Foam hurdle drill

Hi All,

I wanted to share a couple videos of a drill today because I have been talking to a few coaches who have all been having problems with this particular thing. This thing, being, hurdles. There are a lot of opinions on hurdles, straight leg vs bent leg, angle of upper body, length etc. There are a few main things I’m looking for in a hurdle. I want the hurdle (and all the body parts there in) moving forward. I want it to have a little bit of height (ie. it should not skid across the floor), but I don’t want too much up, down motion. That takes away from the purpose which is to generate horizontal momentum.

So here is a quick drill I like and I’ll tell you why I like it. 1) Foam is just about the right height, I also like short panel mats for hurdling over. Anything much bigger than that and I worry about too much up, down. 2) The line after the foam. THIS IS A NECESSITY. Too many gymnasts over turn their round-offs and end up with inconsistent yurchenkos down the line because body position and hand placement weren’t stressed early. 3) The foam isn’t wide, it means the gymnast has to hurdle straight, hopefully between the foam and the line the number of gymnasts who cross step will go down.

Train hard!