races, when the gun goes off. In practice, you should never be racing, even when the workout is race-specific. Last year, before corona took over, I had Brandon work on his start one day with Alex Nunley, who I used to coach regularly when I lived in Raleigh, and another kid named Malik who had found me through my website and had come up for training a few times prior. In the session, I had each of them do some starts on their own, working on minor adjustments. Then, for the second part of the workout, I had them do competitive starts over one, two, and then three hurdles so they could continue to work on things while having the added pressure of going against the other two athletes. It was a good workout, with a lot of hard work and a lot of fun had by all. A few weeks later, Malik came up again for another session, and I wanted to work with him one-on-one this time so we could address some of his technical flaws more directly. When he arrived, the first thing he asked was if Brandon and Alex were coming. When I told him no, he was disappointed. It soon became clear to me that he wanted to do competitive starts against them again. They had “beaten” him on most reps last time, and he was eager to prove himself their equal. I explained to him that he was approaching things all wrong. Work on your craft, I told him. Work on your flaws, improve your mechanics. Do what you need to do to get better, then your improvement will show in your performance. But if you come to practice ready to compete, then you’ll just train through your flaws instead of correcting them. So, while I appreciated his eagerness to get better, and liked the fact that he wasn’t scared to take on a challenge, I felt like he was going about it the wrong way, and that’s what I explained to him. The whole point of doing starts against Brandon and Alex was to expose flaws so that we knew what we needed to work on; the point wasn’t to beat them in a practice session.
As I’ve preached time and again, it all comes down to approaching hurdling as an art form, as opposed to approaching it as a foot race. And the irony is, as it has always been, if you focus on mastering the art form, the races will take care of themselves. For hurdlers who have grown accustomed to working harder than smarter, learning how to untrain and retrain the mind and body can take some time. My experience has always been that it’s worth the amount of time it takes. When my hurdlers ingrain fluidity and effortlessness, I don’t have to worry about them on race day. I don’t have to give a pep talk or go down a list of reminders. I know they’re ready.
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