The Practice
A mid-to-late-season session, in running order
Every section of practice has one theme, a menu beneath it, and a dose on top. The whole session spends one hurdle-count budget.
- 1The Running Order2 screensNine sections, from waking the feet to the working sets, narrated by the founder on 2026-08-18.
- 2Practice Runs on Themes4 screensEach working unit carries one stated theme. The coach names it, saturates it, and the athlete brings it forward.
- 3Menus and Doses2 screensEach section is a menu to choose from, dosed to the moment in the season and to the athlete.
- 4Activations, Ground Up3 screensFeet first, then knees at the fence, then hips and core on the grass.
- 5Active Stretches2 screensSix stretches and six walking stretches on the grass. Part of the roster is still to be named.
- 6Sprint Drills: Frontside4 screensThe first thing done to build the machine. One theme: an extreme frontside bias.
- 7Fence Hurdle Drills4 screensThree essential trail-leg drills, a conditional lead-leg drill, and two cues: heel to butt and thigh to chest.
- 8No-Hurdle Drills3 screensHurdle drills without hurdles, for foot feel. Then the lane line drill, for quick hands.
- 97-14-215 screensThree phases, three themes. One-step overs for power, electric overs for speed.
- 10Block Start Warm-Up2 screensFeel the blocks, survive the double knee, then hit the two-step and four-step marks with nothing moderate about it.
- 11The ABCs4 screensThree block starts over discounted spacing, tightening toward race spacing. The first splits of the practice.
- 12Working Sets and the Hurdle Count3 screensThe working sets are sized by what the warmup has already spent from one capped hurdle count.
- 13Bring This to the Next Drill1 screenLow-close and wide-fast work happen every practice. Improvement is carrying the pattern forward.
The Running Order
Nine sections, from waking the feet to the working sets, narrated by the founder on 2026-08-18.
One Session, Start to Finish
Activations. Active stretches. Sprint drills.Fence hurdle drills, in running shoes.Spike up. No-hurdle drills. 7-14-21.Block Start Warm-Up. ABCs. Working sets.
Coach notes
- The founder narrated this session in one sitting, block by block, and paused at the working sets.
- Everything before the working sets is drills. The ABCs are the last drill of the warmup.
- A drink and a seated rest separate the sprint drills from the fence drills. The rest is part of the running order.
Open
- Needs the founder The founder offered a deeper geometric and theoretical layer at the pause point and deferred it.
Every Part Builds the Race
Nothing in practice is filler.Each section builds a specific part of the race.
“I can't emphasize this enough: as we go forward, every part of our drill set builds the race.”
Coach notes
- The founder identifies the rhythm and flow of practice as his individual contribution. The ramp runs from activations and active stretches into progressively specific drill phases so the completed progression has built the race.
- The standard is not to perform a skill correctly once. The athlete practices until the skill cannot be performed incorrectly under the intended conditions.
Practice Runs on Themes
Each working unit carries one stated theme. The coach names it, saturates it, and the athlete brings it forward.
Theme Is the Founder's Word
Every working unit has one theme.The theme is the only goal of that unit.
“The whole point and the theme of the sevens is to make sure the up-downs are happening.”
Coach notes
- "Now we have themes" opens the sprint drill section. "The whole point and the theme of the sevens" confirms it at 7-14-21. Theme is the founder's own structural term.
- Individual drills are instruments serving the theme of their section rather than carriers of separate intents.
The Themes, In Order
Frontside mechanics. Foot feel. Quick hands.up-DOWN. Lead leg. left-left. Down.
| Working unit | Theme |
|---|---|
| Sprint drills | Frontside mechanics |
| No-hurdle passes | Foot feel |
| Lane line drill | Quick hands |
| The 7 | up-DOWN |
| The 14 | Lead leg |
| The 21 | left-left |
| ABCs | Down |
Coach notes
- The fence hurdle drills run on two points of emphasis rather than a single named theme: get the trail leg down in one motion, and thigh to chest on the lead leg.
- The Block Start Warm-Up has no named theme; it is governed by the two-step and four-step location targets and the double knee panic.
Open
- Needs the founder Whether the fence drills and the Block Start Warm-Up carry a single theme the founder has not yet named.
WALK · summaryThemes Accumulate
up-DOWN does not end when the 7s end.At the 14s, hands and knees still pump up and down into the first hurdle.
