How to make your warm up better to reduce injuries and prep your body for better performance during cheer practice

What does your warm up for cheer practice, games or competition look like? I hear often that most warm ups consist of static stretching, running, jumping jacks and then into more sport specific conditioning: jump, stunt and tumble drills etc. .

This surprises me because I know that it is important to loosen the joints, tendons and muscles that we are about to use, as well as to cue the stabilizing muscles to get ready to work. To properly get our body ready to perform any athletic activity, and reduce the risk of injury, we need to do the motions and exercises that will do this.

According to an article in Sports Med in 2018, (Opplert, J., Babault, N. Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance: An Analysis of the Current Literature. Sports Med 48, 299–325 (2018)), a dynamic warm up that preps the body for movement has been shown to improve force, power, jump and range of motion better than static stretching, which may reduce power and force production if done for long duration immediately before an activity.

Does this mean we don’t static stretch or condition? No. Stretching can help improve our flexibility over time. Conditioning helps build endurance to allow us to do the long practices, and to be less winded after a full run through. However, conditioning before practice and using cheer skills as conditioning will make our athletes fatigue before even beginning the work to learn a new skill. In this article, Cheer District discusses that perhaps conditioning should not be performed at practice in general. I think if needed, 10–20 minutes conditioning could be done at the end of practice followed by a 5–10 minute stretching routine, but I do agree, our practices are a workout in themself. Conditioning as punishment for a missed stunt or at the beginning of practice sets our athletes up for fatigue and potential for injury.

Most cheerleaders I speak with only warm up their lower body when they’re getting ready to practice. However due to the overhead nature of our sport, we also need to include shoulder blade and core stability as well as neck mobility exercises. These two videos, by prominent Strength Coaches, give you an idea of what a dynamic warm up should include. The first video by Mike Boyle, demonstrates how to do a warm up in a small space. I particularly like the floor slides and opposite arm/leg exercises that he demonstrates because they will get the shoulders and core ready to stunt.

In the second video by Kevin Carr, he demonstrates exercises that will improve balance, stretch the hamstrings and hip flexors and incorporate change of direction all of which are key elements in cheer.

I understand that cheerleaders feel the need to stretch their legs, but training them to actively stretch vs holding a stretch pre-activity, and then focusing on holding a stretch after activity will not only help keep their muscles, joints and tendons mobile and able to move more safely, but will also help improve their performance overall.