Hop Hurdle vs. Traditional Hurdle: Which Diving Hurdle Is Right For You?

This was a tricky video to make, because there are so many variations of the front hurdle in springboard diving, and even within one type every diver does it a little differently.

So instead of teaching one "correct" hurdle, I want to compare the styles you'll actually see on a pool deck, traditional and hop hurdle (including the Texas two-step), and pull out the principles that should show up in all of them, whatever your style ends up being.

If you want the deeper technical breakdown of what makes any hurdle good, I already made a three part series on that: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. This article is about choosing which hurdle to run.

A Quick Note On The Names

Terminology in this sport is a mess, so let's clear it up before anything else. Depending on who's coaching you, you'll hear all of these:

• Traditional hurdle. Also called the basic hurdle, the five step hurdle, or just "the forward approach." Usually run off a three step approach, though some coaches teach a four step approach instead. Same hurdle either way, just a different number of walking steps before it.
• Hop hurdle. Sometimes called the hop, or the hop step. You add a hop before the hurdle step.
• Two-step, or Texas two-step. This is slang for a hop hurdle variation. It involves jumping off of two feet into the hurdle step instead of the hop hurdle which transitions the last step of a traditional hurdle into a hop.

So really there are 3 families here: the traditional hurdle,vthe hop hurdle and the 2-step hop hurdle. 

The Traditional Hurdle

This is the one everybody learns first. I've never seen a diver start anywhere else. Three step approach, knee comes up, one more jump off the board. Simple.

What people underestimate is that it scales. It's the most basic hurdle in diving, and you still see professionals using it.

Extra jumping takes more coordination, and it's always better to master a fundamental hurdle before moving on. You constantly see young divers attempting a hop hurdle or a Texas two-step way too soon, usually because they're inspired by an older diver they train with, and their body isn't strong enough to absorb that much jump yet or they lack enough technique for it to be useful. It ends up taking them a long time to circle back and use it properly, and in the meantime they could have been mastering the fundamentals.

How the traditional hurdle develops

• Beginner: arm circles are out of time, because they don't jump well yet. Either they're very light or they don't understand board timing.
• Intermediate: more experience and usually more weight means they can move the board better. Arm circle timing improves. Body alignment is still off and they don't know how to drop into the lunge yet.
• Expert: a really deep lunge, often a long one too.

This intermediate stage is usually where a diver either commits to the traditional hurdle for good or switches to a hop.

What an expert traditional hurdle looks like

Watch the expert clip in the video. They come through into a deep, long lunge, and that lunge is what drives the board down. With this hurdle you don't have a hop to help you push the board, so you have to generate all of it by dropping into the board yourself.

Their back leg trails a bit behind and they let it swing down hard before coming up. You don't see that emphasized nearly as much on hop hurdles.

Diver Guy's Tip: Most of the power on a traditional hurdle comes from two things: your rhythm with the board, and how deep you drop into that lunge. If you're staying with this hurdle, those are what you train.

What Every Diving Hurdle Needs

Traditional or hop, these principles don't change.

Balance on top of your foot

Being balanced over your foot on the hurdle step dictates your direction into the first jump. When divers are off balance forward, or falling back on the end of the board, it usually traces back to this step.

Distribute your weight evenly, or find the specific spot that works for you. Then as your knee comes through and drives up, you're balanced enough to reach the end of the board and stay tall and strong for the last jump.

Patient arm timing

A lot of divers don't pause long enough to show off their lines and start the arm circle too early, which pulls them off balance heading into the takeoff.

Diver Guy's Tip: Be patient and wait longer, then swing faster to compensate. The longer you wait, the faster your arms can swing through, and the more power you get. It also lets you relax the shoulders, which is a topic for another video.

Arms up at the bottom of the board

When the board is at the bottom of a jump, your arms should be at or very near the top position. That sets up a stronger jump and better takeoff timing, whether you're doing a front or a reverse. Arms up is crucial for a good connection into the flip.

Head position

Important on every hurdle. I cover it in detail across a lot of the other videos on the channel.

The Hop Hurdle

The hop hurdle is the happy medium for most divers, and there are a ton of variations depending on how comfortable you are jumping horizontally versus wanting something tighter and higher near the end of the board.

Instead of lunging down into the board and swinging your back leg down before coming up, you stay taller and pop off your foot into the final step.

From there it's basically the same as a traditional hurdle, except the direction you're moving into the board is different. On a hop hurdle you're coming down onto the board before going up. A traditional hurdle feels more like you're driving into the board, more aggressive, more about how hard you can explode up.

Finding your hop distance

This is where you have to experiment individually. Some divers jump really far and transfer all of it into vertical movement. Others keep it tighter so they don't have to think about it as much, but jump higher. Both are fine, and everything in between is fine. It depends on your body type.

One thing worth knowing: the tighter you are to the end of the board, the harder it is to control, because you're introducing the balance problem sooner. But no hurdle is ever perfect and you'll have to practice a ton either way.

Diver Guy's Tip: Get your arms back as you go into the hop. Swinging the arms through as you land for the hurdle step is a big part of how you push the board down. This is one of the most commonly skipped details on the hop hurdle.

