Progression and Confidence
How the athlete gets faster without noticing it got harder
Every practice gives everything. Difficulty rises in increments too small to register. Confidence is the coach's number-one job.
- 1Every Practice Gives Everything2 screensThere is no earned-right gate. Low-close and wide-fast hurdling happen in every practice.
- 2BOIL A FROG2 screensStart where it is easy. Add difficulty in increments too small to feel. The athlete adapts without a psychological break.
- 3Create the Problem2 screensCompress the spacing so the athlete must cycle faster, let the reaction become normal, then widen and compress again.
- 4The Complete Equation3 screensDiscounted hurdles train most of the Electric equation. Race height, race spacing, and above-race height complete it.
- 5Confidence Is the Number-One Job3 screensThe coach's first job is the hurdler's confidence. Perceived effort is trainable, and micro improvements add up.
- 6Find More Aggression3 screensA formal process that hands the next rep to the athlete as an experiment. Success is trying.
- 7Coaching Language3 screensSay the words that produce the response. Keep the live cue, the teaching explanation and the technical account separate.
Every Practice Gives Everything
There is no earned-right gate. Low-close and wide-fast hurdling happen in every practice.
No Gate to Earn
The hurdler always gets a chance at everything.Progress is not permission to leave one kind of work for another.Progress is carrying the pattern from the easy constraint into the next.
“Every single practice, you're going to tap dance over the low and close ones, and you're going to go over the wide ones.”
Stretch the Pattern Outward
Low and close makes the pattern easiest to express.Carry it into the wider, faster hurdles.
- Low and close15 ft
- Wider20, 25 ft
- Wider still26, 27, 28 ft
- and onward
Coach notes
- What gets carried: technique, INTENT, rhythm, smoothness, tight core, low hands, stiff ankles, knees and hips, fast movements, Pop, Bounce and tap-dance rhythm.
- Early in the season, wider spacing can pull athletes back toward running, Upward Jumping, planting and launching, because strength, stiffness, coordination and timing are not there yet.
KU-015ADBOIL A FROG
Start where it is easy. Add difficulty in increments too small to feel. The athlete adapts without a psychological break.
BOIL A FROG
Start in a natural, easy, comfortable state.Add micro additions of difficulty.The athlete adapts without registering that it got harder.
“If you start an athlete in its natural state doing something that is easy and comfortable, and then you just add micro additions of difficulty to it, the person will adapt without even psychologically knowing it.”
Coach notes
- It is micro progressive overload, a concept the founder connects to his bodybuilding background.
- The phrase comes from a story his Louisiana-born father told him as a child. The founder says he does not know whether the frog story is literally true. The coaching concept does not depend on it.
- Inside Electric Hurdles the increments move drill to drill while carrying the same Electric intent: repeat the required movements faster without losing technique, INTENT, rhythm, smoothness, Pop, Bounce, stiffness, shuffle or forward lean.
Open
- Unresolved Size, rate and frequency of the micro additions.
Where the Frog Ends Up
The destination: the whole fifty-step race run with the quality close spacing first made possible.Hard-rubber-ball bounce. Stiffness. Shuffle. Pitter-patter.No launching, no jumping, no excess torque, no Pole Vault.
Create the Problem
Compress the spacing so the athlete must cycle faster, let the reaction become normal, then widen and compress again.
Compress, Expand, Recompress
Move fast enough to create a coordination problem.Let trained instinct solve it faster than conscious thought.
Coach notes
- Compressed spacing raises the required cycling rate and creates urgency. Successful reactions become the new normal and transfer back to wider spacing.
- Event identity: treat the race psychologically as a sprint, do not jump the hurdles, find and accelerate the rhythm, use projection and shin angles. Rhythm is the founder's current highest-ranked emphasis.
- The coach diagnoses where the athlete is in the developmental arc; sprint psychology, rhythm, projection or problem solving may get the top priority depending on the athlete.
Low and Close: Tap Dance
Very low, very close hurdles take away large torque and launching motions.At speed the athlete has to shuffle, tap dance, and fire feet, knees and hands.
Coach notes
- The founder's California outdoor-season example starts in January and contrasts about 15-foot spacing with a typical 30-foot interval.
- The 7s of 7-14-21 (about 8 feet) and the lane line drill are the most compressed versions in the practice.
KU-015VThe Complete Equation
Discounted hurdles train most of the Electric equation. Race height, race spacing, and above-race height complete it.
Discount Is Only Part of It
Discounted hurdles train frequency, short ground contact, stiffness, Pitter-Patter, Pop and Bounce.The athlete also has to meet race height and race spacing.And, for male hurdlers when there is time in the program, above race height.
“If all you do as a coach is show the athlete low, short, discounted hurdles to increase their stride frequency and ground contact ... You'd only be doing part of the equation.”
Coach notes
- Under harder geometry the intent is to keep the same stiff, quick, economical movement developed under discount, not to chase an immediate speed gain.
- Discount heights the founder uses when speeding athletes up: 36 inches on the men's side, 30 inches on the women's.
Above Race Height
Above-race-height exposure has been tested and proven in male hurdlers only.For female hurdlers, the founder has gone to race height for a stretch, never above.He is open to experimenting above race height with females, because the principle is the same.
