Cheerleading: Is It Good For Your Health & Body?

Cheerleading is great for your overall health and body conditioning because it incorporates gymnastics, which promotes strengthening and flexibility of the muscles, aerobic activity and mental health benefits. Cheerleading also encourages socializing, making new friends and working as a team.

Muscles

Cheerleading practice usually begins with a strengthening regimen that targets the upper and lower body. The core muscles of the abdominals and back are also strengthened. Common exercises are crunches, situps, lunges and pushups. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a minimum of three days per week of strength-training activities, so depending on how often your squad practices, you may need to strengthen your muscle outside of practice as well. Strong muscles increase your skills. Lower body strength gives you a strong base when landing jumps and flips. Strong arms and solid core will support you during tumbling. Cheerleaders also work on flexibility, which reduces your risk of injuries and helps you gain new skills, such as doing the splits and back bends.

Aerobics

The CDC recommends at least 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each day for adolescents. This one hour per day can easily be filled with practicing gymnastics and cheers. The high-intensity level of aerobics offered by cheerleading promotes a healthy weight in adolescents. Cheerleading also helps develop bone strength. As you age, you stop developing bone mass and start losing bone mass each year. The weight-bearing aerobic activities provided by cheerleading help you build bone mass and reduce your risk of osteoporosis later in life.

Mental

Adolescents that participate in cheerleading tend to have higher self-esteem, longer attention spans and increased communication skills, according to the USA Gymnastics Elite Coaches Association. Cheerleaders work hard to learn new skills; finally achieving this goal is rewarding. Cheerleading also improves coordination, balance and discipline. A backflip requires balance and confidence. Cheerleaders learn body and spatial awareness, which requires focus and problem solving skills. Adolescents are also less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol if performing cheerleading, says the USA Gymnastics Elite Coaches Association.

Considerations

There are several benefits to cheerleading, but there are also risks. Injuries are common in this sport and can happen very quickly so prevention is difficult. Ankle fractures are one of the most common injuries in cheerleading, as well as strains and sprains, reports the Stretching Institute. If you're dropped during a stunt, you can injure several parts of your body, including your head and neck. Plantar fasciitis causes inflammation of the band that supports the arch under your foot and this occurs from landing forcefully on your feet.