What to watch out for on a hop hurdle

You need more strength and more balance for this hurdle, because you're jumping into it. There's a lot more opportunity to get off balance, and you have to know how to adjust, either getting more onto your toes or more onto your heel, so you don't jump too far, run out of board, or lean too far back.

Don't out-jump your build

Your hop shouldn't be so big that you can't build into the final jump. This is mostly a newer-diver problem and it's even more obvious on the Texas two-step, but it applies here.

People try to jump super high onto one foot without the strength or the board rhythm to convert that into more jump. So they end up doing a huge jump, then a smaller jump, then the takeoff. It doesn't look good, and over time it'll do damage to that leg, because you're not strong enough to withstand that much pressure.

When you're learning the hop hurdle, a smaller hop is fine, and often better. You want to build into that last jump.

Diver Guy's Tip: The hurdle is not a contest for who can jump the highest. It's about who has the best rhythm and timing so that when they're on the end of the board, they get the most out of the board. That's the entire point.

As you get stronger you can add amplitude, change your distances, jump forward more, or keep it tighter. These hurdles are constantly evolving, and that's normal.

The Texas Two-Step

The two-step, or Texas two-step, is a hop hurdle variation and it's extremely common. Here's a generic version of what it looks like.

Coming into the second to last step, the diver hops off one foot up onto two feet. Some people do that with more of a mini hop forward, some push hard into it, and some do barely any jump at all and just bring the back foot forward to sit slightly ahead of the front foot.

From there they use their ankle snap. Some divers bend the knees into it more for extra bounce. Then they land on one foot for the hurdle step, and at that point it's the same as any other hop hurdle: be patient, drive down, bring the knee up strong, keep good balance.

Be careful choosing this one

The coordination and strength requirements are higher than a standard hop, and it puts a lot more pressure on the hurdle leg you're landing on. Think seriously before committing to it.

Same failure mode as the hop hurdle, but worse: divers don't build through their two-step, they just try to jump as high as possible off it into the hurdle step, whether or not they're strong enough.

Building through the jumps matters even more here because this hurdle is harder to balance on. You'll often see divers unable to bring the knee up because they're too far over their toes and have to adjust, and that adjustment costs them the landing on the last jump.

Diver Guy's Tip: If you're constantly ending up over the end of the board or too far back, pay close attention to how you're landing on your hurdle leg. That balance point largely dictates your balance on the last jump.

Fluidity

The common thread among divers who get these hurdles right is that the motion is fluid. They don't stop anywhere in the hurdle. That's because they've choreographed it to the point where the steps are automatic and they aren't changing much from hurdle to hurdle.

So Which Hurdle Should You Use?

Here's the short version.

• Learn the traditional hurdle first, always. No exceptions I've seen. It teaches board rhythm and it scales all the way to the professional level.
• Move to a hop hurdle when you have the strength and coordination to absorb the extra jump and convert it into board push, not before. That's usually somewhere in the intermediate stage.
• Consider a Texas two-step only if you're already experienced in diving, need extra height or the hop hurdle doesn't work for your body. It asks the most of your hurdle leg/knee and is the hardest to control. High risk, high reward hurdle.

And plenty of great divers just stay on the traditional hurdle forever. That's a completely legitimate answer.

Mistakes To Avoid On Any Hurdle

Missed opportunities for good lines

People bend their elbows too early, or bend their knees too early, and it disrupts their lines on the board. Play back video of yourself and look for it. Your arms might be sitting in a Y position instead of all the way up by your ears, or you might be starting your arm circle too soon.

That matters for two reasons: visual appeal, and the fact that it genuinely affects your balance and board timing.

Unpointed toes

When you're in the air during the hurdle, defaulting to a toe point is just better.

Inconsistent steps

Standardize your steps. When a diver struggles with consistency, I'll chalk lines on the board for where their steps should go.

This is highly individual. You can't chalk one set of lines and tell a whole team to land on them. It has to be tailored to each diver. But that visual cue can really help train consistency.

The most important one is the last step, the hurdle step, landing around the cheese grater section. That gives you enough room to move forward for the last jump while still getting good bounce out of the board.

Hurdle Drills

Talk to your coach about hurdle drills. There are a million of them: one hurdles, opposite leg hurdles, no arm hurdles, arms up, single arm circle. Which ones you need depends entirely on the specific issues you have, so that's a conversation to have with your coach.

Final Takeaways

• Two families of hurdle: traditional, and hop (the Texas two-step is a hop variation, not its own thing)
• Master the traditional hurdle first. It scales, and pros still use it
• Don't move to a hop or a two-step before your body can handle the jump
• Traditional power comes from board rhythm and a deep lunge with a hard back leg swing
• A hop hurdle comes down onto the board. A traditional hurdle drives into it
• Get your arms back into the hop to help push the board down
• Build into the last jump. Don't make your hop bigger than you can convert
• Balance over your hurdle leg dictates your balance on the final jump
• Be patient with the arm circle, then swing faster
• Arms at or near the top when the board is at the bottom
• Watch for early elbow and knee bend killing your lines
• Point your toes, standardize your steps, land the hurdle step near the cheese grater

There's a huge amount of variation in how people hurdle. The more you nail the things every hurdle needs, the more consistent yours becomes while still keeping your own style, which I think matters too.

Good luck and I'll see you on the next dive! - DG