*doubles, practices, pre season oh my!
Can you believe it, August is quickly approaching and that can only mean one thing in the mind of a cheerleader — CHEER CAMP! Whether your team attends a sleep-away camp, home camp, or just pre season prep, there’s no denying that cheer mode kicks on from 0-100 real quick. Here are some tips to help make the transition from summer to sweat a little smoother.
Hopefully you’ve been trying to stay in cheer shape throughout the summer with workouts and conditioning, but even if you’ve slacked a bit there’s still time to turn it around before camp is here!
First off, start getting in the cheer mindset again. Pull up videos from last season of competitions or practices and assess where your skill level was at. Start brainstorming ideas to take your skills to the next level and set goals for what types of skills you want to master during camp or start working on in preseason. If you had a solid 360, the next step would be hitting a full up to the top! Set your goals now so that you can start working toward them as early in your season as possible!
Once you’ve mentally prepared yourself for camp, it’s time to prepare your body. Staying hydrated, eating a nutritious, balanced diet, and getting plenty of rest is crucial in the weeks leading up to camp. You may be expected to stunt and tumble for hours on end during camp or doubles, and the only way to endure a full day of practice is to take care of your body before and during. On breaks, alternate between drinking water and a sports drink like Gatorade to be sure you’re replenishing your electrolytes. Make sure you’re eating enough protein too, because your muscles will need it to regain their strength for the next day! One of the best snacks to help prevent soreness is a banana – add some peanut butter and you’ve got yourself a nutritious snack! Lastly, start setting an earlier bed time for yourself. It can be easy during the summer to go to bed late and sleep in till noon, but come camp, you’ll be regretting this sleep pattern when your alarm is going off bright and early. Moreover, it can be easy to stay up late during camp chatting or goofing around with your teammates, especially if you’re at a sleep-away camp together, but remember that tomorrow is a new day with more fun in store!
Finally, it’s not too late to hit the gym or go for that run! You may feel as though only getting in a couple of workouts before practices start won’t make any difference, but remember that even a short workout is better than no workout at all! Get used to being sweaty and sore again, because it’s no secret that there’s more of that in store!
And if you need some help getting started or ideas or exercises to do, join the cheerFIT team and get moving! Oh and guess what – cheerFIT even has a complete fitness training program to help YOU get Game Day Ready! Check that out!! Bam Click here to learn about the sweaty good details.
Most of all, work hard and have fun!!
Your cheerFIT Ambassador,
Alexa
Alxea
Hi guys, I’m Alexa! I’ve been cheering since I was 8 years old, starting for my rec team, then all four years of high school at Delaware Valley Regional HS where we traveled down to Orlando to compete in UCA Nationals every year. My senior year of high school when I was a captain, we won the Medium Varsity Division II National Championship title, and it was my proudest moment as a cheerleader! I currently attend Penn State University where I am lucky enough to cheer in front of a crowd of 107,000 fans at football games and compete on our All-Girl team at UCA Nationals.
Go State!!