Quick-step Drill Workout

by Steve McGill

While I have used all of the workouts that I have posted in The Hurdle Magazine over the years, there are certain workout that I consider “staples” in my athletes’ diets – workouts that I use regularly, throughout the year, although not necessarily in the same way throughout the year. Chief among these is the quick-step drill. In the fall, I use it as a volume workout, and that is the manner in which I originally designed it.

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Back in the day, I used the “back-and-forth” workout for my hurdling volume – the workout made famous by Renaldo Nehemiah during his senior year in high school, when his coach, Jean Poquette, had him do four sets of 10 back-and-forths over 10 hurdles (five hurdle up, five hurdles back), for a total of 100 hurdles per set, 400 hurdles per workout. The fact that Nehemiah was able to do that kind of volume in such a demanding workout is something that I find more jaw-dropping than his 12.93 that he ran to break his own world record in the summer after his sophomore year of college. After a couple years of using it, I abandoned the back-and-forth workout because I found that the quality of the workout deteriorated relatively early in the workout, and that it deteriorated rapidly. Most athletes couldn’t do 100 hurdles worth of back-and-forths without their form falling apart to the point where I felt like the workout was becoming dangerous.

In its place, I inserted the quick-step workout, favoring its 3-step rhythm to the back-and-forth’s 5-step rhythm. It also allowed for jogging back (or walking back) to the start line after each rep instead of turning around and continuing non-stop. This aspect of the workout allowed for higher quality for longer, while still challenging the athlete to stay focused and on-point technically through fatigue.

The Setup

The basic setup is not the only possible setup, but here’s where I start from:

Five hurdles at one click below race height, or at race height if the athlete is ready for race height.

• First hurdle should be on the mark for the first hurdle in a race.
• All hurdles after the first hurdle should be 21 feet apart (for females) or 24 feet apart (for males).
• Workout can be done in flats, but it’s better done in spikes to keep the athlete on the balls of his or her feet. Flats are better if the athlete is dealing with lower leg pains.

The Workout

• From a standing start, the athlete either takes a ten-step approach from the starting line, speeding up the last three strides into the hurdle, or he/she takes a six-step approach from about four meters inside the starting line, again speeding up the last three strides into the hurdle.
• The last three strides into the first hurdle establish the quick-tempo rhythm for the rest of the rep.
• After clearing the fifth hurdle, the athlete turns around, and jogs on the balls of the feet back to the starting line and does the next rep.
• To get in 100 hurdles, I usually will divide the reps into a set of 8 reps, another set of 8 reps, and then a third set of 4 reps (40 hurdles, 40 hurdles, and 20 hurdles).
• Rest between each set will be five minutes minimum, six minutes maximum.

Progressions

Once the athlete is able to clear 100 hurdles in the above manner without any technical breakdowns and without the need for any extended breaks, keep adding hurdles. This is a once-per-week workout. My goal is always to add another hurdle each week, or to add another rep per set if I keep the amount of hurdles the same. But only add volume if the quality of the workout indicates that the athlete is ready to clear more hurdles.

The goal to reach by the end of November or beginning of December would be 200 hurdles worth of quick-stepping, which I usually divide into 2 sets of 8 reps over 10 hurdles, followed by a third set of 4 reps. The most reps I’ve ever had an athlete do was 300 hurdles – three sets of 10 reps over 10 hurdles. That was Johnny Dutch.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the workout is to build hurdle endurance. Volume workouts like this ensure that the athlete will be able to maintain technical precision for an entire race.

Another purpose is to address technical flaws. I always have my athletes focus on one or two aspects of technique for an entire workout, so that we can ingrain good habits and push out old bad habits.

A third purpose is to ingrain the race rhythm. I’m big on doing everything to a three-step rhythm because the body will subconsciously learn to mimic the race rhythm with the three steps between the hurdles.

Variations

Done during the competitive season, this workout can work very effectively as a jamming workout, forcing the athlete to be super-quick between the hurdles and to react super-quickly to each hurdle. In such cases, the endurace element is eliminated. We have full walk-back recoveries and time spent between reps discussing what’s working and what still needs to be worked on.

The video below features one of my athletes doing the quick-step workout a couple weeks ago:

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