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Pinpointing and diagnosing mechanical issues in athletes can be particularly challenging for hurdle training.

This is why it’s vital that coaches know what to look for when assessing mechanical mishaps their athletes may be dealing with during their hurdles. 

To help with this, we’ve pulled two points of focus and emphasis when training hurdles from two elite hurdles coaches that you can consider next time you’re trying to decipher why your athletes aren’t setting their personal bests. 

Kenny Anderson - Training Focus

Kenny Anderson - Training Focus

Kenny Anderson enters his fifth season as the Director of Track & Field/Cross Country at Central Methodist in 2024-25.

The 2022-23 season was a stellar year for Anderson and the Eagles, as 13 school records and one conference record were broken. The CMU Women won their second-straight Heart Indoor Conference Championship, which included five individual conference titles. As a result, Anderson was named both the Heart Conference and the USTFCCCA South Central Region Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year. 

In his ‘Difference in Focus between 100 Hurdles & 110 Hurdles’ clinic, Coach Anderson addresses a few points of emphasis when it comes to training your hurdle athletes.

One of his most crucial points in the clinic is that all training exercises and drills should be focused on producing the fastest time possible. Since that’s always the goal when competing, it should also always be the goal when competing. 

Training and drills should emphasize the rhythm of hurdles. According to Coach Anderson, rhythm for a hurdler is the type of speed that allows hurdlers to use their techniques to the maximum. 

When emphasizing rhythm in drills, Coach Anderson likes to use seven, nine, or 12 hurdles, because he thinks that’s the sweet spot to establishing rhythm without doing too much to tire your athletes out. 

Patience is imperative when it comes to training hurdle athletes. If you’re executing perfect practice plans, utilizing drills that emphasize rhythm, and diagnosing all of your athlete’s mechanical flaws as soon as they occur, it would still be illogical to assume you’ll see tangible changes from your athletes’ times before six weeks. 

Coach Anderson says that usually, around six to seven weeks, he begins to see changes in his athletes’ times. 

Jamie West -  Common Technical Issue #1 - Take Off Spot

Jamie West -  Common Technical Issue #1 - Take Off Spot

Jamie West has been a track and field coach for 15+ years. Coach West hurdled at Davis High School and went on to hurdle at D1 Weber State University. Coach West was a 2-time state champion in the 100m hurdles. 

In her ‘Hurdle Drills, Technique, and Corrections’ clinic, Coach West says that to her, the most common technical issue at this phase is the athlete taking off too close to the hurdle. 

When the athlete is jumping too close to the hurdle, the body will likely compensate by pulling backward, the body’s momentum will go upward, and the lead leg might have to be shifted somewhere off-center. All of these will slow the runner down considerably. 

Coach West also wants to make sure coaches are entering their take-off on their heel, planting firmly, rather than on the ball of their foot. This is because all of that momentum that’s going into the ground with the heel is going to propel the athlete when they commence their take-off.

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