Cheerleading Info Center

Stunting Tips for Cheerleading Bases

Are you a base on your cheerleading team and would like some tips and exercises to help you perfect your spot?  Click on TIPS FOR CHEERLEADING BASES to get tons of details and a short video with some exercises you can do today! Enjoy :-)

 

Inner Thigh Exercise for Cheerleaders

Are you ready to strengthen your inner thighs?  This is a great exercise as it is SIMPLE and you can always fit it in while you are watching TV ( no excuses)!  Here are all of the details:

• Lay on your side with your top leg over your bottom leg.
• Lift your bottom leg using your inner thigh
• Start out with 1 set of 8 and work up to 3 sets of eight.
• To mix things up, you can also change the tempo of your leg lift.  For example, start out with quick lifts then slow it down with 2 counts up and 2 counts down.
• Once you are finished with 1 leg it's time to switch to the other.

Enjoy your strong, beautiful legs! :-)

 

How to Stretch and do Yoga for Cheerleaders

Yoga is a wonderful exercise for EVERYONE including cheerleaders.  No matter what your age or exercise skill level, Yoga can benefit you.  Yoga will help you:

• Breathe Properly as you focus on your breathing.
• Improve your Focus as you concentrate on your muscles, how your body feels, and your breathing.
• Reduce Stress Levels as your learn to slow down and "be in the moment".  When you do Yoga, you should focus on your body and your breathing, not what happened during the day or what you have to do later.
• Strengthen your Muscles as many Yoga poses tone your muscles as well as stretch them.

Why should cheerleaders do Yoga?

Yoga will help you with your studies as well as your cheerleading skills.   Yoga will teach you to improve your focus to help you concentrate on your homework.  In addition,  it will help increase your flexibility, improve your balance and condition your muscles, which every cheerleader needs!   Here are some things to remember:

Yoga Tips:

• Wear something that is comfortable for you to stretch in and do not wear any shoes.
• Focus on what you are stretching and do not stretch if you feel pain.  Let your body stretch at it's own pace.
• Think about your breath.  Most people never really pay attention to their breathing, which is one of the most important activities we do. 
• Do Yoga for you.  Do not compare your yoga skills to anyone else.  Everyone is different and just do what you can.  You will get better with practice.
• Listen to your body.  Do not stretch beyond what your body can do.

When should you do Yoga?

Yoga can be done any time of day.  Many people like to do a 10 minute routine first thing in the morning to get their body ready for the day.  Try it, and see if it helps you focus during your day.

For more Tips, click on YOGA FOR CHEERLEADERS and Enjoy!

How to Coach Cheerleading

Here are our Top 10 tips for coaches:

1. Be Positive:  A positive attitude is contagious.  As you are the primary role model for your team’s attitude, try to always find the positive in everything.  Remember, if you complain, you give your cheerleaders a window for complaints too.

2. Positive feedback and compliments:  Give a lot of feedback to your cheerleaders as well as compliments.  A compliment from you can really mean A LOT!

3. Safety First:  If you put safety as a priority then your team will too.

4. Rules and Procedures:  Set a very specific set of rules and procedures for your team and practices.  Review them with your team and have each of your cheerleaders sign them.  In order for them to mean anything, you must enforce them.

5. Be Prepared:  Always come to practice with a plan and know what your goal for that day is.  At the beginning of practice, tell your cheerleaders what your practice goal is.  This way, you do not waist time and your cheerleader know what they need to accomplish.

6. Keep Them Challenged:  Keep your team challenged.  Continue to increase the difficulty of their routines in small intervals to keep them excited about practice.   You will see their excitement level increase as they learn new skills.

7. Make your warm ups count:  Practice competition skills during your warm up to save time.  For example, during your jump warm ups, have the team use the jump sequence that you are going to use in your upcoming routine. 

8. Have Fun!  If you make practice fun then your team will enjoy practice and will want to come.  For example, you can take a 5 minute break and play a game and give out prizes.

9. Grades are Important!  Make sure your team understands that school work comes first and that their grades are important to you.  For example, give prizes, coupons, or a piece of candy for good grades on a test.

10. Break Up Cliques:  As soon as you see small groups forming on your team, try to break them up.  Move around stunt groups, play games in new groups, or give out projects and you assign the groups.

