Electric Hurdles
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Fence Hurdle Drills

Three essential trail-leg drills, a conditional lead-leg drill, and two cues: heel to butt and thigh to chest.

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

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.

ElementSetup
Hurdleturned to the side, perpendicular to the fence, about 3 ft away
Heightfence side at race height; far side one notch lower, 3 in down
Athletefaces the fence, shoulders square, leaning forward
Foottrail-leg arch in the middle of the crossbar
Actionslide and pull the foot forward until it leaves the crossbar, foot still slightly behind center of mass
Slider setup
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 on this screen

  • Needs the founder Scope of the originality claim: the drill, the movement pattern, or the teaching cue.
SourcesWALK · b5
02Teach from here

Grand 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.

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  • Needs the founder Whether "Grand Holloways" is named for the hurdler Grant Holloway or is a transcription artifact.
SourcesWALK · b5; WALK · b9
03Teach from here

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 on this screen

  • Needs the founder Why the kicking-the-fence drill is excluded.
SourcesWALK · b5
04Teach from here

Two 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.”
SourcesWALK · b9
Thigh to chest.
Response
Lead knee drives up, bent, heel under the hamstring
Meaning
Lead-leg point of emphasis
SourcesWALK · b5; WALK · b9
Heel to butt.
Response
Trail leg folds tight with the toe to the side
Meaning
Trail-leg point of emphasis, solved at the fence
SourcesWALK · b9
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.
SourcesWALK · b9; WALK · b5

Related

  • The Trail Leg -- Heel to butt in the Chicken Wing, toe to the side in the Chicken Paw, then down the moment it clears.
  • The Lead Leg -- Thigh to chest, bent knee, heel under the hamstring. Then punch down and back out of the angle.

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