How to Stretch for Cheer Practice

Cheer leading is as much about personality and leadership as it is about athleticism and acrobatics, but acrobatics and exercise are definitely involved. Failing to stretch before cheer leading can produce permanent injuries. Unlike many sports that require muscle movement and strength for only a select few areas of the body, cheer leading necessitates the use of a leader's entire body. Properly stretching the entire body may be the most important aspect of a cheer leader's preparation.

Instructions

    • 1

      Warm up to get the blood moving through your body at an accelerated rate. Warming up loosens your muscles and allows you to maximize your stretching. Warming up is as important in preventing injury as stretching.

    • 2

      Stretch the muscles of your upper and lower legs and your hips. All your power for jumps, tumbles and lifts are generated from your legs and complex acrobatic moves require extreme flexibility in the legs. The major muscle groups in your legs are your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals and calves. Stretches for the upper legs include the pike, the butterfly, the frog, the front lunge, the straddle and the front and center splits.

    • 3

      Stretch your core or abdominal and lower back muscles. These muscles provide the foundation and support for all cheers. The demand you put on your core is greater than that of any other muscle group, yet stretching the core muscles is often neglected. Some good stretches for the core include the pelvic tilt, the basic spinal twist, the cat and the cobra.

    • 4

      Stretch the upper back, chest and shoulders. These three muscle groups are less critical for power and support, but they provide leverage and stability and are used frequently. As a result, these muscles are often the first to become injured. Upper back stretches include the Egyptian, heels over the head, arm slides and shoulder blade squeezes. Chest stretches include the wide arm stretch, the pointed elbow stretch, the arm behind head stretch and the arm on wall stretch. Shoulder stretches include rollbacks, static shoulder stretches and dynamic shoulder stretches.