One Word, Shouted
The coach saturates the section with its theme.Sprint drills: "frontside, frontside, frontside."ABCs: "punch down, punch down, punch down."
- Response
- Limbs and hands out front, quick off the ground
- Meaning
- Single-cue saturation for the sprint drill theme
- Response
- Strike down into the track
- Meaning
- The emphasized half of up-DOWN, the only ABC cue
Coach notes
- This is coaching language as a performance intervention: the coach says the words that produce the response.
- At the end of sprint drills the founder hopes the athlete brings frontside to the next drill, "but we don't think to enforce it so much."
Open
- Ambiguity "We don't think to enforce it so much" -- deliberate non-enforcement or simply lighter cueing is not yet stated.
Menus and Doses
Each section is a menu to choose from, dosed to the moment in the season and to the athlete.
A Menu, Not a Script
Every section is a menu.No more than six choices per subcategory.The dose changes with the season and the athlete.
“You can dose this as needed, but just like activations and active stretches, have a menu of things to choose from. I wouldn't want to go more than six per subcategory.”
Coach notes
- This is the adaptive prescription principle at the scale of one session: the philosophy and the themes stay; the drills, their order and their volume change.
- The menu-and-dose structure is also what lets one hurdle-count budget govern the whole practice. See Working Sets.
Doses the Founder Gave
Doses are stated in counts and seconds, not feelings.
| Section | Dose as narrated |
|---|---|
| Sprint drills | as low as four drills at 5 seconds each, 55 seconds of rest; five or six drills to build up |
| Fence hurdle drills | four slow and deliberate, then four fast; rest up to a minute between |
| No-hurdle passes | three per pass over 30, 40 or 50 m, then walk back |
| Double knee | once; maybe twice because the reaction is great |
| ABCs | four hurdles up early season, down to three or two; 12 clearances with four up, six with two up |
Activations, Ground Up
Feet first, then knees at the fence, then hips and core on the grass.
Wake Up the Foot
Walk on the toes. Walk on the heels.Toes pointed in. Toes pointed out.Roll heel to toe. Walk on the toes backwards.
Coach notes
- The founder calls these run-of-the-mill basic foot activations. The intent sits in the order and the deliberateness, not the novelty: "This just wakes up the foot."
WALK · b1Knees at the Fence
Toe raises. Straight-leg calf raises. Bent-leg calf raises against the fence.Patrick steps: an abbreviated, roughly one-eighth squat.ATG split squats: all the way down, knee past the toes.
Coach notes
- The founder calls this the knees-over-toes protocol, moving up from the foot and ankle. This is where KOT, one of the four credited ingredients, physically enters the practice.
- "Tip raises" in the transcript is read as toe raises.
Open
- Needs the founder Confirm "tip raises" means toe raises.
Swings, Then Hips and Core
At the fence: leg swings facing forward, seven each side. Leg swings facing sideways, seven each side.On the grass: bird dogs, dead bugs, pretzel drops.
Coach notes
- The knee, hip and core blocks were narrated by position and order; their specific race purpose has not been stated yet.
Open
- Needs the founder Race-behavior purpose of the knee, hip and core activation blocks.
WALK · b1Active Stretches
Six stretches and six walking stretches on the grass. Part of the roster is still to be named.
On the Grass
Flippies and floppies.Sidney's: a seated hurdle stretch.Feet in the air, hands under the hips, bicycle.Afternoons, to open the hips. Elephant walks.
Coach notes
- Flippies and floppies: lie on the back in a T and swing the right foot up to touch the left hand, then the reverse, back and forth. Then flip onto the stomach and do the same, crab-like, pulling the foot toward the hands.
- "Afternoons" is recorded exactly as spoken.
Open
- Needs the founder "Sidney's" and "Afternoons" -- whether these are names, founder terms, or transcription artifacts.
WALK · b2Walking Stretches
Standing scoops. Quad pulls. Knee hugs.Six stretches and six walking stretches in all.
Coach notes
- The founder named fewer movements than the stated six and six, ending with "and different things like that." The full rosters are not yet listed.
- Neck stretches are mentioned at the close of the block; their place in the order is not recorded.
Open
- Unresolved Full roster of the six stretches and six walking stretches; position of the neck stretches.
