How to Master the Front Hurdle — Part 1

It's often said that the hurdle is the first thing you learn and the last thing you master.

You'll always be working on something — and that's a good thing. Even divers at the highest levels have inefficiencies in their hurdle that they're constantly cleaning up.

So wherever you are in your diving journey, this series is for you.

In Part 1 we're going to focus on the foundational ideas: the drill that exposes your weak spots, how to actually use the board instead of fighting it, and why your arm swing should feel effortless if you're doing it right.

Watch the Full Breakdown

Fix #1: Try the Arms-Up Drill

If you're using your shoulders too much and not finding stability walking down the board, try doing your hurdle with your arms up or at your sides. It sounds simple but it's brutally honest. Without your arms to compensate, everything that's off about your lower body movement gets exposed immediately.

This drill forces you to engage your core and your legs through the full movement. It also lets you zero in on the knee drive and board timing without the distraction of where your arms are. If you can execute a clean hurdle without arm swing, your regular hurdle is going to be a lot more efficient when you add them back in.

Fix #2: Push Down Before You Lift

One of the most common timing errors is lifting the knee before you've actually given the board something to work with. The board wants to push you up — but only if you give it energy first. You have to depress the board before it can return that energy to you.

When you bring your knee up too early, you're jumping off a flat board instead of a loaded one. The difference in height is real. Make sure you're pushing into that hurdle step, feeling the board give, and then driving the knee up as the board is coming back. That sequence — push down, board responds, knee comes up — is what gets you height and keeps you in control.

You also want that hurdle step landing directly below your hips. Not in front of them. When the step lands under you, you have a straight line to drive off. When it lands out in front, you're already fighting your position before you've left the ground.

Fix #3: Use Momentum, Not Muscle

This one changes everything when it clicks. Your arms should swing up above your head without your shoulders having to work hard to get them there. If you're grinding your arms up and it feels like effort, you're using muscle when you should be using momentum.

Watch the difference in the video between a diver who starts their arm swing late and one who starts it early/on time. The diver who starts late still has arms below horizontal when they're at the bottom of the board ride — so their shoulders have to sprint to catch up. The board is pushing the whole body up and the arms are trying to go even faster, which means the shoulders burn energy just to keep pace.

The diver who uses momentum starts the swing earlier. By the time they hit the bottom of the board ride, their arms are almost all the way up. The board just carries everything upward together. The shoulders barely have to do a thing — the arms just swing right up on their own.

The takeaway: swing through and let gravity do the work on the way down so momentum carries the arms up on the way back. Less effort, smoother movement, cleaner line at the top.

The Big Picture: Stay on the Board

One more idea that ties all of this together — the board naturally wants to push you away. The more you work with it instead of against it, the better. Early on, it's really common to use the hips to launch yourself up and out, which means you're leaving the board before it's had a chance to fully give that energy back to you.

As you improve, you'll start to feel what it's like to stay back on your heels a little longer, to let the board do its job, and to jump up instead of out. It feels different at first — almost like you're stuck on the board — but that's how you know you're in the right spot. Stay patient on that takeoff and trust the board to push you.

In Part 2, we'll break down what it looks like to be too far back vs. too far forward on the hurdle and how to make the adjustment on the fly.