Warming Up

Just like any other sport, you need to stretch for cheer, to make sure you are ready to perform. By stretching you will get yourself ready for all of the jumping, tumbling, and stunting in the routine. One tip from Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading says, "Remember to never stretch cold. Try jogging laps around the gym or jumping rope to get your muscles warm" (Webber 30). This is a very important tip. If you are stretching with your muscles cold their is risk of pulling one. On my cheer team we always do jumping jacks and run a lap before we start our stretches.

The first thing that is really important to stretch out is your legs. For girls most of our power comes from our legs, so we use them in cheer a lot. If you legs aren't properly stretched you may pull a muscle when hitting a jump, pulling a tumbling pass or even doing stunts. One of my favorites is the seated hamstring stretch. For this stretch you sit on the ground with you legs straight forward, and reach as far down toward your toes as you can (31). It's really important with this stretch, and any others, that you don't push yourself; know your limit and don't try to over work your body. I like this stretch because I can really feel it working and stretching out my legs. Another stretch you can do is a lower back and shoulder stretches. I love this one a lot because after a long practice, with a lot of stunting my back and shoulders may become stiff and sore, but when you stretch them out it helps relax the muscles and relieve the stress. This stretch is also really simple, to stretch you shoulders, Stand with your feet very wide apart and place your hands down to your knees while pulling your shoulder back and pushing your opposite leg back (32). This is one of the only stretches I feel highly benefits my shoulders. Lately I've had really sore shoulders after practice and I've had a hard time finding a stretch to help them out. After trying this one it will definitely be my go to help with sore shoulders and back. A last stretch you can do is for your hips. To stretch out your hips, "Step your right foot out in front of your left. Keep your right knee in line with your ankle and reach down and touch the ground...Do the same on the other side" (32). This is a stretch I've done for a very long time. It's great because not only are you stretching your hips, but also your lower back and hamstring. Stretches that have multiple benefits like this are my favorite because it allows you to really get warmed up before you perform.

Now that you know my favorite stretches, what stretches are your favorite, that you find give you the best results?

Citation:

Webber, Rebecca. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. Boston: Poppy, New York. Print.

Stunting

Stunting is something that makes cheerleading very unique. No other sport throws people in the air and does intricate pyramids. And even i think stunting is the most fun part in cheering, its also the hardest. Learning new stunts can be dangerous and takes a lot of practice. You have to master even the simple basics, or your stunts won't be clean and they won't hit. To start out you want to practice easy stunts and drills to build strength and confidence. 

To start out building strength you want to practice a hang drill. This is really basic, and focuses most the work being done on the flyer (the girl on top). To do this the flyer wants to jump in with her hands on the bases shoulders and her legs bent, and then hold herself up by supporting her weight in her arms (Webber 68). I have done this drill countless times and it always pays off in the end. This drill teaches the flyers to hold their own weight, which is very important to do in any stunt. If a flyer doesn't hold her own weight and depends solely on her bases to do all the work, the whole thing will come crashing down. I have experienced this first hand; when a flyer doesn't do her part to make herself as light as possible, it prevents the whole stunt from being solid and going smoothly. 

After you have mastered the hang drill you can move on to a prep. A prep is the one of the most basic stunts that everyone has to do. When you first start off cheering, this can be a little weird; you are now holding someone in the air with your own hands. Its very important the bases stay steady and strong while doing this, "Keep your arms bent and close to your sides as you dip by bending your legs. Shrug quickly through your shoulders and start to lift the top straight up to eye level. Then settle her foot back down at chest level" (69). It is extremely important the bases do this motion quick, so they can use their momentum to lift the top girl. Keeping you arms to you sides is a great pointer. I have been doing cheer since I was four years old, and the majority of those years I have been a side base. It is a lot of hard work, but the tips Varsity gives us in this book can make a dramatic difference. My coaches have always told us that we are like trees and our arms the branches; the farther out the branch the weaker it is. So the same goes for our bodies, the farther out your arms from your sides the less strength you have. Your form makes such a big difference, and by keeping the proper movements it makes your stunt look so much cleaner.  

After reading this, I want to know what tips you know that help the bases and flyers stay strong while stunting? 

Citation: Webber, Rebecca. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. Boston: Poppy, New York. Print.

Motions

"Motions are the easiest and most effective way for a squad to lead a crowd" (Webber 83). Being sharp and clean is the most important thing in cheer. No matter how high your jumps are; how complex your tumbling pass or how intricate your pyramid, without sharp motions nobody will even notice. Motions are the most basic and complex part of your routine, they make or break you. Luckily, Varsity has some great tips oh how to make your motions perfect every time.

