Trail leg drives, doesn't lift
Like the lead leg, the trail leg moves on the energy of the takeoff, not on hip-flexor effort. Drive style trail legs are fast and tight to the body.
The trail leg in hurdles is the faster of the two over the barrier, and the harder one to coach. It needs to drive past the lead leg quickly, knee high, foot turned out enough to clear, then recover for an active touchdown. Here's how to train it.
Like the lead leg, the trail leg moves on the energy of the takeoff, not on hip-flexor effort. Drive style trail legs are fast and tight to the body.
Trail leg knee should be above the bar at clearance, foot turned out enough to clear without scraping. Most trail-leg errors are knee too low or foot pointed forward, both cost rhythm.
Trail leg comes down into a sprint stride, not a full lock-out landing. The foot strike should be active and ahead of the hips, ready for stride 1 of the three-step rhythm to the next barrier.
Trail leg is hard to feel correctly. Upload a hurdles clip and AI catches the frame where the trail leg is highest. Compare against the standard, drill the gap, re-test.
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