I have been asked by many people to develop strength and conditioning programs for cheerleading. However, since every cheerleading program is different I have decided that it is better to simply educate coaches in basic strength and conditioning principals and leave it to them to develop their own program specific to their program. ITasteLikePaint (talk) 05:43, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Dangers

Any strength and conditioning program no matter how well put together, how well supervised and how well managed, carries risk of injury or death. Always be sure that you know and use good technique for every exercise and use a competent spotter to reduce these risks.

Basic Principles of Exercise Prescription

Every exercise program should follow these basic principles.

Overload

The adaptations to training, gaining muscle, getting faster or stronger, or becoming more fit, are your body’s responses to the increased demands that you are placing on it by exercise.

Your body will rise to meet the demands placed on it, but no more. If you want to become stronger, you have to lift more than your body is comfortable lifting.

Specificity

You must train whatever you want to grow.

You cannot make your arms stronger by exercising your legs and you can’t become more aerobically fit by lifting heavy weights.

Specific Things to Work On

Hypertrophy

Hypertrophy is increasing the size of muscle cells. More muscle does not necessarily mean stronger, stronger muscle means stronger, but if you have more muscle to make strong you will be stronger than if you had less muscle. It is therefore, a good idea to start off a strength or power training program by focusing on hypertrophy.

To maximize muscular hypertrophy, weight lifting exercises should be done at your 12-14 repetition maximum (how much weight you can lift with good technique 12-14 times). Do at least four sets per exercise per weightlifting session and 12-14 reps per set.

Hypertrophy takes six to eight weeks to begin, before that, your body is learning how to better use the muscle it has, so the portion of your training program that you dedicate to hypertrophy should be between 10-20 weeks long.

Unlike the exercises you do for strength and power, the exercises you do for hypertrophy do not need to be exceptionally specific. As long as you are targeting the correct muscle group you will see the gains that you are looking for. For example, while the triceps pushdown doesn’t replicate a motion that is used in cheerleading, it can be effectively used to work the triceps for hypertrophy.

Strength

Strength is your ability to do apply a force over a distance. Put simply, the stronger you are the more weight you can lift.

Maximal strength gains come from doing three to five sets of your two to six RM of each exercise in a weightlifting session.

Strength exercises need to be more activity specific than hypertrophy exercises but don’t have to match exactly to be effective. For example, a narrow grip bench press is similar enough to the overhead pressing motion commonly performed in cheerleading to be effective for strengthening this motion.

Power

If strength is your ability to apply a force over a distance, then power is your ability to apply a force over a distance quickly. Being able to jump high requires lots of power.

Research has shown that for maximal gains in power, you must combine both power lifting and plyometric exercises.

Power Lifts

I have met several female cheerleaders who were trying to break into co-ed stunting and who were desperate to increase their vertical jump. Some strength and conditioning coaches shy away from power lifting because they feel that the increased technique that some of these lifts require and the increased chances for injury isn’t worth the gains to be had from this type of training and instead focus solely on plyometrics. However, there has been research that has shown that power lifting alone is more effective than plyometrics alone at increasing vertical jump, with the best results coming from a combination of both power lifting and plyometrics. If you choose to incorporate power lifting into your training regimen, be sure to do so safely as mentioned in the Dangers section.

To increase power, do three sets of two to six reps of your 10 RM for each exercise and do the repetitions fast with explosive movements.

Power exercises have to be very similar to the motion you’re trying to make more powerful or the training won’t transfer to the motion. The push press is a good, specific exercise for bases that will translate well into almost any stunt that they have to lift over their head.

Plyometrics

Plyometrics are exercises in which a muscle is loaded and then contracted in rapid sequence.

Plyometric pushups are a good example. You first lower yourself like a normal pushup, loading the muscle, you then push as hard as you can, pushing yourself off the ground and into the air. Then catch and lower yourself into the pushup position again and repeat.

When first starting a plyometric routine, start off with 90 ground contacts per session, divided into however many sets, reps, and exercises you want. As you train in plyometrics and depending on what phase of the season you’re in, you can go as high as 300 ground contacts in a session. Be sure to provide plenty of rest between sets and exercises.

Maintenance

“If you don’t use it, you lose it”

As mentioned above, your body will rise to meet the demands that you place on it. If you work really hard to get so you can lift a lot of weight, your body will adapt so that you can lift that weight. If you then sit on the couch for a month, your body will adapt so that you can sit on the couch more efficiently.

Once you have reached a goal, you must continue to remain active, although to a lesser extent, in that specific area to remain at that level.

Recovery

Exercise is catabolic, or breaks down your body. Your body then, builds up what was broken down bigger, faster, and stronger than it was before while it is resting.

Without adequate rest, your body cannot build the tissues that cause the training adaptations that you’re looking for.

Periodization

“There is a time and a place for everything”

…and the day before a major competition is not the time for a hard workout.

Additional Resources

Wikipedia Articles

Books

Abernethy, Bruce, Laurel T. Mackinnon, Vaughan Kippers, Stephanie J. Hanrahan, and Marcus G. Pandy. The Biophysical Foundations Of Human Movement. New York: Human Kinetics, 2004.

Research Articles

Tricoli, Valmor, Leonardo Lamas, Roberto Carnevale, and Carlos Ugrinowitsch. "Short-term Effects on Lower-body Functional Power Development: Weightlifting vs. Vertical Jump Training Programs." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 19.2 (2005): 433-37.