Getting better at hurdles comes down to three things: cleaning up your technique over the barrier, building a consistent stride pattern between hurdles, and developing the explosive power and flexibility to do both at speed. Most of the time lost in hurdle races happens not during the clearance itself but in the approach, the landing, and the steps in between. Here’s how to improve each piece.
Fix Your Takeoff and Landing Distance
Where you leave the ground relative to the hurdle matters more than most beginners realize. Elite men’s 110m hurdlers take off roughly 1.9 to 2.2 meters from the barrier. The ideal ratio between your takeoff distance and your landing distance is about 60-65% to 35-40%, meaning you should be farther from the hurdle when you take off than when you land. This lets your center of mass reach its peak height before the hurdle, not over it, so you’re already descending as you cross the bar.
Taking off too close to the hurdle is the more damaging mistake. Research on elite hurdlers found that a short takeoff distance significantly reduced both running speed and step frequency, and those effects carried into the steps between hurdles. Taking off too far away can introduce minor technical issues, but it actually gives you a longer acceleration zone after landing, which partly compensates. If you’re consistently clipping hurdles or feeling like you’re “floating” over them, you’re probably too close. Move your takeoff point back and attack the hurdle from farther out.
Lead Leg: Drive the Knee, Then Let It Extend
The lead leg drives toward the hurdle knee-first. A common mistake is straightening the leg too early, reaching for the hurdle with your foot. Instead, drive the knee up and forward with the thigh rising high. The knee only extends after your hip flexion is complete. What happens mechanically is that blocking the thigh at the top of its drive transfers energy into the lower leg, which then extends naturally to clear the bar. You’re not kicking your leg out; you’re letting the momentum do the work.
Your knee should not lock out completely. Full extension at the knee usually means you decelerated on the approach and are compensating by reaching. Keep a slight bend, clear the hurdle with as little height as possible, and immediately snap the lead leg down toward the track on the other side. That snap-down is what gets you back into sprinting. A lead leg that hangs in the air is a lead leg that’s costing you time.
Trail Leg: Open the Groin, Flex the Ankle
The trail leg is where beginners lose the most time and face the most crashes. Two errors dominate: pulling the trail leg straight under the hip instead of opening the groin outward, and letting the toe point down. Pulling the leg directly underneath forces your hips to rise, adding unnecessary air time. A dropped toe catches the crossbar.
The correct motion starts with the knee and heel lifting while the groin opens slightly to the side. The knee drives upward and forward, passing under the armpit of your lead arm, until it faces directly forward with the thigh parallel to the track. Throughout this entire motion, keep your ankle flexed (toes pulled up toward your shin). This ensures the foot clears the bar and allows the leg to cycle back down to the track naturally rather than dropping straight down. When the trail leg lands, it should feel like it’s touching down right next to where your lead foot landed, and that contact should push you forward into your next stride.
Arm Action That Keeps You Balanced
Your arms counterbalance your legs over the hurdle, and flailing them is one of the fastest ways to lose speed. As your lead leg goes over, the opposite arm extends in front of you, slightly bent. A useful cue: it should look like you’re checking your watch. Keep that arm in line with your direction of travel, not crossing your chest.
As the trail leg comes through, extend the elbow of your lead-side arm and swing it back. For women, the hand should meet roughly at the trail knee; for men, roughly at the trail elbow. This motion helps transition you back into a sprinting arm swing. Resist the urge to straighten either arm fully, especially as a beginner. Your hurdle arm action should resemble your normal sprinting technique, just with a slightly wider range of motion for that one stride. Keep everything close to your body.
Build Your Three-Step Rhythm
Between each hurdle in a standard race, you take three running steps. Maintaining this rhythm at speed is what separates competent hurdlers from beginners who stutter-step or add extra strides. Building that rhythm is a progression, not something you do at race distance on day one.
Start with a one-step drill: set hurdles at their lowest height, 6 to 7 feet apart, and simply step over each one with a single stride between. Focus on staying forward, pumping your arms, and bringing your heels to your hips. Next, move to a cycle drill with hurdles 15 feet apart, three-stepping between each one. The coaching cues are simple: lean forward, cycle your legs from your hips to the ground, and drive the trail leg down so it pushes you toward the next hurdle.