Varsity tells to watch your four Ps: Placement, Perfection, Precision and Performing. Even though the book gives us four Ps, I will only talk about the first two because the second two refer to practice and drills as a team, and I am doing this individually. The first P, placement, tells to us to make sure our arms are locked and in a straight line (83). This is a great tip, especially because when people are concentrating so hard on being tight they can overextend their elbows, or in my case bend your writs. By thinking to make a straight line with my arm, I can really concentrate on how my arm should look and feel. This improved my motions because they looked so much nicer without those wonky, bent wrists. The second P is perfection. This P is all about practice, "Once you've mastered the placement of each motion, practice drills to beat or music to develop muscle memory for every motion" (83). Practice, practice, practice is something I've always been told, so it was to no surprise seeing this as one of the Ps. I've done this drill many times before and it helps a lot. Their tip to practice to a beat or music is so great. By practicing to a song, it makes the drills not so boring and tedious, and even a little enjoyable. Overall their tips were very great and will be staying in the back of mind during performances to make sure my motions are always sharp.

Now I'm wondering, do other cheerleaders find that these tips perfect their motions?

Citation:
Webber, Rebecca. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Ch

eerleading. Boston: Poppy, New York. Print.

Jumps

Jumps create excitement on the sidelines and contributes to a big part of your scoring for competitive cheer. To get your jumps as high as possible and to help them look great, you have to exercise and stretch. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading has a list of exercises that will increase strength and flexibility. I tired these exercises out to help my jumps, and to see if I could improve my jumps.




Out of the three exercise, there was two that I feel I benefitted from the most. The first exercise was the sitting toe touch. For this exercise you "Lie flat on your back, feet together and arms near your ears. Then using your core, bring your upper body up while bringing your toes up and out, hitting a 'seated toe touch' position. Finally slowly lower yourself back down. Concentrate on keeping your legs straight and toes pointed" (Webber 64). I loved this exercise. It not only works your core to build stronger abdominal muscles, but you can also feel it helping make you legs stronger as you go. In addition to this building strength, the more you repeat this exercise the higher you feel your legs go, which shows its benefits towards the flexibility of you jumps.

The next exercise is the seated straddle lift. This exercise is great for your legs and hips. It makes your legs stronger while also working your hip flexor muscles. By working your hip flexors, it allows for more flexibility in your jumps and your legs to go higher up. For this exercise you sit in a straddle position with your hands on both sides of one leg, and lift your leg up and down. You  repeat this for both legs individually and at the same time (65). I could feel this exercise working the whole time in my hips. And after the exercise I got up and tried my jumps. When I did my toe touch I felt my legs flying higher then they were before.

Both of these exercises are super beneficial to your jumps, and after doing them I would highly recommend. So my question is, what jump exercises do you find most beneficial to helping your jumps?

Citation:

Webber, Rebecca. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. Boston: Poppy, New York. Print.

Game Day Hair & Makeup

Getting the look just right for games and performances is just as big a part as knowing all your cheers and stunts. Everyone is watching and analyzing your hair, makeup and uniform. Right now I have a regular makeup routine that I do for games and assembly's, but I was interested when I read the "Get the Look" section of my book to learn what other people thought was the perfect look for the big game day.

"A light application is the best way to look great and feel confident" (Webber 95).  I kept this tip in mind when I followed Varsity's expert makeup artist Angela Angel's quick makeup routine for game days. The first step was applying foundation all over the face. This gives you a nice even skin tone, and covers any imperfections. After this you apply blush, the book suggests applying it on the "apples" of your cheeks and to use a color that matches your cheeks when they are flushed (95). These tips were very helpful. Adding it to the "apples" makes a very nice look and makes your face stand out, while using a color that matches your flushed face will match when you have been exercising or get cold at the game, rather then having a contrasting color that will work against your natural skin. Steps three and four were the eyes. They have your apply eyeliner close to the lash line and a natural eye shadow shade all over your lid. They also suggest to "Chose a shade with a slight shimmer for added drama" (95). I loved this idea because I love anything sparkly! Both of these eye tips created a look that opened up my eyes to make them bigger and brighter. And lastly, we added a neutral-colored lip to make my smile stand out. I loved this makeup look for a more natural and toned down look and I definitely will take some of these tips into consideration, especially the blush ones, but personally I like a more full coverage look with more a little more drama and sparkle.

 

Next, to complete the look was the hair. This was a simple look that I usually do myself, but I followed their steps to see how they differ. There first step was to make sure the hair was smooth and tangle free, and to grab a 3-inch section of hair at the front of your head (95). I also do this step, but they added some extra guidelines about how much hair to grab hat really made a difference in the end. By grabbing a "Three-inch thick section at the front, as wide as you eyebrows" (95) it really made the ponytail hold up better, even gave it a more noticeable poof. The second step was to tease and hairspray, after this you secure with bobby pins. This was also a helpful tip. I don't usually use bobby pins and after using them to secures it in place I feel the hair will defiantly last longer through the night as I'm cheering, jumping, and stunting. Lastly you sweep all of it into a pony and your done!

I loved this look! It was very simple, and had some great beauty tips that I am confident will impact my look in a big way. Their tips for applying makeup and putting together my hair are very promising in the fact that they will insure I can make it through the a football game or even all day long competition with the perfect cheerleader look.

 

My question for all you cheerleaders out there is how does this look relate to your own game day look, and did you find any of these tips helpful?

Citation:

Webber, Rebecca. Varsity's Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading. Boston: Poppy, New York. Print.