WALK · b2Sprint Drills: Frontside
The first thing done to build the machine. One theme: an extreme frontside bias.
Build the Machine
Preparation is over. Practice has begun.Sprint drills are the first thing done to build the machine.
“The whole point of this part is that we're done. We're practicing, and we're getting our mind right. Sprint drills are the first thing that we're doing to build the machine.”
Coach notes
- Many sprint drills early in the season, fewer as it goes on, settling at about four main drills, maybe five.
- In preseason, all the sprint drills plus some sprints and no hurdling is the sprint workout. The same drills may serve as a cooldown.
WALK · b3What Frontside Means
Limbs and hands out front.Off the ground quickly, so the foot never travels behind the body.Focus on the front half of the foot.
- Response
- Get limbs, hands and the foot strike out front
- Meaning
- Extreme frontside bias, the only goal of the section
Coach notes
- The founder's mechanism claims: back kick kills speed; frontside mechanics increase stiffness and frequency.
- The founder has his hurdlers step down over the hurdles, and things have to be frontside to allow that.
WALK · b4The Ladder Gets Quicker
A-walks. Marches. Skips. Booms.Each one quicker and harder than the last.
Coach notes
- A-walk shape: right knee and left hand up with a slight beat at the top; dorsiflex the foot; straight lines; open hands; foot well out in front but not kicked out; heels still under the hamstring; proud chest, shoulders back, tall; a slight forward lean at the hips and upper torso. Count it 1/1000, 2/1000, 3/1000.
- Marches keep the A-walk range of motion and add hitting the track hard.
- Multipliers: single, double and triple skips; single, double (two on each side) and triple booms for four total sets.
WALK · b4Bottom-Ups, Gorilla Starts, Usain
Bottom-ups: like a high knee, but the sole never kicks back. Try to kick yourself in the butt by pulling the foot up. 5 seconds down the track.Gorilla starts: two-step, four-step, eight-step. Lean over the front leg and work acceleration.
Coach notes
- The founder says the bottom-up butt kick is impossible to complete; the attempt supplies the impetus for the proper sprint motion, especially on the lead leg and also the trail.
- Usain is named twice with two descriptions: "skipping into acceleration into max speed and then turning it off," and a bounce run or "pretty run" for form, textbook sprinter, not going crazy fast. The name came from watching Usain Bolt do calm accelerations. "Bounce run" is what Kentucky calls it. Late in the season the founder often drops Usain.
- Earlier canon lists early sprint preparation as general sprint drills, single, double and triple front-side-mechanics drills, held thigh-switch positions, form runs, Usains and 2-4-8 starts.
- The two-, four- and eight-step gorilla starts look like the same 2-4-8 start family; the founder has not said so directly.
Open
- Ambiguity The two Usain descriptions -- one drill at two efforts, two drills sharing a name, or a naming correction -- are unreconciled.
- Unresolved The four main sprint drills at the section's minimum, and whether bottom-ups count inside the four to six.
Fence Hurdle Drills
Three essential trail-leg drills, a conditional lead-leg drill, and two cues: heel to butt and thigh to chest.
Trail Leg Chicken Paw Slider
Slide the foot off the crossbar.Go straight down from where it leaves the hurdle.Do not cycle it to the front first.
| Element | Setup |
|---|---|
| Hurdle | turned to the side, perpendicular to the fence, about 3 ft away |
| Height | fence side at race height; far side one notch lower, 3 in down |
| Athlete | faces the fence, shoulders square, leaning forward |
| Foot | trail-leg arch in the middle of the crossbar |
| Action | slide and pull the foot forward until it leaves the crossbar, foot still slightly behind center of mass |
Coach notes
- Stated effects: hip mobility, and the toe pointing to the side.
- Dose: four slow and deliberate to warm up, then four fast, stomping back at the ground.
- Cue the posture: do not look down at the feet. Look forward, be proud. When the foot smacks the ground, the athlete is proud and leaning forward.
- The founder states this drill is unique to Stay Dangerous: "I'm the only person I know that does it this way."
Open
- Needs the founder Scope of the originality claim: the drill, the movement pattern, or the teaching cue.
WALK · b5Grand Holloways and Hit-Cycle-Hit
Grand Holloways: hurdle turned forward, athlete to the side, clicked down 3 inches. Cycle the trail leg around the hurdle without the foot ever touching the ground.Hit-Cycle-Hit: hit the track, use that reaction to pull up, over and through the hurdle, then back down to hit the track again.
