Electric Hurdles
Hub / HURDLING / 9

Hitting the Track

Hit the track before you hit the track. The effective strike lands slightly behind you and sends you down the track.

Founder method
Teach this lesson T Trackside cues
01Teach from here

Hit the Track Before You Hit the Track

Act as if the track were an inch or two higher than it is.Maximum-force intent starts above the ground.Gravity does none of the work.

“I tell my athletes to hit the track before they hit the track.”
SourcesKU-015G
Coach notes
  • Fast hurdling and sprinting have a distinct sound because the athlete forces the ball of the foot into the track. The heel does not touch. The foot punches back with intent.
  • The founder listens for that sound. Sound alone does not prove the mechanism; super slow-motion film shows intent, approach, shin orientation and force direction better than stills.
  • The one-to-two-inch target is coaching imagery, not a measured displacement.
SourcesKU-015G
02Teach from here

Whack the Track Back

During acceleration, especially after hurdle one, do not just strike down beneath the body.Whack the track back. Hit behind you.The effective strike lands slightly behind you, at the proper angles.

Whack the track back.
Response
Drive the strike backward
Meaning
Backward strike direction during acceleration
SourcesKU-015G
Hit behind you.
Response
Land the force behind the body
Meaning
Felt target that organizes a real down-and-back strike
SourcesKU-015G
Coach notes
  • Two athletes can contact the same spot with different outcomes because their intended and realized force directions differ. Lead-leg contact and the early trail-leg contact both carry negative-shin-angle intent.
SourcesKU-015G; WALK · b6
03Teach from here

Real versus Feel

Some instructions are felt, not literal."Screw your feet into the ground" on a deadlift: the feet do not literally screw in, but the action organizes.Judge the cue by the real movement it produces.

Coach notes
  • Real versus Feel is a named Stay Dangerous psychological piece. "Hit the track before you hit the track" and "hit behind you" work in this register.
SourcesKU-015G; GLOSS

Related

  • No-Hurdle Drills -- Hurdle drills without hurdles, for foot feel. Then the lane line drill, for quick hands.
  • Coaching Language -- Say the words that produce the response. Keep the live cue, the teaching explanation and the technical account separate.
  • The Big Four -- Four big, long, strong steps that whack the track back and reach a measured fourth-step mark.

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