In the video clips below Tony Veney,  head track coach at Ventura Community College,  explains 4 hurdle drills that will help your athletes develop proper technique. In the clips Coach Veney  does a great job of stopping the video and explaining key teaching points. The drills may be ones that you already use, but his explanation for what to look for may help you to coach your athletes better. Coach Veney has also been an assistant at UCLA where led fifteen Bruins to either indoor or outdoor all-american status.  In 11 seasons at Cal State Northridge he  coached three NCAA National Champions, 33 NCAA All-Americans and 15 conference champions. I think that you find his instruction to be helpful in your coaching.

The clips are from Complete Track and Field, a great resource for high quality track and field coaching tools.

Each video consists of two drills. In the first clip he you will see video of a simple walkover drill. In this drill he has the athletes place their hands on the hurdle and as the step over the hurdle he stresses that they keep their legs inside their hands. They should get high on their toes and drive the other leg up to their chest. Most athletes want to swing their legs outside and this drill helps teach them to stay square and not twist.

The second drill is the Trail Leg Slide. In this drill a hurdle is placed perpendicular to a  fence or wall (it should be a couple feet away). The athlete places is hands on the fence or wall and  stands to the side of the hurdle so that the hurdle is on the side of his trail leg.  The athlete will now slide his foot along the top of the hurdle and bring the knee of the trail leg all the way forward and against the  fence, while keeping the knees between the hands. This will put the athlete in position to drive his leg straight down into the track.

The second clip features a second walkover drill. This time the athlete will not have his hands on the hurdle like in the previous walkover drill. This is a good warm up drill for hip mobility and to address any IT Band issues.

The second drill in this clip is call Hurdle Runovers. In this drill the athlete will start with their lead lead over the hurdle and bent at 90-degrees. That take off leg will be straight and the heel should be high off the ground. The athlete will now load on the takeoff leg and leap up over the hurdle driving their legs down into the track with a quick one-two step.

If you are interested in learning more about how Coach Veney trains high school hurdlers, you might be interested in the  product below. Click the image for more information.

This article was provided by Training and Conditioning

Speed is one of the most important assets for many athletes. Yet, many strength and conditioning programs fail to adequately incorporate speed training. This often stems from misconceptions that speed can’t be improved. In fact, there are a number of strategies to help athletes get faster in everything they do, which will give them the edge over their competition.

Even the programs that do focus on speed development can easily fall victim to ineffective methods of training. Boo Schexnayder of Complete Track and Field, provides advice and some common mistakes and misconceptions:

Train fast – much of an athlete’s training program should involve movements done at high speed. This goes beyond just running fast. For certain lifting exercises the bar should travel fast, and jumping exercises and medicine ball work should done explosively.

Sprints aren’t enough – wind sprints help improve fitness but not speed. Running at maximal velocity is key to speed development. Once fatigue sets in, athletes are unable to run at full velocity.

Know your types – acceleration and absolute velocity are both part of overall speed, but can be improved in different ways. While acceleration refers to an athlete’s ability to move from rest, absolute speed is an athlete’s top velocity.

Incorporate speed in everything – look for ways to develop speed in every area of your strength and conditioning program. From weight training, plyometrics, and mobility work, you should consistently incorporate the principles of speed development.

Don’t overdo endurance work – training endurance is definitely important but does not help with speed development because it is slow and not done at maximal velocity. Programs often overemphasize endurance training, which makes speed development suffer.

Rest is key – effective speed training is intense. Athletes need to be working at maximal intensity and exerting tremendous power in order to improve their speed. Therefore, make sure to incorporate adequate rest between sets and repetitions so that your athletes can get the most out of their training.

Keep runs short and volumes low – when athletes are fatigued, they are much less able to develop speed. Runs should be short, such as 10-30 meters to train acceleration, and 40-60 meters to train absolute speed. Similarly, volumes of reps should be low, typically around 3-4. It’s better to focus on quality over quantity.

Focus on power – an athlete’s power output should remain high throughout the workout. As a coach, it’s important to observe and pay close attention to the fatigue of your athletes. If they are unable to perform the exercise with full power, it’s better to shorten the exercise and do more reps.

While keeping all of these guidelines in mind, consider incorporating a variety of exercises and competitions into your training program to keeps things fresh and fun for your athletes. Brian Lebo, owner and director of Athletic Performance Training Center in North Royalton, Ohio, and contributor to STACK.com suggests using the following exercises to help your athletes develop speed.