Coach notes
- Grand Holloways dose: four slow cycles, rest up to a minute, four cycles as fast as possible, rest up to a minute.
- Hit-Cycle-Hit dose: four slow, then four fast. Each rep is allowed to settle for a beat before the next.
- The founder later added the cue for Hit-Cycle-Hit: heel to butt.
Open
- Needs the founder Whether "Grand Holloways" is named for the hurdler Grant Holloway or is a transcription artifact.
Lead Leg Punchdown
Face the fence or wall with the hurdle there.Lean forward, thigh to chest, heel high, lead leg dorsiflexed.Fall forward, catch yourself on the fence, push back up, repeat.
Coach notes
- Added when there is more room for fatigue. Its purpose: go at it with reckless abandon, lead leg bent to the chest, then fall forward.
- Deliberate exclusion: "I despise that whole kicking the fence drill. We don't do that at all." The punchdown is what is done instead.
Open
- Needs the founder Why the kicking-the-fence drill is excluded.
WALK · b5Two Cues, Solved at the Fence
Lead leg: thigh to chest.Trail leg: heel to butt, chicken paw pointing to the side.
“The lead leg cue is thigh to chest, and the trail leg cue was heel to butt. We have to solve heel-to-butt with that chicken paw pointing to the side, with the fence drill earlier.”
- Response
- Lead knee drives up, bent, heel under the hamstring
- Meaning
- Lead-leg point of emphasis
- Response
- Trail leg folds tight with the toe to the side
- Meaning
- Trail-leg point of emphasis, solved at the fence
Coach notes
- The counterintuitive part: swinging the trail foot to the front and then pushing it down costs an extra beat. Push it down as fast as possible coming over the hurdle and momentum brings it to the right position anyway.
- "We are working on frontside mechanics because it will come to the front side, but this is a frequency thing. This speeds up the trail hip."
- Frontside stays the destination, but on the trail leg it is reached as a result of speed, not steered.
- The three trail-leg drills are about getting the trail leg down in one motion.
No-Hurdle Drills
Hurdle drills without hurdles, for foot feel. Then the lane line drill, for quick hands.
You Heard Me Right
Spike up.Three passes, in order: cut step, lead leg, whole cycle.
“Now we go to the side, we spike up, and we get ready for our no-hurdle drills. You heard me right: no-hurdle drills.”
Coach notes
- Each pass: three repetitions of the action over 30, 40 or 50 meters, then walk it back.
- Cut step pass: jog down the track; the trail leg gets stiff and whacks back while the lead leg comes up but does not have to come down strong. The work is sticking the cut step back.
- Whole cycle pass: trail leg, cycle -- not the cut -- cycling over and whacking back once you come down.
Open
- Unresolved The lead leg pass is named but not described.
- Needs the founder Why the lead leg is deliberately not brought down strong during the cut step pass.
WALK · b6Foot Feel
What does it feel like to strike the track in an effective way?These passes warm up the effective strike.
“The effective strike, in my opinion, is one that propels you down the track because it's slightly behind you and it's at the proper angles.”
- Response
- Notice what an effective strike feels like
- Meaning
- Theme of the no-hurdle passes
Coach notes
- "Honestly, I can say it over and over again, but it's a foot feel drill."
- Its negative boundary: the effective strike is not a braking step ("breaking step" as transcribed).
- Its negative boundary: it is not a braking step ("breaking step" in the transcript).
- Also about good posture, arm technique and finding the rhythm.
WALK · b6Lane Line Drill: Quick Hands
Start at the outside lane facing the infield.Hurdle the nine lane lines on the way to the grass.Elbows in, quick hands. The feet will catch up.
- Response
- Hands pump up and down, elbows slightly in front
- Meaning
- Lane line drill theme
Coach notes
- This is more of a hands drill for the founder: hands pumping up and down, elbows slightly in front, good posture, good stiffness.
- Scope: the lane line drill trains between-hurdle hand action with the hands low. There is no 33- or 39-inch barrier to clear, so it does not train clearance.
- The drill is mentor-derived.
Open
- Unresolved Scaling on tracks with fewer than nine lane lines; the mentor's identity.