Coach notes
- The founder's case: his 15-year-old drilled over 39-inch hurdles, used 39-inch hurdles on the speed drills, raced over 42-inch hurdles, and broke the world record in his age group over 42-inch hurdles. This site reports that as the founder's result record; it is not independently verified here.
- Use it when there is time in the program to afford it. The founder ruled that no further condition belongs on the statement.
Open
- Ambiguity The 2026-08-10 transcript mentions "even going 36 in. high on the women's side" in the overload passage; the founder's later boundary statement says females have never gone above race height. The later direct statement is the canon boundary; the earlier phrase is preserved and unreconciled.
Normalize, Then Return
Overload height may slow the athlete at first.Repeated exposure normalizes it, in a couple of weeks.Return to race height or discount, and the familiar task feels easy.
Coach notes
- "Whether it's physical or psychological, I don't care. It doesn't matter because it works. The perception of effort drops."
- Back at a discount of 4, 3 and 2 feet after a block over harder geometry, hurdling "is going to feel so easy."
- The founder describes the athlete adapting like putty over that period.
Confidence Is the Number-One Job
The coach's first job is the hurdler's confidence. Perceived effort is trainable, and micro improvements add up.
The Number-One Job
Give the hurdler confidence.Fast hurdling needs confidence that can look irrational.
“The number one job of us as hurdle coaches, the number one job I give myself, is to give the hurdler confidence.”
Micro Improvements Add Up
At high levels, small advantages accumulate.The founder lowers perceived effort with overload-to-discount contrast, caffeine and Biofreeze.
Coach notes
- Caffeine is part of the pre-race protocol because, in addition to its other effects, it reduces perceived effort.
- Before big races the founder lathers Biofreeze from ankle to hip; with reduced sensation in the legs, the athlete does not perceive the effort as much.
- "These are all micro-improvements, but the better you get, the micro-improvements add up."
Stay Dangerous
The name rejects safe and timid hurdling.The performance state is irrationally confident, risk-tolerant, thrill-seeking and hyper-aggressive.
Coach notes
- This is an event-specific competitive state, cultivated so athletes can attack hurdles successfully.
KU-008Find More Aggression
A formal process that hands the next rep to the athlete as an experiment. Success is trying.
If It's to Be, It's Up to Me
"Find more aggression" hands the next repetition to the athlete.Go impress me. Impress yourself. Go for it.
- Response
- Take ownership and raise intent
- Meaning
- The athlete authors a more committed next rep
- Response
- Accept responsibility
- Meaning
- Execution belongs to the performer
+3 more cues in notes (N)
Coach notes
- The technical meanings in the cue table are working interpretations pending athlete-specific film.
- The coach is the backing band: drummer keeping the beat and setting the vibe, bass line for structure, backing vocals for support. The athlete is the lead singer and lead guitarist with room for the solo.
More cues
- Response
- Perform boldly for a witness
- Meaning
- A visibly more committed rep
- Response
- Hold your own standard
- Meaning
- Self-authored excellence
- Response
- Commit fully
- Meaning
- First invariant set
What Are You Going to Try?
The first signals: the face changes, resolve is visible walking to the line.The athlete can answer: "What are you going to try?"And: "Where are we going to be more aggressive?"
Coach notes
- The working process: approach the line with resolve; name what will be tried and where; commit on the next rep; judge success first by whether the athlete genuinely tried; observe what the attempt revealed; add it to the map; pick the next experiment by elimination; continue until a better match appears.
KU-015CSuccess Is Trying
Success isn't necessarily succeeding. Success is trying.Failure is information.
“Success is going from failure to failure with no lack of enthusiasm.”
Coach notes
- Memory Game Model: turn over two cards looking for a match. A miss reveals where cards are. Repeated misses map the board, and the map makes the match possible. Do not be too afraid of the wrong card to turn cards over.
- Demoralization after a failed attempt blocks discovery, because it discourages the next attempt.
KU-015CCoaching Language
Say the words that produce the response. Keep the live cue, the teaching explanation and the technical account separate.
Words Are an Intervention
The coach says the words that produce the response.Forceful metaphor, profanity, exaggeration and superhuman imagery are tools.
“I need you to put a hole in the track.”
Coach notes
- Founder examples: "I need you to bust through a f'n wall." "I need you to put a hole in the track." "I need you to do some other superhuman thing."
- Do not translate live coaching into sterile, dictionary-style prose. Precision without emotional connection can fail as coaching.
- The right phrase is the one that unlocks the response in that athlete. The same phrase can work for one and fail for another.
KU-010AThree Registers, Three Fields
Every important cue carries three fields.What is said. The response it should produce. What it means technically.
| Register | Job |
|---|---|
| Live cue | trigger the emotional and physical response now |
| Teaching language | help the athlete understand before or after the rep |
| Technical account | define, explain, measure and defend the mechanism |
Name the Destination
Put attention on the desired state, not a catalog of faults.Repeated attention to what is wrong can strengthen it.
Coach notes
- North Pole Doctrine is a formal psychological doctrine: name the destination, set the direction, prepare for the destination's demands, and let the pursuit rule out incompatible choices. Fear-based correction may sometimes work; it is not the governing method.
- Real versus Feel belongs to the same psychological architecture: a felt instruction is judged by the real action it produces.
KU-015F