AES Cougar Cheerleading

Cheerleading 101: Exercises

Coaching     Exercises     Skills and Drills     Stunting     Tumbling

Fitness articles of interest to cheerleaders:
The 3 Pillars of Cheering
Fitness and Health 		Video tapes and DVDs:
The FIRM
Cardio Cheer

If you prefer to exercise along with a television program but can't afford an expensive DVD, I recommend the following: (All times listed here are EST) If none of these programs are available to you, check your local channels for programs about: aerobics, fitness, exercise, Pilates, stretching, Tae Bo, Tai Chi, and yoga workouts.

The Method: Mon-Fri 7:00pm The Healthy Living Channel
Inhale Yoga: Mon-Fri 6:00am Oxygen channel
Denise Austin's Fit n Lite and Daily Workout: Mon-Fri 7:00 am-8:00am Lifetime Network
Body Electric: PBS (check local listings)
Yoga Zone: Mon-Fri 7:30am, 9:00am, 2:00pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm LIME network
Priscilla's Yoga Stretches: PBS (check local listings)
Beginning Tai Chi: Mon-Thu 7:00am, Fri 7 & 8:00am, Sat/Sun 1, 2,& 3:00pm on UNIHSE
Tai Chi with Grandmaster Liang: 2:30am, 8:00am, 1:00pm, 6 or 7:00pm LIME network
Stott Pilates with Moira: Mon-Fri 7:00 am, 8:30am, 1:30 pm, 7:00pm LIME network

No-TV-needed Workout
(Pictures and videos included here)

The information on this page is geared toward Elementary school age children. Exercises and drills should be cut back or built up accordingly. For example, older cheerleaders would do more reps and would also want to add weight training and aerobics to their conditioning regimen. Note: We are using yoga poses but we are not actually learning yoga. (There’s more to it than just getting into the positions, and the best page I have seen for these is this one. If it reads oddly, it is because it was translated from German by Google. Also visit youtube for internet videos of yoga.) Check with your parents/doctor first before trying these poses. Don't try to stretch as deeply as the people shown in those pictures in the links. Don't try new stretches on your own without help, and don't overdo, but rather do what your growing body can handle. Stretches should never hurt. (And believe it or not, some of the worst pain I have ever experienced in my entire life occurred the day after I tried every pose I'd found in a yoga book. Needless to say, I couldn't move for 3 days after that! So... Take. It. Easy!)

Our goal is to learn to hold some of these stretches for a minute or more, but for now we’re going to take baby steps and just try them on for size. At practice we should take about 20 minutes to warm up, but at home you can spend more time in those stretches, thereby increasing your flexibility. (Flexibility is crucial if you want to do anything fancier than a liberty or a torch/pretty girl on top of a stunt.) 

Start out by running in place, knees high, for two to three minutes to get the blood flowing and the sweat going.  If you aren't sweating, then you aren't warmed up enough. Never try to stretch a cold muscle because you might tear something. Also never bounce up and down or push yourself too hard for the same reason. Ease your way into all stretches, and try to hold them for increasing periods of time, up to a minute or two.  Push yourself to the point of feeling your muscles stretching, tightening, and pulling, but never to the point of hurting or popping. Stretch the muscle out until it feels looser and then move it a little more into the stretch.

To help keep track of your stretching work your way down from head to toe instead of jumping from an arm stretch to a leg stretch to a belly stretch to another arm stretch. Do a set of stretches for one part of your body (arms, legs, tummy, back etc) and a set of exercises for that same body part (sit-ups, push-ups, squat thrusts, etc), jog or do jumping jacks for another 2 minutes, stretch the next part of your body, and so forth. This helps keeps your body from cooling off too soon during your stretching routine.

