Which leg should a beginner hurdler lead with?
The honest answer is to test it in five minutes rather than guess, and then commit, because indecision costs more than picking the 'wrong' leg ever will.
Line up five kids for their first week of hurdles and at least three of them will ask which leg goes over first, as if there is a right answer waiting to be told to them. There is an answer, but it is specific to each athlete, and it takes about five minutes to find rather than guess.
How to actually find out
- Have them do a few standing jumps off one leg at a time. The leg that swings through fast and straight on takeoff, rather than dragging, is usually the lead leg, and it is not reliably the same foot they would kick a ball with.
- Walk them over a cone or a rolled mat without telling them which leg to use. Most people step over it the same way without thinking, and that instinct is worth more than a guess.
- If it is still not obvious after both, pick one. Do not let them alternate hurdle to hurdle while you decide, because that is worse than either choice made firmly.
Why committing early matters more than getting it 'right'
Hurdling over one leg is a learned pattern on one side of the body. An athlete who switches leads every few reps in week one never grooves either pattern, and three weeks of indecision costs more speed than three weeks spent getting good at the leg that turned out not to be their best one. Dominant foot and lead leg correlate weakly at best. The skill is specific to the drill, not to which foot they favour everywhere else.
When it is worth revisiting
Once the pattern is grooved, usually a season in, and especially if the athlete is moving up to the 300 or 400 hurdles, where fatigue and a fixed 35-metre spacing between barriers will eventually ask them to lead with the other leg too. That is a different problem for a different week. In week one, the only job is picking one leg and sticking with it.
This is a decision a stopwatch and a camera cannot make for you. The Film Room's lead-leg and trunk-dip numbers only start to mean anything once the choice is already made, because they measure how clean that leg's clearance is, not which leg should have been chosen in the first place. That part is watched, not measured.
Time your next meet with the phones you already have
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Related
Should your 300 hurdler learn to lead with both legs?
Yes, and the time to start was the part of the season where it cost nothing, which is never the week you discover you need it.
Read →Why your hurdler can't three-step
Three-stepping is a speed problem wearing a stride-length costume, and the fix is almost always the spacing rather than the athlete.
Read →How many steps should a hurdler take to the first hurdle?
Seven and eight both show up at the highest level of the sport, so the number that matters is not tradition, it is whether the athlete arrives at the mark running over the barrier rather than jumping it.
Read →Try it: Hurdle technique analysis from video: trunk dip, lead leg, hip rise