Cheerleading Stunts Warm Up Exercises And Flexibility Exercises

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Cheerleading stunts require a lot of strength, and also requires constant attention to warm up exercises and flexibility exercises. Every cheer leader hopes that she or he can do the splits, or at least appear that this is so. For those who are simply born to not ever get that flexible, there are safe ways to fake it, always requiring plenty of warm up exercises.

Ballet dancers, men in ballet, and cheer leaders are not offended by the “fake it till you make it’ method. While they keep up with appearances, they are always repeating their flexibility exercises towards that split position. It is better to fake it than rip a muscle or tear a ligament.

If you are among those dancers, men in ballet, or those learning cheerleading stunts, here are some tips to help you:

learn about real ballet turnout, so you understand your hip joints and hip stretches and the relevant flexibility exercises

learn about hamstring stretches

learn how to safely stretch the adductor muscles along the inside of your thigh

learn how to stretch the psoas muscle properly

learn how to stretch the quads or quadriceps muscles
learn warm up exercises and flexibility exercises

Warm Up Exercises – Especially For Cheerleading Stunts

Cheer leaders need to get in there early for every practice and do warm up exercises. In ballet class, warm up is gradual and accelerating during the ballet barre. Cheer leaders get less warm up time, usually. And yet the demands for jumping, lifting others, and leaping or landing while doing the splits are much higher than you will see in a ballet class.

If you have room, just start with a gentle jogging. After a couple of minutes, start adding arm movements. This is to increase your circulation and get your soft tissues warm, and they literally become more liquid, more flexible.

A series of squats will activate your big muscle groups – the hips, quads, and back muscles. These are the muscles that support your cheerleading stunts along with flexibility exercises.

If you cannot do the splits, stretch the hamstrings, psoas muscles (the posture muscles running from your thighs to the front of your spine) and quadriceps muscles separately. Just pushing into a splits position doesn’t usually help, except for after your workout, when you are extremely warmed up. This is the best time to do your flexibility exercises.

Men in ballet are typically less flexible (although not always), than ballerinas, and need more warm up exercises before class so that they can get the most out of their flexibility exercises.

Understanding How To Get The Most Out Of Flexibility Exercises

The wrapping around your muscle groups is called myofascia. It can get injured, and develop scar tissue. It can be tense and lose its flexibility. Learn massage techniques you can do yourself to release this tissue tension and increase the benefits of your flexibility exercises.