How often should you stretch? Several times a day would be the most helpful; about 4 times a day is good. You do not have to do the exercises like the sit ups and push-ups four times a day, however! The list of stretches and exercises below is an example of the warm-up workout we will do at practices. That will cover the minimum amount of exercising you need to do to cheer. But you are welcome to do the exercises on one or two of the days during the week that we do not meet on provided you are not participating in another sport that day. Exercise is important, but so is not overdoing it.

Click the pictures and hyperlinks for more information on how to do that stretch correctly.

1)    Jog, do jumping jacks, or clap and run for 3 minutes. Or do 8 counts from your dance.
       Cardio warm-up video

2)    Do neck rolls, side and wrist and arm stretches (Over your head and across your chest triceps stretches, etc)

neck
Video		 Arm 1 Arm 2 Torso 2
Video		 Torso 1
 Torso 3
Video

3)     Bend at the waist and hang down to the floor. Stretch your upper back and shoulders.
        Wrist stretch video    Shoulder warm up video

4)     Do 10 regular pushups & 10 V push-ups (Bum up in the air at all times, your weight is on your shoulders. Feels a bit like a handstand.) & 10 chair dips

5)     Jog, do jumping jacks, dance, or clap and run for another 2 minutes.

6)     Stretch your legs, every part of them. Do straddle stretches, and reclining straddles, (If you can do straddle stretches and get your nose to the floor, you are ready to put your feet up on some books when you are doing them) butterfly stretches, pike stretches, quad stretches, and calf stretches as shown in the pictures below. These will help you get your heel stretch, bow n arrow, arabesque, front arabesque, scale, front hurdler, toe touch and pike (see videos of jumps here)  (Video of stretches for your legs)

Butterfly
Video		 9 Stretch
Video		 Heron
 Video
Half Downward Dog
Video		 Runner's streetch
Video		 Touch toes
Video
pike stretch
Video  		 Reclining pike
Video		 Quad stretch
Video

Straddle
Video

Straddle pull stretch video    Ankle stretch video    Standing stretches video   
Other stretch variations you can try: 1  2  3  4  5  6   7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17

How to get your splits 
Front Splits
 Stretching for front splits video
Video Tutorial
Video		 Middle Splits
Video Tutorial
Video

7)     Do 10 deep forward lunges on each leg. Get down on your hands and knees and do 10 bicep pumps and dog lifts for each leg.

8)     Do 20 sitting toe touches, Do 20 straddle lifts. Do 20 Leg explosions.

9)     50 Toe raises (alternate between slow and controlled and quick bounces)

10)     High Kicks. (Video of T kicks and straddle lifts) First, do them in slow motion. You can hold onto a partner or a chair back for this. Do ten sets for each leg. After leg lifts do side high kicks: arms in a T motion, with right leg kick 5 times, breather for 5 seconds, switch to left leg 5 times.

11)     Rapid Tuck jumps (For standing consecutive tucks: do a tuck with the approach. As soon as you hit the floor, go back up into a tuck with no prep. 5-10 to start, build up to 20.)

12)     Stomach and back stretches (These will help you with your scorpion and back handspring (BHS) )

Cobra
Video		 Full Cobra Bow pose
Video
Reverse push up
Video		 Half plow Full plow
Video
Half backbend
Video		 Camel
Video		 Bridge
Bridge video  Back limber video

Other stretch variations you can try: 1  2  3  4  5  

13)     Do 10 stomach crunches, 10 bicycle crunches, 10 reverse crunches (hip rocks), 10 arch rocks (belly bananas), 10 hollow rocks (back bananas), 10 straddle ups (feet apart) & 10 pike-ups (feet together, middle of this video)

14)     Handstand kicks (20 on each leg; don't go all the way up to a handstand) and handstands against the wall (back and front) to improve your tumbling.

15)     Lie back down on the floor and bring your knees to your chest. Let your knees fall to the left, and reach your arms off to the right. (Yes, you are all twisted but it feels good to your stomach after all those crunches, doesn’t it?) Come back to the middle, then let your knees fall to the right and reach with your arms to the left.