7-14-21
Three phases, three themes. One-step overs for power, electric overs for speed.
Where the 7 Comes From
Seven of the founder's own foot lengths, heel to toe.About 8 feet between hurdles.He dropped a cone every seven, about ten cones down the track.
Coach notes
- The counts use the founder's own feet, so they are not literal universal measurements. Seven founder paces translate to roughly eight feet.
- In this block the founder also says "each 7 ft." The governing reading from canon is seven paces, roughly eight feet.
Open
- Ambiguity "About 8 ft apart" and "each 7 ft" both appear in the 7 description.
The 7: up-DOWN
Wrist in line with elbow. Knee in line with ankle.Good forward lean. Straight lines.Do not curl the foot inside or swing it wide.
“The whole point of the 7 is up-down.”
Coach notes
- Two passes: one-step overs at the sevens, then electric overs at the sevens.
- To make a one-step happen, get on and off the ground as fast as possible with good force heading into it.
- Hurdle height at the 7s depends on the time of year. "That's not as important as what we're trying to get out of it."
WALK · b7The 14: Lead Leg
Lead leg strikes down and back on every one-step.Bent at the knee, then punch down and out of the angle.That angle sends you to the next hurdle.
“14s are all about lead leg. I want to see that lead leg strike down and back on every one-step descending into the next hurdle.”
Coach notes
- Rejected: the lead leg kicking out and swinging down from the hip.
- Four contacts over four hurdles at 14-step spacing, roughly 16 feet.
- The founder started to say trail leg and corrected himself in the same breath: the 14s are about the lead leg.
- On the one-steps you go for power; on the electrics you go for speed.
WALK · b8The 21: Pop-Throughs and left-left
The pop-through: the founder's best drill.Punch the cut step back from about 4 feet, cycle over fast, hit hard on the far side.The theme of the 21s is left-left.
“It's called the pop-through. ... what I feel is the best drill in our arsenal, and the drill we need to focus on more than any other drill.”
Coach notes
- Jogging pop-through: twinkle-toe up to the hurdle, not fast. Cut step set at about 4 feet from the hurdle. Punch it back, cycle over as fast as possible, hit really hard on the other side; with the proper angles it propels you to the next hurdle. The rep ends when the trail leg has hit hard. Run up on the next hurdle, stop, back it up, jog in again, one hurdle at a time.
- Marching pop-through, harder because there is no momentum: start about 7 feet from the hurdle, march the lead leg; lead-trail-lead, so on the fourth contact the trail is the cut step, and that cut step from 4 feet sends you through. Stiff cut step; watch the up-downs.
- left-left: the flight runs trail leg, cut step, to lead leg, touchdown; what is measured is left-left, made as violent, powerful and fast as possible with good form.
Open
- Unresolved The 21 spacing in feet was not stated.
- Needs the founder Which foot "left" denotes, whether the term flips for the other lead leg, and how left-left is measured.
WALK · b9The 7-14-21 at a Glance
7: up-DOWN. 14: lead leg. 21: left-left.
| Phase | Spacing | Theme | Passes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | about 8 ft (seven founder paces) | up-DOWN | one-step overs, then electric overs |
| 14 | about 16 ft | Lead leg | one-step (power), then electric (speed) |
| 21 | not stated | left-left | jogging and marching pop-throughs |
Block Start Warm-Up
Feel the blocks, survive the double knee, then hit the two-step and four-step marks with nothing moderate about it.
Flisk, Then Double Knee
Flisk: on your mark, set, gun. Just flinch out of the blocks. Feel what it feels like to push off them.Double knee: knees down as far as they go, feet on the blocks, hands reaching far forward. At set the hands are way out in front. Go, or fall on your face.
Coach notes
- The double knee came from a friend of the program, Coach Kevin; the name is the founder's. Do it once; it might be worth twice because the reaction is great.
- "Hands beyond the finish line" in the transcript is read as beyond the start line.
- "Flisk" is recorded as spoken.
Open
- Needs the founder Whether "flisk" is a coined term or a transcription artifact; why the double knee produces a better reaction than a conventional set.
WALK · b10Double Knee Panic
Two-step start, then four-step start.Hit the measured second-step and fourth-step locations.The goal is negative shin angles.
“The athlete needs to be feeling that double knee panic coming out, nothing moderate about a block start.”
