Purpose: 

To work on conditioning, flexibility and coordination in the lower body.

Setup:

Setup 6 hurdles with about 2 feet in between each hurdle.
Raise every 2nd hurdle by 2-3 feet.
Have your athletes line up behind the first hurdle.

Over Under Drill: Athlete stepping over and then under the hurdles focusing on technique and coordination.

Instructions: 

  1. On the coach’s command, the athlete will begin by stepping up and over the first hurdle with their left leg.
  2. Next, they will step forward, rotate their body so they are facing sideways, and step underneath the next hurdle with their right foot.
  3. They will keep their back straight, dropping their hips and keeping their hands off the ground, activating their hamstrings and hip flexors.
  4. Repeat all the way through, then return to the beginning of the line.

Coaching Tips:

  • Building up the hip flexors is very important for a sprinter – if you can’t stand on one foot with the other leg extended and the toe pointed to the sky, it’s going to be very difficult to run a sprint where you must take 50+ long explosive strides in succession.
  • For a variation to make this drill more challenging, after dropping the hips and stepping under the hurdle, have the athlete twist to face forward and push with the hips and back leg, so that your front knee is at a 90 degree angle and your back knee is a few inches off the ground.