One of our most common questions from coaches is; how do we create a proper warm up?
There is a lot of confusion when it comes to warm up, there have been so many things thrown around over the years, that people genuinely forgot the purpose of a warm up and that is simply to “WARM UP” your body temperature.
To make it easier, we have put together a standardized warm up for you to implement into your programs. The important thing to remember, is this should NOT create fatigue within your athletes. As their coach, you should have a general idea of what their fatigue threshold is, if you need to make adjustments to the warm up because you believe it will create fatigue, do so accordingly.
Remember; fatigue occurs in the muscle fibres BEFORE you can see it or feel it.
One of the primary goals of warming up is to help prevent injuries. There is evidence suggesting proper warm-ups may reduce some acute sprains and strains developed during practices and performances. Cheer District has taken the most recent academic and clinical research to design the following cheerleading specific warm-up.
*video provided for the less commonly known movements - however, we are always here to help! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions!
SECTION ONE - JOINT MOBILITY/DYNAMIC STRETCHING
STANDING
COMPLETE 8 REPS OF EACH MOVEMENT
Cervical Spine
Head forward and backward (spine rounding and arching)
Head turn left and right (no movement)
Head tilt left and right (ear to shoulder)
Shoulders
Shoulder circles (forward and backward)
Arm Circles (forward and backward)
Wrists
Flexion and Extension
Supination and Pronation
Radial and Ulnar Lateral Flexion
Wrist circles
Hips
Knee up and forward - circumduct around to the side and back (switch directions)
Leg swings - forward, backwards and side to side
Leg swings - toe touch positions
Ankles
Dorsiflexion and Plantar-flexion
Inversion and Eversion
Ankle circles
GROUND WORK
COMPLETE 10 REPS OF EACH MOVEMENT
Thoracic and Lumbar
Cat-Camel
Side-lying thoracic rotation
Rolling patterns
Shoulders and Wrists
Hands and knees - pushing back into downward dog on knees
Hand and knees - rocking back and forth with wrists flexed and then extended
Hips
On knees leaning backward with hands behind - Push hips up and down
90/90
Straddle sit - reach to one leg, in front, and then the other
SECTION TWO
CORE PRIMING
4 SETS OF 10 SECONDS
Flex/Extend Single Leg Balance (alternate)
Modified Isometric Crunch
Bird Dog - Table top position with leg and opposite arm extensions
Side Plank (both sides)
GENERAL FULL BODY
10 REPS
Wide stance squats with arms at shoulders then press overhead
Medium stance squats with arms at shoulders then press overhead
Narrow stance squats with arms at shoulders then press overhead
Push backs
Push ups
Seated straddle lifts
Standing kicks forwards and side
Standing calf raises
Lunges forward, side and back - 5 reps
Quarter depth squat jumps with full arm swing - wide, shoulder width and feet together - 3 reps each
Deep squat jumps with full arm swing - wide, shoulder width and feet together - 3 reps each
Push back shoulder pops
An aside; but an important aside!!
No static stretching right before practice! Static stretching will reduce power needed to perform many skills! We will touch on this in a later blog post. Stay Tuned...
Don't forget to share this with your coaches & athletes to they can start warming up properly in order to reduce risk of injury and increase performance!
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