Coach notes
- For a seven-step male hurdler the second and fourth step marks are measured to where he should get. Marks depend on the athlete's step pattern and do not transfer without remeasuring.
- Knock the first hurdle down during this section so the athlete has room to decelerate after the two and four.
Open
- Unresolved The actual measured distances of the second-step and fourth-step marks; the female hurdler's pattern and marks.
WALK · b10The ABCs
Three block starts over discounted spacing, tightening toward race spacing. The first splits of the practice.
A, B, C
A rep: 4-foot discount. B rep: 3-foot. C rep: 2-foot.From a block start.
- A rep4 ft discount
- B rep3 ft discount
- C rep2 ft discount
A female hurdler who normally hurdles about 28 ft apart runs the A rep at 24 ft.
Coach notes
- "My favorite number is 4": four hurdles up. As few as two; "a lot of good work can be done in 2 hurdles." Early season uses four while getting comfortable with the process; drop to three or two as fatigue or getting through the workout becomes an issue.
- Volume: 12 clearances with four hurdles up, six with two up.
- On the tape system, those three discounts are the Red, Blue and Green colors. See Field, The Tape Ladder.
WALK · b11The First Splits
H1 to H2: in the low 1.0s.If not, run the Slide: 2 to 3 faster than 1 to 2, 3 to 4 faster than 2 to 3.
“This is the first time we're measuring splits.”
Rule pass when each interval is faster (smaller) than the interval before it
Enter the intervals.
Founder examples, H1 to H2: favorable 1.01 to 1.04 s; less favorable 1.09 to 1.12 s.
Accuracy at the ABCs
Take off from the right spot.Second step or fourth step, then the cut step, in the right place.
Coach notes
- That is all the founder cares about on the ABCs from an accuracy perspective.
- "Take off from the right spot as an accurate hurdle in classical ABCs" is read as "accurate hurdler."
WALK · b11The ABC Block Start
Big Four: four big, long steps. Still whacking back, still good sprint mechanics, big and strong, charging up.Dribble.Mike Tyson over the first hurdle.
Working Sets and the Hurdle Count
The working sets are sized by what the warmup has already spent from one capped hurdle count.
The Working Set Menu
Home: three sets of seven at a 1-foot discount with the hurdles 3 inches down.Five of five. Seven of three. Two of ten. Four of four. Or less.
| Configuration | Hurdles |
|---|---|
| Three sets of seven -- home: 1-foot discount, hurdles 3 in down | 21 |
| Five sets of five | 25 |
| Seven sets of three | 21 |
| Two sets of ten | 20 |
| Four sets of four | 16 |
| Less, if that is what the athlete calls for | -- |
Coach notes
- "It all depends on the amount of value that's appropriate at that time of the season based on the hurdler."
- The hurdle totals per configuration are multiplication of the founder's sets and reps.
- The discount tightens across the whole session: A at 4 feet, B at 3, C at 2, working-set home at 1.
WALK · b13One Budget for the Whole Practice
Every hurdle counts: 7s, 14s, 21s, A, B, C, the marching and the pop-throughs.The warmup spends against the same cap as the working sets.
“Let's say this hurdler has a cap of 50 hurdles in a workout or something like that. We'll make the adjustment on what the working sets are going to be there.”
Coach notes
- The cap of 50 is the founder's illustration, not a fixed number for every athlete.
- This is why every section is a menu with a dose: drills are not free preparation before the real work. They draw on the same finite budget. Addition by subtraction is operating at the level of one practice.
Open
- Unresolved Each athlete's actual cap, how it was set, and how the running count is tracked during a session.
WALK · b13When We're Cooking
Capacity is built across the season.The full warmup plus three to six working sets: that is cooking.
“Unless a hurdler's able to go through this entire warm-up and also get in anywhere between three and six sets once we get there, that's when we're cooking.”
WALK · b13Bring This to the Next Drill
Low-close and wide-fast work happen every practice. Improvement is carrying the pattern forward.
Bring This
Bring this to the next drill.Bring this to the next rep.Bring this to the race.
- Response
- Carry the technique, INTENT, rhythm and smoothness forward
- Meaning
- Transfer from the easier constraint into the next one
- Response
- Keep the practice-built pattern under race conditions
- Meaning
- Final transfer command