Stay on the Balls of the Feet

by Steve McGill

One of the things I’ve noticed throughout my years of coaching hurdlers is that hurdlers (and coaches) tend to over-think the hurdling part, and under-think the sprinting part. What I mean is that almost all flaws in hurdling mechanics are rooted in flaws in sprinting mechanics, but we tend to spend so much time trying to address the hurdling flaw, not realizing that addressing the sprinting flaw will correct the hurdling flaw without the need to specifically address the hurdling flaw at all. Of the many principles of sprinting mechanics that have a direct effect on hurdling mechanics, the one that is most foundational is this: run on the balls of the feet.

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If you are not running on the balls of the feet, a domino effect of hurdling mistakes will follow. And no matter how much time and effort you put into correcting the hurdling mistakes, you will not be successful as long as you continue to sprint flat-footed, heel-toe, or on the toes.

Firstly, let’s address what it means to run on the balls of the feet, and how it differs from other types of running styles. The ball of the foot is the part of the foot that is right behind the toes. Distance runners who run bare-footed on grass surfaces have pointed out that when doing so, it becomes natural to run on the balls of the feet because that is the part of the foot that can most easily absorb the impact. For a sprinter/hurdler, landing on the ball of the foot each stride is essential to reducing ground contact time and maintaining the ability to keep pushing forward, maintaining proper upper body posture. A lot of coaches instruct their athletes to “run on your toes,” but that is not good instruction. The toes cannot absorb the impact of each stride. If you run on your toes, your hips will drop slightly upon impact, increasing your ground contact time. Also, if you are landing on your toes, that means your toes are pointing down, like a ballet dancer’s. This is called plantar flexion of the ankle. To run on the balls of your feet, your toes must be pointing up, meaning your ankles are dorsi-flexed. When your toes are pointing down, you will always land with your foot in front of your hips, which creates a braking effect. And, again, it increases ground contact time. Your hips need to push forward in front of your foot before you can push off the ground again. A lot of hurdlers who struggle to three-step will run on their toes, because they’re reaching with their foreleg in order to lengthen their strides. While this style of running can lead to longer strides, it will also lead to a decrease in acceleration because of the aforementioned braking effect.

To run flat-footed means that the whole bottom of the foot absorbs the impact each stride. This is a very inefficient way of running, and causes all kinds of knee problems and shin splints and the like.

To run heel-toe is to allow the heel to absorb the initial impact, and to then roll on to the toe before the foot leaves the ground. A lot of cross country runners run this way because they’re running in fields and woods and stuff. One girl that I coach privately runs cross country every fall, and when I start with her each winter, I find myself needing to re-teach her sprint mechanics all over again before getting down to the business of hurdling. The problem with the heel-toe style is that, like running on the toes and running flat-footed, it increases ground contact time. Also, it causes you to rock back with your upper body, so that your upper body is going in one direction (backwards) while your legs are trying to move in the opposite direction (forward).

So, from a hurdling perspective, what does this all mean? A lot of things. Let me provide a list of all the things you will not be able to do if you are not sprinting on the balls of your feet:

• You will not be able to lead with the knee of the lead leg.
• You will not be able to lean forward over the thigh of the lead leg.
• You will not be able to push off into the hurdle with force and with forward momentum.
• You will not be able to prevent your arms from swinging from side to side.
• You will not be able to get your trail leg knee to face the front by the time the lead leg lands.
• You will not be able to land on balance.
• You will not be able to accelerate off the hurdle.

To elaborate:

If you are not running on the balls of the feet, the foot of your lead leg will kick out and up, and the knee will probably lock, causing a pause in the hurdling action. No matter how hard you try to lead with the knee, if you are not running on the balls of the feet, you will not be able to. Because the foot of the lead leg will get away from you too soon, you’ll lose control of what you are doing. The arms will swing, the hips will twist, the shoulders will twist, the trail leg will flatten out too much. You’ll spend so much time in the air that your sprinting speed will suffer as a result. Your first step off the hurdle won’t be a sprinting stride, but a recovery stride, forcing you to work extra hard to reach your optimal take-off distance for the next hurdle.

So, before you ask yourself if you’re leading with the knee, before you ask yourself if you’re leaning forward properly, before you ask yourself if you need to tighten up your arm action, ask yourself, “Am I running on the balls of my feet?” Because if you’re not, you won’t be able to do any of the above.

What I tell my hurdlers, and what I will often emphasize in the first warm-up session at any camps that I conduct, is that sprinting mechanics are hurdling mechanics. When I’m teaching you how to sprint, I’m teaching you how to hurdle, even if I haven’t set up any hurdles yet. At camps, and with beginners that I coach privately, I’ll spend a lot of time in the first session teaching proper mechanics for A-marches and A-skips. For any coach working with hurdlers who don’t run on the balls of the feet, I would suggest doing the same thing. If you can get your hurdlers to learn efficient sprint mechanics, then teaching them the hurdling part will be relatively simple, because they will already have a working vocabulary and all the necessary reference points.

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