Who knew arms were so important !

For some reason we forget that we have these things called arms that dangle from our shoulders.

It seems the only useful thing on these things we call arms are our hands !

. . . . . . Think about it !

Now up until this point I assumed everyone who hurdled arms were some what the same.

Wrong !

There are 5 different types of hurdle arms you can watch out for. With how creative we are as hurdlers I am sure there more types out there. These are just the ones we see most often spread throughout hurdle history.

The Pusher

The pusher , “pushes” itself off of the hurdle. Yea that makes perfect sense right ? Imagine coming off of the hurdle, the very second your lead leg begins to drop you use your trail arm to some what “scoop” you off the hurdle and get that trail leg down.

Retro

I wish we could do an 80’s dance move off the hurdle. How cool would that be ? In this case retro looks like a swimmer arms. You swim your way over the hurdle.

Blocking

Blocking is what most hurdlers learn how to do. It is the most common form of hurdle arms out there. Lead arm is parallel to your shoulders, hurdle and the ground and the trail arm is in back swing running position.

The Reach

The Reach ! Taking off both arms reach forward as the lead leg goes over the hurdle and pull back to snap the trail leg down.

Short Punch

The Short punch is some what of a boxing arm. The trail arm is quick and punched off the hurdle to get the trail leg down. Be careful with this one, you might surprise yourself with how fast your trail leg snaps down once you figure out how to do it.

Now with all of these options (Im sure none of these definitions make sense) it is best to find which one you are most comfortable with. One is not better than the other. Executed properly they all are deadly in a race.

Watch this video below to see what I am talking about. I am better at some more so than others.

Can you pick out the type of hurdle arms I use best ?