Cheerleading Exercises

Cheerleading is a group activity performed during sports to cheer the players. It involves, jumping, performing stunts, dancing, tumbling and many more gymnastic activities. To have a perfect cheerleading performance, it is necessary that the cheerleaders are fit and they perform the stunts efficiently. Cheerleading exercises play an important role in gaining body flexibility and strength. Scroll down to know what are the various exercises for cheerleaders.

Good Cheerleading Workouts

Crunches: A cheerleader must have a strong, tight and flat stomach not just for good appearance but also to improve the performance. To perform crunches, lie down on your back on the floor with your feet flat on the floor. Place your palms behind your head and face towards the ceiling. Tighten your ab muscles and raise your upper body through your shoulders. Hold the position for a second and get into the starting position. Perform 25 repetitions when you do this exercise for first time. Then increase the repetitions gradually. Side crunches, alternate toe touches, leg lifts, sit ups, etc., are some more cheerleading ab exercises.

Lunges: Strong legs are a must for every cheerleader since they help in easy formation of a pyramid and stunts. Other than lunges; calf raises, squats, push ups and dips, are some more useful cheerleading workouts that help in strengthening leg muscles. To perform lunges, stand in an upright position with hip width apart distance between your feet. Now, place your left leg a step ahead, bend your left knee and keep your back straight. Lower your body until your right knee touches the ground. Then bring your legs together and repeat the exercise with the other leg.

Back Stretch: This back stretch exercise aids body flexibility and strengthens muscles of the lower back. To perform this exercise lie down on your back on the floor. Keep your right leg straight and bend your left leg. Stretch your arms towards your sides and try to rest your left knee near your chest. Hold the position for 10 seconds. Now, cross your left leg over your right leg and try to touch the left knee to the floor. Do not raise your body and see that your shoulders are on the floor. Repeat the exercise with other leg.

Importance of Cheerleading Exercise Routines

Body flexibility is one of the major elements of the cheerleading sport. A flexible body makes jumping, stunting and stretching movements very easy. Exercises are necessary not just to attain this flexibility, but also to avoid injuries and to improve the coordination among the cheerleaders. These exercises improve the overall fitness of the cheerleaders and aid in improved muscle coordination and body balance. Some of the major muscle groups used while performing cheerleading stunts include, upper legs, hips, abdominal muscles, shoulder muscles, chest and back. A good fitness program that works on all these muscles can help to target strengthening, flexibility and endurance of the cheerleaders.

Performing good cheerleading stretches is necessary to avoid muscle cramps and body stiffness. Cheerleading though being a non contact sport, involves great risks of getting injured. Ankle fractures, knee sprains, muscle cramps, back injury, etc., are some of the injuries that can take place during a cheerleading performance. However, certain exercises can build strong body muscles and reduce the severity of these injuries. Cheerleading exercises for flyers usually consist of weight training exercises. These exercises help the flayers to keep their body stiff and maintain the balance when in air. Walking lunges, double leg bound, switch lunges, etc., are some of the cheerleading jumps exercises, that make the toe touch drill easy.

This was a summary on cheerleading exercises and their benefits. It is recommended that you should perform warm up exercises before performing these exercises. These exercises not only help in achieving overall fitness of cheerleaders but also help them to be in shape!