Hurdling is a great sporting event that is viewed by many people all around the world. It is a sport that requires amazing coordination, muscle strength and a decent amount of agility. It is a high intensity event that had been gaining more and more followers as the years go by. But can it be used to help you run faster?
Absolutely.
It has been included in the sports programmes of many sports academies. The question that is commonly asked nowadays is- “Do hurdles make you faster?”
Any kind of race required the athlete to be fast on their feet. Hurdling is no exception. The winner of the game is decided by assessing the speed of the players. So, it is but obvious that the players need speed and are trained for it. Hurdles make you faster and more agile. There is no doubt about that.
So, let us have a look at the different techniques of hurdling and how they contribute to make an athlete more agile.
The Hurdle Drills
Every athlete that is planning to participate in an hurdling event, has to go through some drills, as a means of enhancing their efficiency. Speed hurdles are a great way to train your muscles and make you faster at the same time.
The right drills with their perfect mechanics, can help you get faster as an athlete. These drills will help you in the main event, by allowing you to train to bring your feet up after ground contact, for the recovery phase of your stride.
Better mechanics means more efficient running. This in turn means that you will run faster, longer, while spending less energy at the same time. To increase your speed, perform the below drills 3 times a session.
A set of 5 hurdles for each drill would be appropriate. Though you can increase or decrease the number depending up on your experience level. When I started with hurdles, I started off with 3 and worked my way up to 7. I found that uneven numbers worked best for me as it allowed me to work on my leading leg.
As you become more and more confident of your agility and skills, you can increase the number of hurdles. In this way, you will be enhancing your speed and practicing for the main event at the same time.
If you’re looking to compete with hurdles, you will need to increase this to 10 if you are doing the 100m sprints. To find out more about how to compete in a hurdling competition, make sure to read my article on the topic!
Wicket Drill
Wicket drills are especially designed to test and improve your back step. They are great for starters and can help you set up the mood for the main session. They are also a great way to enhance speed on their own.
Do them 4 to 6 times a week and you will be seeing the results soon. However do take a break from doing them if at risk of injuring yourself.
- Place the hurdles about 1 to 2 yards apart. The number of hurdles depends up on your needs.
- Stand straight at the stand line. Your chest should be out and your core engaged. The head should be in a neutral position and your eyes should be looking straight up ahead.
- Sprint to the first hurdle. Maintain the tall position. Do not lean forward or backwards. Maintain the arm mechanics to help in your stride.
- Lift the knee of the lead leg to clear the first hurdle of the drill. Then drive the leg back down so that your foot strikes the ground.
- Upon ground contact, lock the ankle with toes up and lift your heel. Bring it as close as you can to your glutes, as you continue with the leg cycle. The goal of this step is high heel recovery.
- Cycle the leg back and sprint to the next hurdle.
In this way, you can make yourself faster by doing this hurdling drill. If your foot strikes the hurdles, it would mean that your ankle is not cocked sufficiently. It means that you are over-emphasising on your back step and this is causing you to run more slowly.
Focus on this aspect initially. Once you can cross the hurdles with ease, you can be assured that your speed and form, both are good.
High Knee Drill
This drill teaches you to lift your knees higher. This drill is focused on improving your front side mechanics. This is also a great drill in the way that it teaches you to land on the ground with your toes up.
It also helps you to become faster and helps you train for the main event. It will help you in getting used to the high intensity that is needed from your side, during the games. Though an easy drill, this drill was never my favourite to do as it requires a fair bit of effort to maintain for more than a few seconds.
It is an easy drill and with some efforts, you can easily master it. As with the wicket drill, start with fewer hurdles and continue adding the numbers as you feel more and more comfortable in the drill. Do this drill after the wicket drill for maximum effect.
As it is a slight modification of the wicket drill, you can perform it quite easily. Here are the steps that you need to follow while doing the high knee drill.
- Start in the same position as in the wicket drill.
- Run through the hurdles just as before. But this time, practice bringing your knee up as high as possible as you step over them. One trick I used to do was to pretend that I was high-knee jump kicking someone. You want to exaggerate the movement as the more force you use to push up in the air, the more ground you cover and therefore the faster you will be.
- Always be conscious about your form. Keep your navel in towards your spine. Your knees should be up, toes lifted and arms pumping.
This hurdle drill will help you get faster and practice for the main event. You can enhance your efficiency by pushing yourself in this drill. It will take few weeks to master this. But once you are done, you will feel a whole lot better about your form. It is a great technique to get more muscle power in the legs and not let the bulk of the muscle affect the speed.
These 2 drills are great for your back and front form and compliment each other brilliantly. You can easily improve your technique as you keep on enhancing your performance every passing week.
You should have a coach or fellow athlete monitor your technique as you perform these drills. It will help you in understanding what it is that you lack and how it can be improved. These drills will help you get better and faster, in no time.
Since most athletes do not just move faster and backwards, they need to train themselves for a complete range of motion. This calls for a drill that helps athletes make better lateral movements during any hurdling event. It can help them get faster during your competition.
So, we will now be talking about another drill that will help you as an athlete, to improve your lateral mechanics.
Lateral Shuffle Drill
- This is a drill that will help you run better from sideline to sideline. Your overall speed of completing the race will dramatically increase.
- This drill involves more strength and technique so it can take more time to master it.
- Do this drill only after you have done the first 2 drills for the day.
- Start in the same position as the first 2 drills. Look straight ahead and keep your spine straight
- Line up directly in front of the first hurdle.
- Shuffle quickly to the right and run around the first hurdle.
- Then shuffle quickly and run around the second.
- Keep on doing this for the remaining hurdles.
- Keep on repeating this pattern and increasing the number of hurdles as you get better. Also focus on enhancing your speed as you can.
- Keep your hips low and chest high all throughout the drill.
In this way, the lateral shuffle drill will help you get even more faster and help improve your performance in the main event. It is a lot harder than the other 2 drills. You will have to keep your fitness at the best level to make sure that you win the hurdling events that you take part in. This drill will help you in doing just that.
These are some ways you can use hurdling to make you faster. It is a great way to help you become more agile. You should practice these drills and you will see the effect in very little time.
So, try these drills and you will become a better, faster and a more powerful version of yourself.