Does your cheer squad work out? Many teams make an effort to do some type of exercising at practice but in many cases it is inconsistent and used as a form of punishment instead of an expected part of practice. I am all for team work outs and I think when done they really help improve your squad athleticism which helps increase your difficulty level in your skills.

I hate running just as much as you do, but it really is important to build up a healthy endurance. Football games are long; this means you are jumping, stunting and tumbling for over three hours. Having a great endurance build-up is the best way to make sure your team can still hit those difficult skills that they were hitting in the first quarter. 

Also teams that compete, it is important for you to work on your short burst running. In competitive routines you are doing your best skills one after another and it is important to be able to have the strength and stamina to bust them out one after another at full strength.

Squad workouts at the beach

 It is important for cheerleaders to be strong. Many of you have heard the quote “other athletes lift weights, cheerleaders lift athletes,” and to be able to hit and hold those difficult stunts each cheerleader in the stunt group must be strong enough to make this happen.

Top girls need to be strong enough to jump in holding all their weight in the arms and have the muscles to be tight enough to squeeze the entire length of the stunt. Bases and back-spots need to be strong enough to hold a girl up over their head for great distances. Not to mention to be able to tumble muscle is needed too.

 My suggestion for you, establish one day a week outside of practices where your team meets to just work out. Maybe it’s only for an hour long one day before or after school but it needs to be consistent so the girls get use to it and accept it as part of their cheerleading schedule.

I would suggest doing some sort of cardio for 15-20 minutes, then either doing body-weight exercises or lifting weights, and follow it up by a 10 minute full body stretch. Make sure the areas being worked are the core, quads, shoulders and backs, these are the areas used most in stunting.

Don’t expect result within the first week or so but soon after you will notice your team has better endurance and their strength will improve significantly. Also, the girls may hate it at first but when they see the great results on their bodies they’ll love it.

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