Cheerleading Injury Prevention: Cardio, Core, and Plyometrics

Written by:
Nami Stone
Physical Therapist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and
Asst. Cheerleading Coach at the University of Kansas


My prior blog post gave a background on injury prevention in cheerleading, including how to improve the safety of you or your child while participating in cheerleading. As previously mentioned, there is no way to completely ensure the lack of injuries. However, with the proper conditioning, you can decrease the likelihood of injuries.

In my 9 years of collegiate coaching, I have discovered 3 important areas of physical conditioning as they pertain to cheerleading.

Cardiovascular conditioning

Collegiate football games can last up to 4 hours. Although they may not be doing skills the entire 4 hours, cheerleaders are expected to stay on their feet and keep the crowd energy up via chants, skills, and fight songs that can all be quite taxing. I find that as the cheerleaders fatigue, their technique gets worse thus increasing the risk of injury. I recommend at least 30 minutes of cardio 3-5 times per week at the very least.

Core fitness

This was covered earlier in a great post on Core Stability Training. In cheerleading, the tighter the core of the girl in the air, the less the stunt will move, thus minimizing the risk of falling. For bases, the better the core strength, the less likely the cheerleader is of getting back injuries while putting up and holding stunts.

Plyometrics

Plyometrics develop leg power and explosiveness, which helps with a wide range of cheerleading skills. For bases, leg power allows bases to get stunts up smoother and faster with proper technique. For flyers, the quicker a girl can “step and lock” or “jump and flick”, the easier the stunt will go up. For standing tumbling, most of the power and speed comes from the legs. With the lack of a nice strong jump, cheerleaders’ standing tumbling will be lower, which increases the risk of injury by “landing short.”

Shown below are several plyometric exercises you can do at home three to five times per week. Try working up to doing one continuous minute of each exercise with one minute of rest between exercises.

Lunge Jumps

10 reps of each lunge should take about one minute.

Frog Jumps

Box Jumps

Fall Sports Performance Group Sessions

     

Starting September 17th, LMH Therapy Services will be offering Sports Performance training to athletes to help prepare for the upcoming winter and spring sport season.  Participants can choose to join a group or train as an individual to enhance speed, strength, agility, conditioning and jumping skills. The fall training session will be available for athletes age 10-18 and will train in the newly updated 3^rd floor suite in the LMH 4^thStreet Health Plaza building.

The primary goal is for athletes to develop their athletic skills by training with modern strength and conditioning principles for their age. Performance Coaches utilize drills and equipment to train athletes on a padded turf surface. Athletes are trained by qualified performance coaches that are Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists (CSCS) recognized by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. 

The training program is the foundation to an athlete's entire game. A solid strength and conditioning base provides the ability to take skills to a higher level and reduce injuries. Train with professionals that will push you to reach your potential by becoming more explosive and coordinated. Train at LMH and feel the difference in our approach to training you to be a better player in your sport, not a better "weight lifter."

Fall session registration opens September 4th. Please call LMH Therapy Services at 785.505.5975 or email adam.rolf@lmh.org to enroll or request more information.

Fall session begins September 17th and ends November 15th

High School (Ages 14-18)
Strength, Speed and Agility Training Group
4-5:30 pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
$18 per class

Speed and Agility Training Group

5:30-6:30 pm Tuesday & Thursday

$15 per class

Middle School (Ages 12,13,14)

Speed and Agility Training Group

5:30-6:30 pm Monday & Wednesday

$15 per class

Youth Development (Ages 10,11)
Learning to Train Group

6:30-7:20 pm Tuesday & Thursday

$12 per class

                                          

Proper Hydration is Crucial 
for Good Performance

Have you ever been on a long run or bike ride and all of a sudden start feeling a “little off” maybe lightheaded, dizzy or fatigued???  You could be dehydrated.

Proper hydration is crucial for performing at your best.  Approximately 60% of body weight is water, that is if you weigh 150#, 90# is water weight.  If you lose 3% or more of your body weight, that is 4.8# or more for a person weighing 150#, you are dehydrated and performance will decline.    

A quick way to assess if you are properly hydrated is to check the color of your urine.  If it is light yellow, the color of lemonade or straw, you are adequately hydrated.  If it is dark yellow the color of tea you are under hydrated and if it is clear in color you are over hydrated.

Daily hydration need (not including activity) is 0.5 -0.6 times body weight.  A person weighing 150# should consume 75 – 90 oz. of fluid per day or 9 to 11 cups.  All beverages including water, sports drink, milk, juice or watermelon which is 92% water can be counted as part of your fluid intake.  Use drinks that contain caffeine, like coffee and tea, with caution and sparingly as they can act as a diuretic.  Alcohol acts as a dehydrator.  If you drink a beer, drink a glass of water with it.

If you are an athlete or exercise regularly your fluid intake needs to increase.  Most athletes will be adequately hydrated with 80-100 oz. of fluid per day.  An exception where more fluid is needed would be heavier athletes, athletes competing at a high VO2 max percentage and/ or those exercising in severe environmental conditions.

As a general rule of thumb, keep fluid intake at 16 to 24 oz. of fluid per hour, yes…2-3 cups. Most people should not exceed more than 28 oz. of fluid per hour.  It takes time for your body tissues to absorb water.  Don’t just sit down and drink a gallon of water.  You will be better off drinking 4-6 oz every 15 minutes than drinking all at once. In most circumstances, one water bottle per hour will give you the right amount of fluid.

Now just a few more helpful hints:

1.   Train to get fit in the heat.  Heat acclimation and being in shape can reduce fluid and electrolyte loss by up to 50%.  On those first few hot days to help you acclimate cut your workout short, drink extra fluid, use an electrolyte supplement or eat a banana. 

2.   Wear the lightest evaporation-friendly clothing you can afford.  Cotton is not on the list.

3.   Use cold fluids.  Your body absorbs them better than warm fluids.

4.   During the hottest weather conditions, sponge off with cold water and give yourself a short, periodic rest break from race pace.  This will provide heat relief.

5.   Know the symptoms of dehydration.  STOP immediately if you feel lightheaded, dizzy or get the dry chills.  No race or training is worth compromising your health.

July 2012

Submitted by Becky McClure, PT, MOMT

Sports Physical Therapist at LMH South Rehabilitation