Facts about Stretching

Your coach might have told you: Stretching is good and can reduce the risks of injuries and warm up those tight muscles. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. For most all-star cheer teams, certain types of stretches are helpful before and after workouts, but the wrong kind of stretching can reduce their performance during an activity.

Most athletes aren’t aware that they can hurt themselves by doing the wrong types of stretches at the wrong times, such as working on flexibility at the start of practice and overstretching before training. However, here are some of the facts about stretching so you can experience its benefits without injuries.

Stretching can improve flexibility

Stretching is one of the best ways a cheerleader can obtain a flexible and nimble body. To succeed in cheer and tumbling, you need to have maximum flexibility. Therefore, it’s essential to stretch your body for at least five to ten minutes after a workout to improve flexibility.

Stretching increases blood flow to your muscles.

Stretching improves blood flow and boosts oxygen levels around your body and brain. Proper blood circulation means that more blood, oxygen, and nutrients reach your muscles and brain. Stretching also facilitates a faster removal of metabolic wastes such as ammonia, uric acid, and carbon dioxide.

Stretching does not prevent muscle soreness.

According to studies, stretching is not effective in reducing or preventing muscle soreness. So while it’s still good to stretch after practice to improve your balance and flexibility for flying, it doesn’t work well in reducing muscle aches. Luckily, WSA shows you both physical and nutritional tips that you can use to beat soreness and recover in less time.

 Dynamic stretches are better when warming up

Studies show that you need to do dynamic stretches during a warm-up before an athletic performance to avoid decreasing strength and performance and help you loosen and prepare your joints. Dynamic stretches involve using controlled stretches to mobilize different parts of the body better. Dynamic stretches are better than static stretches. They include pushups, lunges, jumping jacks, etc.

Stretching can help reduce your risk of injuries.

Cheerleading injuries such as strained back muscles, fractures, and knee stress can be caused by repetitive jumping, improper landing from stunts, or back handsprings. Maximizing dynamic stretches before you exercise can help increase your flexibility and reduce your risk of injury. In addition, stretching keeps the blood flowing to the parts of your body that need it the most, hence warming up your muscles.

Happy cheer stretching

With proper stretching and flexibility, you can achieve significant improvements in stunts and routines, and WSA has a place for all that. WSA offers youth cheerleading events for competitive cheer teams and cheer dancers across the country. If your cheerleading squad is ready, you can explore our website to see our list of events near you and register your team.

We look forward to seeing you there!