Once you can handle 17 to 18 feet between hurdles in rhythm, progress to a cycle ladder drill. Set five hurdles with increasing gaps: 11, 13, 15, and 17 feet between them. As you improve, shift the spacing up by replacing the first hurdle with the last and adding 2 feet. Once you’re moving in rhythm through about 20 feet of spacing, you’re ready for full-speed work. At that point, use “jammed” hurdling (hurdles set about 4 feet closer than race distance for youth, or 3 feet closer for advanced athletes) to practice your rhythm at near-race intensity with a margin for error.
Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Slowing down on the approach to the first hurdle is extremely common, especially in newer athletes who are anxious about the barrier. Sometimes this is fixed simply by switching which foot is forward at the starting line, which changes your step count to the first hurdle and lets you hit it in stride rather than chopping your steps.
“Jumping” rather than running over hurdles is the other big one. Hurdling should feel like an aggressive, exaggerated sprint stride, not a jump. If you’re getting too much air, practice with 30-centimeter mini hurdles to train a quick stepping action instead of a leaping one. The goal is minimum clearance: get over the bar by the smallest margin possible and get back on the ground.
Only being able to lead with one leg limits your ability to adjust when your steps don’t line up perfectly. Practice leading with both legs from the start of your training, even if one side feels awkward. Use low hurdles and drill each side separately. Athletes who can switch their lead leg have a significant tactical advantage, especially in longer hurdle events where fatigue affects stride length.
Hip Mobility Drills
Hurdle clearance demands a range of motion most people don’t use in normal sprinting. Your hip flexors need to drive your knee to chest height, and your adductors need to allow your trail leg to open to the side and rotate through. Without adequate mobility, you’ll compensate with extra height over the barrier or awkward body positions that slow you down.
Walkovers are the foundation drill. Set up a row of hurdles at a moderate height and walk over each one, actively pulling your trail leg through by driving the knee up toward your armpit and through your chest. Do these going forward, backward, and laterally. Skipovers add a small hop to the same motion, building coordination at a slightly higher tempo. Lateral over-unders combine stepping over one hurdle and ducking under the next, forcing your hips through multiple planes of motion. For all of these, keep your ankle flexed throughout. Do these as part of your warmup before every hurdle session, not just occasionally.
Build Explosive Power Off the Ground
The takeoff in hurdling is a single-leg explosive movement, so your power training should emphasize quick, reactive force production rather than just raw strength. Three plyometric exercises translate directly to hurdle performance.
- Split-squat jumps: Start in a lunge position with your chest upright, jump, and switch legs in the air, landing with the opposite foot forward. Immediately jump and switch again. This builds the single-leg power and hip flexibility you need at takeoff.
- Hurdle hops: Line up a row of low cones or small barriers. Starting in front of the first one, bend your knees slightly and hop over it with both feet, then immediately hop over the next. This trains the reactive, ground-contact speed that keeps you quick between hurdles.
- Jump squats: A straightforward entry point for building lower-body power. Squat to about parallel and explode upward. Focus on the speed of the jump, not the depth of the squat.
Plyometrics should be done when you’re fresh, typically early in a session after your warmup and mobility drills. Two to three sets of 6 to 10 reps per exercise, two or three times a week, is enough for most developing hurdlers. The quality of each rep matters far more than the volume.
Putting It Into a Training Progression
Improvement in hurdles comes from layering these elements in the right order. Start each training block by working on mobility and basic trail leg and lead leg drills at low hurdle heights. Once your form is consistent at low speeds, build your three-step rhythm using the one-step, cycle, and cycle ladder progression. Only after your rhythm is automatic should you raise the hurdles to competition height and push toward race-distance spacing.
Film yourself regularly, even with a phone propped at track level. Most technical errors in hurdling are invisible to the athlete but obvious on video. Pay particular attention to whether your trail leg toe is dropping, whether your lead leg is locking out, and how much clearance you’re getting over the bar. The best hurdlers barely skim the top. Every inch of unnecessary height is wasted energy and time.