Do you need special hurdle shoes? No. What actually matters: forefoot spikes and the right, safely tippable training hurdle.
Do you need special shoes for hurdle training? Short answer: no — but the hurdle itself is surprisingly sophisticated equipment. Unlike pure sprinting, hurdling isn't just about your shoes and the track — the piece of equipment you jump over is regulated just as tightly as your footwear.
Let's start with the good news: your regular sprint spikes work fine for hurdles too. There's no separate "hurdle shoe" category — the myth persists, but it's simply wrong. What matters is a stiff forefoot plate with spikes only under the ball of the foot, no heel spikes, so you stay up on your toes.
Things get more interesting with the hurdle itself. A competition hurdle for men's 110 m may weigh a maximum of 10 kg, the women's 100 m version a maximum of 7 kg — light enough to give way on impact, heavy enough to stand firm in wind. The balance between the two isn't accidental, it's a rule: a competition hurdle only tips over once 3.6 to 4 kg of force hits it — roughly the weight of two full 2-liter bottles. A light graze won't knock it down, but a real hit will.
For your own training, though, one thing matters most: you never start on the competition hurdle, you start on an adjustable training hurdle that grows with you.
A regular hurdle has an L-shaped base frame with a minimum stance width of 1.18 m and a crossbar 4–5 cm in diameter, angled 70–80 degrees. This L-shape isn't a design flourish, it's safety engineering.
Until 1935, hurdles often flipped upward and forward on contact — straight into the runner's path. The L-shaped design changed that: it's weighted so that contact makes it tip forward, out of the running path, instead of flipping up. That single design change massively reduced serious falls in hurdling.
For starting out, you don't need a 106.7 cm hurdle. Foam or plastic mini hurdles between 15 and 50 cm are light, tip over instantly on any contact, and don't hurt when you clip them. Many clubs have adjustable models that grow with you.
Sprint spikes with 6–8 spikes under the forefoot are standard — exactly the same ones you'd use for flat sprinting. There's no biomechanical reason for a dedicated hurdle shoe; what matters is that the plate is stiff enough that you don't buckle on takeoff.
A simple resistance band around the hip helps with targeted opening drills for the trail leg. It's not a required purchase, but a cheap addition once you notice your hip is limiting your clearance.
Never use fixed, non-tipping objects as an improvised hurdle — that's exactly the problem the pre-1935 designs had. Any training hurdle you work with should give way immediately on noticeable contact.
Regularly check whether the rubber feet or hinges on your training hurdles still work cleanly — worn-out mechanics either tip too easily (injury from a fall at the slightest touch) or too stubbornly (injury from a hard impact).
Buy yourself two or three small foam hurdles (15–20 cm) for home. They fit in any sports bag, cost almost nothing, and let you practice rhythm drills outside club training — with essentially zero injury risk, since they fall over at the lightest touch.
No. Regular sprint spikes with a forefoot plate and 6–8 spikes work just as well for hurdles as for flat sprinting. There's no dedicated shoe category for hurdling — money spent on a supposed specialist shoe is wasted.
A maximum of 10 kg for men's hurdles, a maximum of 7 kg for women's hurdles. The tipping mechanism needs 3.6 to 4 kg of force to knock it over — light enough for safety, heavy enough for wind stability.
That's the L-shaped construction that's been standard since 1935. It's weighted so contact tips it out of the running path instead of flipping it upward — one of the most important safety innovations in track and field history.
Only with real, tippable training hurdles or foam models. Fixed objects like boxes or benches carry a high fall risk because they don't give way on contact.
Hurdles: Basic Hurdle Clearance Technique