Championship Productions Blog

Essential Hurdling Tips featuring an Olympic Bronze Medalist!

The film opens with a description of the warm-up and stretching routine that Bershawn Jackson uses.  Coach George Williams is very direct in his approach to needs of warming up and stretching.  In an event as demanding on the body as hurdling is, warming up and stretching not only prepares the body for hurdling, but also protects the body from injury.

After your athletes are warmed up and ready, Bershawn Jackson then demonstrates a number of drills.  There are a number of reasons for using drills with hurdles.  It teaches proper technique, it develops specific strength and form, and it teaches hurdlers to use both legs in hurdling.  Coach Williams stresses that the ability to use both legs is a key to successful long hurdling.  You will need to adapt each drill for your individual athletes, as Coach Williams shows.  The Hip Flex Drill is an example of this.

Mechanics in hurdling make the difference between the champion hurdler and those that are merely contenders.  Coach Williams addresses the need to coach both legs as lead legs, and to develop an active trail leg.  He also includes visual cues that the coach needs to see and how to address what you are seeing with your athlete to develop proper form.

All the drills in the world won’t help without a plan to develop your hurdlers.  Coach Williams addresses how to develop a seasonal plan, for both a high school coach, where your work will mainly be in season, and also for a college coach who will have his hurdlers year round.  Developing both endurance and speed are the keys to successful mid-distance hurdling, while also keeping in mind that your hurdlers are individuals and no one program is going to fit them all.  The art of coaching is finding what works for each athlete.

See an additional clip on the product page of  ”World Class 300/400 Hurdles.”  Check out more high quality Hurdles DVDs from our huge selection of Track & Field DVDs.