Stretching and flexibility

Flexibility is more important than you think

My first year of cheerleading I wasn't really sure about the whole stretching thing. I was never informed on the importance of stretching so I didn't really have a need to stretch..... well at least that's what I thought at the time. I always got put in the back for jumps mainly because my jumps weren't all that good. As the start of my second year I understood it a little more with having done the sport before and my goal was to move up a little bit in the jump section so I wasn't in the back again. Flexibility is used in about every part of the routine. Weather you're a flyer, base, back spot, front spot, or just a tumbler.

This is going to be my last year cheering so I thought to myself "ummm why not start stretching and see where that gets me?". So one night I decided that I was going to stretch every night before bed and I was going to be more flexible than I ever was before. The three main things I did was my splits ( left, right, and center split), stretching my hamstrings ( sitting down with my feet in front of me and seeing how far I can go down), and my groin area( squats and all 3 types of splits). When I started stretching every night and within a week I started to notice a difference in my flexibility. I went from not being close to being able to do a split, to almost being able to do a split in the matter of 2 weeks. I was extremely shocked by the outcome and how much more flexible I've became over the past 2 weeks. My tumbling has actually gotten a lot better since I started stretching more. My round-off is a lot more powerful, ( if you have the right technique ) your tumbling after the round-off will be much more sharper than before. Here are some other stretches I add to my normal stretching routine. Click on the link to look at some stretches you can do to help improve your flexibility. How To Get Flexible Fast (yes it's really possible - and safe)

Comment below and let me know some of your stretching routines!