Speed training drills:

• Arm action drills
• Mountain climbers
• High knees
• Acceleration drills (moving quickly from a still position; starting and stopping)
• Resisted running (parachute, weighted sled)
• Uphill running
• Speed ladders

Strength and power development:

• Prisoner squats
• Power (high) skipping
• Power (long) skipping
• Lateral skaters
• Split squat (alternating lunge) jumps
• Squat jumps
• Ankle hops
• Standing long jumps/bounding

Complete Track and Field offers a comprehensive sprint training program. For more information about that training program click the link below

COMPLETE SPEED TRAINING 3 BY LATIF THOMAS

Being explosive out of the blocks is what all coaches are working on with their sprinters.  We all know that many sprints are won and lost at the start. Coach Latif Thomas of Complete Track and Field says he want his sprinters to feel like they are “using the blocks as a launching pad.”  Some sprinters step out of the box and thus come up too quickly. He wants his sprinters to push hard of two feet and propel themselves forward with maximum displacement of the hips.

In the video clip below Coach Thomas  takes you through what he calls the Block Blast Drill. He uses this drill to teach his athletes what it feels like to push hard with both feet and jump out of the blocks as opposed to stepping out of the blocks.  This is a very simple drill sprinters can have some fun with while executing.

The clip is from the Complete Track and Field YouTube Channel. If you are interested in viewing other great videos you can click on the link above or you can visit their website for other coaching resources.

The Youtube video below has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube.

Coach Thomas suggest having the athletes do this drill first with out blocks and then move to using the starting blocks. The block bast drill is quite simple to set up. Simply get a pole vault or high jump mat. Line your athletes up in front of the mat a few feet away. Get them in their stance and simply have them launch themselves forward onto the mat. Coach Thomas suggest pulling out the cell phones and let them record each others lumps.

The key coaching points are:
Push hard with both feet.
Split the arms
Drive the lead arm up
Get the recovering leg thru
Don’t let them take a step

Want to learn how to  build a Championship Sprints Culture in your program? Click on the link for more information about Complete Speed Training 3 by Latif Thomas

In teaching speed and sprint technique one can not rely solely on sprint drills. Sprint drills are good for teaching technique and they help develop genera coordination and dynamic mobility.

They can also serve as a light plyometric workout. They do not, however, on their own translate to great sprint mechanics due to the fact that force application is not generally a component of sprint drills

In the video below Coach Ron Grigg of Jacksonville University discusses what he feels is the single best drill to produce carryover from drills to great sprint mechanics.  The Wicket Drill developed by Vince Anderson (Texas A&M) requires force application and thus is more effective in good sprint mechanics.

Coach discusses why the drill is important, shows clips of the drill being executed and discusses how to progress your athletes in the drill.

The clip below is from Compete Track and Field, a great resource for track and field coaches. This video and can be found,along with many other great coaching videos, on their YouTube Channel.

The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some school block access to YouTube.

The Wicket Drill consists of 6 progressively longer acceleration strides. These require that force be applied to the ground in order to produce momentum and velocity. After completing the 6 acceleration strides,  the athlete will run “through” a series of  6-inch banana hurdles or wickets placed at ever increasing intervals.  In order to do this drill the athlete must apply force. The wickets provide a peripheral reminder and give feedback to the coach and athlete.

The coach can progress the athlete by simply changing the number of hurdles or increase the spacing. It is important to note that wicket drills are helpful to distance runners, jumpers and hurdlers as well. All of your athletes can benefit.

Want to learn how to  build a Championship Sprints Culture in your program? Click on the link for more information about Complete Speed Training 3 by Latif Thomas

Hurdle mobility drills drills can increase the range of motion in the hips and create balance, stability, and functional power that allows the athlete to combine all these facets into the mechanics of successful sprinting. Hurdle mobility is important because it not only allows athletes to be in a position to be more explosive, but also helps prevent injury by increasing range of motion. In the video clip below you will see two different Hurdle Exchange Drills that will challenge your athletes to be dynamic and help develop their coordination.

The drills are presented by Erik Jenkins, Western Kentucky University Head Men’s & Women’s Track and Field Coach. The clip is from a DVD detailing is training method designed to enhance the explosive power drive in your sprinters. The DVD includes 30 drills to develop and improve sprint mechanic, Bounding and hurdle mobility exercises to develop balance, stability, and coordination within your athletes.

A system of triple extension weight lifting exercises to strengthen and loosen the ankles, knees and hips
For more information on purchasing the DVD click the link Championship Speed and Power Drills: Sprints

The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube. If you are viewing in a school setting and cannot view the clip, please contact your network administrator.

The set up for the Hurdle Exchange Drills is as follows:

Six mini hurdles are placed 2-3 steps apart and they are followed by four regular hurdles. The regular hurdles are spaced such that two hurdles could be placed between each hurdle.

Drill 1

The athletes will hop on two legs over the mini hurdles and then shuffle on one foot as the approach the regular hurdles and then a switch legs over the hurdles. Coaching points include keeping your head up, knee up and toe up. Also be sure mot to swing your leg out over the regular hurdles.

Drill 2

The athlete will hop on two legs over the mini hurdles and then a quick cycling alternating over the regular hurdles. Keys coaching point include knee up and toe up over the hurdles