Uphill Sprint Workout

This workout is designed to be a strength/conditioning workout for 100/110m hurdlers.

[am4show not_have=”g5;”]

[/am4show][am4guest]

[/am4guest][am4show have=”g5;”]

The Set-up

Find a hill at a nearby park or on the grounds of a school.

The hill should have an incline grade of 5-10%. You don’t want the hill to be too steep, nor too short. A steep and short hill is ideal for developing explosive power to help with the start and drive phase; that’s a workout for another day.

The hill should be 120-180 meters in length; 150 meters would be ideal, but it doesn’t have to be exact, as long as you run the exact same distance every time you do the workout (so that you can measure you’re progress).

It may help to place a cone at the start line and another at the finish line.

The Workout

• If the hill is closer to 120m, then the athletes should do 16 reps – 4 sets of 4.
• If the hill is closer to 180m, then the athletes should do 12 reps – 3 sets of 4.
• The key is to attack the hill, maintaining a low center of gravity and forward momentum.
• As with other conditioning workouts, it’s important to be consistent with the times. Don’t go too hard on the early reps and then not be able to finish the workout.

Recovery

• Between reps, walk the same distance you just ran.
• Between sets, take a 4-minute rest.

Variations

Depending on the fitness level of the athlete, the rest periods can vary. Fitter athletes might be able to stay consistent with only two sets (of 6 or 8) instead of three or four. The fittest athletes may be able to do the workout as one complete set.

Experienced hurdlers can add a hurdle or two (preferably fold-up practice hurdles). The height of the hurdles should be one click below race height. Where they are spaced doesn’t really matter; feel free to experiment in regards to that. Having the hurdle(s) there just adds another level of challenge to the hurdler who has proven to be very consistent in the workout without hurdles.

[/am4show]