| ign="center"> | | | | strength to improve your toe touch. Squat down, |
| Want to work on your tumbling skills away from | | | | touch your fingertips to the floor, and jump up. |
| the gym? Trying to get your toe touches up | | | | Bring your arms up as if you were doing a jump |
| there? There are lots of things you can do at | | | | with your arms overhead. As soon as you land, |
| home to improve your cheerleading. Just make | | | | return to the starting position. Try to do 20 of |
| sure you always start with good stretches, for at | | | | these to start, gradually increasing as they |
| least five to ten minutes, and that you don't try | | | | become easier. |
| anything you haven't been trained to do. Having | | | | - Next, put your arms in a T or high V and kick |
| an adult or another responsible person around in | | | | your right leg up five times. Repeat on the left |
| case something happens is also a necessity, | | | | side, adding reps as you get stronger. |
| especially for cheerleading drills that require a | | | | - Finally, do some tuck jumps with no break |
| cheer spotter. | | | | in-between them. Just jump, land, and jump again. |
| A forgiving surface is also required. Practice | | | | Do at least five in a row. These work your |
| cheerleading drills on wood floors, yoga or | | | | stomach and your leg muscles, which are key to |
| tumbling mats, carpet, or grass. Don't practice | | | | improving your abilities as a cheerleader. |
| cheer drills on pavement, gravel, or other hard | | | | Tumbling Drills |
| surfaces unless you're looking to get injured or | | | | - Most tumbling stunts are not safe to practice |
| have unsightly road rash. Falling is part of | | | | without a trained cheerleading spotter unless |
| practicing cheerleading stunts, jumps and drills so | | | | you've really mastered them. Front rolls, back rolls |
| make sure you do it safely. | | | | , and cartwheels are safer to work on alone |
| For the youth cheerleader, the drills below should | | | | though. It is important to work on straightening |
| be practiced over and over again to gain | | | | your legs and keeping your body straight. Any |
| cheerleading proficiency. Besides checking out the | | | | tumbling that involves flying through the air should |
| below tips, you can also learn the fundamentals | | | | only be practiced with the help of a trained |
| from free cheerleading video tutorials on sites like | | | | cheerleading spotter. |
| Weplay.com, where top coaches and pros like | | | | - Tumbling requires upper body strength so you |
| Debbie Bracewell answer questions and show the | | | | can alse improve by doing a lot of handstands to |
| proper way to practice cheerleading drills. | | | | improve your arm strength. This is one of the |
| Cheer & Dance Strength Drills | | | | basic building blocks for all tumbling. Challenge |
| - Bridge bends are important for the flexibility you | | | | yourself to do ten in a row and then more and |
| will need for scorpions and other cheerleading | | | | more handstands every day until you can easily |
| stunts. Make sure you also stretch your wrists | | | | do fifty or so. If you can't yet do a handstand, |
| and ankles before practicing other cheer drills. If | | | | use a wall as a support to increase your balance |
| you can't do a bridge bend without a spotter, | | | | and strengthen those arms and wrists. |
| work on regular bridges alone. Also, add in some | | | | To be successful in cheerleading competitions it is |
| push-ups to strengthen those arms in to support | | | | critical that you practice your cheer routines over |
| your weight in more complex cheerleading stunts. | | | | and over in advance. Marking your routines is a |
| Perfect Your Cheerleading Jumps | | | | great way to get your timing down and make the |
| - You've seen cheerleaders with impressive toe | | | | routine second nature. Marking is basically just |
| touches. With practice, you can get up there too. | | | | walking through the routine, doing the cheerleading |
| The trick is a strong core and flexibility, so don't | | | | stunts you can do alone and "faking" the ones |
| relax on your stretching and core exercises. A | | | | you can't. If you can get a copy of the music do |
| good exercise for this is the straddle-up. Basically | | | | so, as this will help with timing and rhythm. |
| this is a jack-knife sit up but you put your legs to | | | | Good luck and remember to have fun with your |
| the side, rotating your hips up, as you do the sit | | | | stunts, jumps and cheers! |
| up. Keep your arms in a T, your body upright, and | | | | Report this article |
| practice rotating your hips up. Essentially, you are | | | | This article is free for republishing |
| doing a toe touch on the ground. Do 10 to 15 | | | | Source: |
| reps and make your core do all the work. | | | | Republish this article |
| - A second cheerleading drill is to sit on the floor in | | | | |
| a straddle position with your hands behind you on | | | | Ask a Question About this Article |
| the floor as well. Lean back slightly and lift both | | | | >> Need answer |
| legs about a foot off the ground at the same | | | | >> What would force a young man to |
| time. Try to keep your legs straight. Repeat this | | | | mature? |
| 10 times, release and relax for a count of ten, | | | | >> When jumping over the high jump bar |
| then repeat. Do three sets of these. | | | | you should take off from which leg? |
| - Squat jumps will help you gain height and | | | | |