It’s All About the Lean

In hurdling, people often assume that height provides a great advantage. They would definitely be correct, I am 5’7 and not a good 110 hurdler haha, but there is one aspect of hurdling that even tall people need to do. That is the actual lean when going over the hurdle. Most hurdlers assume that they need to maintain an upright posture when going over the hurdle in order to keep their running form as consistent as possible. This is actually not the case. If you watch professional hurdlers they all have an aggressive lean when going over the hurdle. The reason for this is because when you lean it does two main things. The first is that it gets your hips up more and makes it so that you don’t have to bring your trail leg up as high before driving it through the hurdle. This makes it so that you can maintain your speed better and get over quicker than your competitors. You’ll really see the benefit of this in the last few hurdles of the race when everyone is losing speed but you are able to keep that speed up. Another thing that the hurdle lean does is it makes you more aerodynamic over the hurdle. This factor comes into play especially on windy days when you feel like you are just getting blown all over the track when hurdling. By keep low and close to the hurdle you are cutting through the air more compared to acting as a sail for the wind to take you away. Even in a non windy environment, it is still important to be aerodynamic because that will shave time off your race and give you an advantage over your competition. The best way to focus on this lean is during drilling and making sure you are attacking the hurdle during workouts and races. If you are able to implement this into your form, you will be able to distance yourself from your competition!