Lateral Hurdle Hop

Tips

• Keep the knees tracking over the toes on every landing, not caving inward.
• Stay tall and light; sinking into a deep squat between hops kills the reactive speed.
• Lower the hurdle if you catch it, since clean clearance matters more than height.

Variations

• Hurdle Jump
• Lateral Bound
• Zigzag Hops
• Pogo Hops

Common mistakes

• Your landing spot drifts further from the hurdle with every rebound, so the last hops cover twice the ground of the first and the return trip clips the hurdle.
• The torso leans away from the hurdle to help the feet get over it, which buys no height at all and leaves you landing off balance on the far side.
• Shoulders swing side to side in time with the hops, so the upper body throws you across the hurdle instead of the legs pushing you off the floor.
• Sets run to 30 or 40 hops because the first ten feel easy, and the tail end is slow and heavy. Ten to twenty quick contacts is a set; the quality of the bounce is the whole point.
• One foot leaves the floor fractionally after the other, and the trailing foot is the one that catches the hurdle. Start each hop with your weight even across both feet and the hips square.

Frequently asked

How many lateral hurdle hops should you do when you are new to the exercise?

Four to six sets of ten to twenty contacts, or 15 to 20 seconds of continuous hopping, with a minute of rest between sets. Start with a hurdle no higher than your shin and raise it only once every landing is quiet and square. Two sessions a week sits comfortably alongside other training. When you want more, add a set or a little height rather than stretching each set out, since long sets turn a springy drill into a tiring one and the landings suffer first.

What can I hop over instead of a hurdle?

A rolled-up towel, a pool noodle, a shoe or even a strip of tape gives you something to clear, and hopping over a line trains the same push-off and landing as long as you keep driving the knees up rather than skimming across. Skip anything solid and heavy, such as a bench or a plate stood on its edge, because catching a foot there turns a hop into a fall. If you want the height cue without the risk, stand a water bottle beside your landing line and aim to clear its top.

What is the lateral hurdle hop good for, and when is it a poor choice?

It builds side-to-side power and the stiff, controlled ankle and knee you need to push off and cut, which forward jumping never trains. Court and field athletes and anyone rebuilding change-of-direction ability get the most from it. It is a poor choice while an ankle or knee is sore or swollen, since every landing is a small sideways load on those joints, and it is not a strength builder; pair it with squats and single-leg work rather than using it in their place. Keep it out of long breathless circuits, where the landings go first.

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