Five-stepping Workout

by Steve McGill

Anyone who is familiar with my coaching methods knows that I tend to have my athlete do all their drilling to a three-step rhythm, and that I’ve gotten away from using one-step drills, five-step drills, and drills in which the rhythm may shift during a rep. I prefer three-stepping everything because I feel it is important, even in the off-season, to ingrain race rhythm, and to develop the muscle memory that comes with the race pattern. However, people who know me know that I never throw anything I’ve done in the past into the trash can. I’ll put it in the closet, so if, for any reason, I never need to pull it out at a later date, I know where to go to find it. 

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This week’s workout is a workout that I recently pulled out of the closet. Let me explain what the workout consists of first, then I’ll explain why I dusted it off and added it back into the mix.

The Setup:

• Set up five hurdles at one click below race height.
• Space the hurdles far enough apart for an easy five-step rhythm, after a 6-step approach to hurdle one. Generally, we’re talking in the range of about 30 feet to hurdle one, and then anywhere from 10-11 yards (females) to 12-14 yards apart (males) between the hurdles. 
• The approach to hurdle one will consist of three bouncing strides followed by three quick strides, for a total of six strides. Make sure the athlete has the rhythm to the first hurdle down pat before beginning the workout.
• The five steps between hurdles should be free of strain. If the hurdler has to work hard at all just to reach the hurdles in five strides, then decrease the spacing between each one.

The Workout:

• The athlete will clear all five hurdles (six-stepping to the first one and five-stepping between all the rest), walk briskly back to the starting line, then go again. Eight reps over the five hurdles constitutes a set, for a total of forty hurdles cleared. 
• The athlete will then rest five minutes.
• After the five-minute rest, the athlete will complete another set of eight reps over the five hurdles. That adds up to another forty hurdles, for a total of eighty hurdles thus far in the workout.
• The athlete will then rest six minutes.
• After the six-minute rest, the athlete will do a half-set, consisting of four reps over the five hurdles, for a total of twenty hurdles. That adds up to a total of 100 hurdles for the workout.

My inspiration for raising this workout from the dead was an athlete I coach who returned to training a couple weeks ago after hurting his hip toward the end of outdoor season last summer. I didn’t want to have him run too fast and risk re-injury, so the five-step rhythm, I knew, would enable him to manage his speed better. It would also be a good way to re-introduce him to building his hurdle-endurance. Volume-wise, we were able to clear 100 hurdles without much strain.

This workout also allows for addressing technical flaw while re-adapting the body to going over hurdles again. For reasons I’ve already discussed, this is a workout I wouldn’t implement when races are on the horizon. But as an off-season, get-back-in-hurdle-shape kind of workout, I like it, and I recommend it.

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