Warm Ups and Stretching

Warm Ups and Stretching

Warming up and stretching is a crucial part of cheerleading. "You want to warm up at the beginning of every practice so your muscles are ready for jumps and running through the routine." (Webber 30). You always want to do a warm up, such as running or jumping jacks, before stretching because you never want to stretch cold(Webber 30). You can do many different variations, such as alone and with a partner. There is also a number of different stretches for each muscle. Below are some stretches that Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading recommends.

Hamstring

While doing this sitting stretch you want to put your legs in front of you and reach for you feet. You can do the same thing but in a standing position but with you feet spread apart. This stretch helps a lot with your jumps so you can get your legs to extend higher (Webber 31).

Hip and Lower back

Stand with your feet wider apart than your shoulders and pull your shoulder back, pushing the opposite leg back. For your hips you can go into a deep lunge and then reach down and touch the ground. This is another great stretch for your jumps.

Arms and Shoulders

Pull your arm across your chest until you feel a good stretch in your shoulder. For the next stretch you want to bend your arm behind your head and gently pull it towards the opposite side of your body (Webber 33). Another stretch I like to do along with my arms is my wrist. This help for bases when stunting so you can get your hand fully under the flyers foot.

Along with these stretches from Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading I like to add in some more leg stretches. This helps you to have more flexible jumps and kicks. Partner stretching is great for flyers because you can do more positions that help with different body positions while in the air. I like to stretch every night even when not at cheer practice. This helps keep my muscles loose and puts me in my best flexibility for cheer.

I'd like to know what other sports find stretching helpful?

The Editors of Varsity, and Rebecca Webber. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. N.p.: Poppy, 2014. Print.

 

Stunts

Stunts

Stunts are one of the hardest, most exciting and fun parts about cheer! Varsity says, "Stunts were designed to grab the crowd's attention, to help lead the crowd, and to show athleticism." (Webber 66). Stunts really entice the crowd because of there complexity and dynamic look. Stunts take a lot of strength and handwork from everyone involved, if one person is not doing there job the stunt will not work. There are three positions in a stunt group. The first is the back spot. This person is responsible for assisting and catching the flyer, like the name sounds, they stand at the back of the stunt. Next is the two bases. These people are at the bottom holding up the flyer, carrying most the weight. Within the base position there are main and secondary bases. The last position is the flyer. The flyer is the top person going into the air. The flyer needs to stay as tight as possible in order to minimize as much weight as possible from the bases. Each part is just as important as the next, without any position of the stunt it would not be possible. An important note to keep in mind during stunting is that every stunt should be performed under the supervision of a certified coach. (Webber 66)

This is me and my stunt group doing a prep at a football game.

To do a prep, like the one pictured above, the flyer will place there hands on the bases shoulders and jump up. When the flyer jumps up the bases will grab her feet, keeping there arms bent and elbows at a right angle to your body. The back spot will grab the flyers ankles. To get to the final position of a prep the bases will dip your legs and extend your arms up all the way, then settling the flyers foot back down to eye level. The back spot will dip with the bases lifting the flyer by there ankles. The flyers job is to push off of the bases shoulders, stand up straight and staying as tight as possible while in the air. 

Stunting is one of my favorite parts of doing cheer. I am a base. I love this position because I feel like it gives me a lot of control over the whole stunt. Reading Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading gave me some great tips to take back to my team. I also liked reading about the other positions also because it gave me more incite on what each position needs to do. This allows me to help my stunt group so all of us are doing the correct things to get out stunt into the air. 

If your a cheerleader what stunt position are you, and whats your favorite stunt to do? If your not a cheerleader, what stunt position would you want to do?

The Editors of Varsity, and Rebecca Webber. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. N.p.: Poppy, 2014. Print.

Motions

Motions

Motions are the basic building blocks of cheerleading, they are the easiest and most effective way for a squad to lead and hype the crowd (Webber 83). They makeup the cheers, dance and top off the pyramid with a nice sharp move. There would be no cheers at all without the basic cheer motions that comprise it. The most important part to motions that really make or break them are the placement, sharpness and cleanness. The best way to insure that  your motions are at there best is to use the four P's; Placement, perfection, precision and performing (Webber 83). 

Without placing your arms the correct way your motion could completely change. Varsity says "Each motion should be sharp and precise. [to achieve this] practice with a partner or in front of a mirror." (Webber 83) This is a great trick I used when I first was learning motions. Using the mirror helps use see the correct and precise movement. Once you know the placement of each motion move on to perfection and muscle memory. Varsity has another great practice tip, "Be sure to practice both sides of any motion that is performed with one arm. You don't wan to have a strong right punch and weak left punch" (Webber 83). This goes along with the third P, precision. You want every motion to be as sharp and strong as the next. Finally when all the first three P's are perfect you can go on to the fourth P; performing. Sharp moves greatly improve a teams performance, they help lead the crowd and enhance a performance.

Being in cheer since I was four I know first hand how important motions are. I have actually used most the tips from Varsity for my own practice. I like how Varsity breaks it down into the four P's because it really helps you with each part and to put it all together so they look perfect.

Here are some of the basic motions that are used most often in cheers:



If your a cheerleader what techniques did you use to perfect your motions when first learning them?

 

The Editors of Varsity, and Rebecca Webber. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. N.p.: Poppy, 2014. Print