 

Cheerleading Stunt Tips

Here are some general tips that you should remember for stunting regardless which position you have:

1.  Never try any stunt you are not ready for.

2.  Only stunt with an experienced coach.

3.  Look around your area and make sure there are not hazards in your way.  For example, if you are outside, make sure there are no rocks in your area and that you are on a flat surface.

4.  Absolutely no laughing or fooling around during stunting.

5.  Always have the proper safety equipment like proper sneakers and mats.

For more tips and details click on CHEERLEADING INFO CENTER STUNTS

How to Improve My Cheerleading Jumps

Are you ready to improve your cheerleading jumps?  Check out our section on everything Cheerleading Jumps!  We have everything from stretching to exercises for beginning to advanced jumps.  Enjoy!

Tips to Be Confident NOW

 

Do want to increase your confidence now?  Well, we have some great news!!!  You already have confidence, you just need to turn it on!  Check out this great Smartte Minute Video for easy, fast tips be improve your confidence NOW!  For more details, check the full article out on Smartte.

Stretching Tips for Cheerleaders

Stretching is a very important part of your conditioning.  It can improve your jumps, help to prevent injuries, as well as improve your flexibility.  Here are some tips to remember when stretching:

Stretching Tips:

• Always warm up first.
• Stretch BEFORE your full practice.  A good warm up will make all the difference in your performance.
• Stretching AFTER your practice is extremely important too.  Hold your stretches LONGER during your cool down as this is the time you gain flexibility in your muscles.
• Stretch to the point of mild discomfort, not pain.
• Hold each stretch for 15 to 20 seconds.
• Repeat each stretch 2 to 5 times, trying to stretch a little further each time.
• Do not bounce while you are stretching.

For more stretching photos and a how to video, click STRETCHING FOR CHEERLEADERS.

How to Do a Cheerleading Front Hurdler Jump

The Front Hurdler is a very popular jump used in tryouts and for competition routines.  It is an advanced jump and as with all things, practice makes perfect.  Here are some things to remember as you practice:

• This jump is the same as the Side Hurdler as one leg is out with the knee facing up and the other leg is bent with that knee facing the crowd / down.  The difference is that your lead leg is kicking directly in front of you. 
• Arms are in a High Touchdown Motion.
• Point your toes.
• Land with your feet together.
• This jump is usually performed with the cheerleader positioned on an angle so you can see the jump.

Remember:   The Front Hurdler can be done with either leg as the lead leg.  Usually, you will be better on one side than the other.  You should practice with both legs as the lead leg as you never know which leg will come up in a routine. 

How to Improve Your Beginner Tumbling Skills for Cheerleaders

By: Joanna Grossman, CI C Contributor

Beginners/ Level 1

Everyone starts somewhere, perfecting your basic skills will help you reach your tumbling goals. As you begin to learn your forward rolls, handstands, and several other beginning tumbling skills, practicing good technique is essential to safe and quick progression.

1. During a forward roll, be sure to make eye contact with your belly button area. Yes, your belly button! This will allow your body to arch your back leading to a more comfortable forward roll, as well as protection for your neck. The closer your knees are to your chest the better. Rolling in an open body position will make it almost impossible to stand up.
2. When attempting a handstand be sure to keep your hands close together. Shrugging your shoulders to ears will make it much easier to hold your weight. If balancing is an issue, attempt donkey kicks or handstands against a wall until you learn to better squeeze your body.
3. Your starting position of a cartwheel should consist of a deep lunge with straight arms by ears as your body faces forward. During your cartwheel, your dominant hand should be out straight as if you’re giving somebody a high five. Your other hand should be turned sideways, fingertips turned towards the dominant hand. In your lunge, quickly drive up your back leg in order to gain power. Throughout your cartwheel your legs should be in a straddle position.
4. During front and back walkovers be sure to make eye contact with your hands. From start to finish, keep your arms locked and shoulders shrugged to prevent arms from collapsing.
5. As you improve your tumbling skills, having a powerful round off is extremely important. A round off consists of a cartwheel and a handstand snap down. In order to gain power, snap down with straight legs from your handstand position. Your goal is to get your toes under you, not in a push-up position.