Wobbly Single Leg Stunts

[mytriplek]

I have a level 2 youth team and their one leg stunts have become weak and wobbly. Does anyone have any ideas to help strengthen this area?

 

[Matt Faherty]

That's a pretty general statement. It's like going to the doctors and simply saying "I'm sick." He's going to need know symptoms, and details to be able to properly diagnose treat you.

Likewise, on the forum, we will need to know a little more about those "shaky stunts" to be able to give accurate advise on how to fix them. A video would probably be best. But recording and posting videos can be a bit of a gray area legally, unless you have a release from all parents of the athletes involved. So I wouldn't recommend it.

A few general suggestions:

-Look at the grip and building technique of the bases.

-Watch for any muscle compensations in the bases when putting up the stunt. For example, holding the stunt in front of their bodies, instead of overhead, excessive arching of the back, or knees turning in or out when holding the stunt. Any of these could indicate your bases need to get stronger to be able to control the stunt.

-Make sure the flyer has correct body positioning when loading and building the stunt.

-Look to see if the flyer has the ability to balance and stabilize their body throughout the stunt. Can your flyer do the skills balanced on a stable surface such as the floor?

-Make sure that your flyer has proper flexibility and strength to be able to hit each body position. Poor flexibility can cause altered movements in the air. An example of this would be poor hamstring flexibility, which would cause your flyer to drop their chest when performing a single leg heel stretch. Another would be inflexible/over-active hip-flexors which could cause the flyer to excessively arch in their their back in a scorpion.

Anyways, these are just a few general things to look for when diagnosing stunting issues. Like I said before, to be able to definitively tell you how to fix your teams stunts, I would need more information.

Hope this helps,
Coach Matt
Full-Out: Cheer and Fitness

 

[mytriplek]

Thank you so much!!!

I will look for these issues and video the stunt group I do have releases for if these fixes don't work

 

[Kellz]

have them practice at home by standing on one leg while watching tv or something. thats what i do for my left leg so when I stunt with my opposite leg, its strong enough.
also my coach makes our whole team do calf raises (30) for warm ups. He makes every team. Even our youth lvl two team. He makes us do other warm ups too before practice but the calf raises really help with strengthening so its not wobbly during stunting

 

[GreenStormLucy]

have them practice at home by standing on one leg while watching tv or something. thats what i do for my left leg so when I stunt with my opposite leg, its strong enough.
also my coach makes our whole team do calf raises (30) for warm ups. He makes every team. Even our youth lvl two team. He makes us do other warm ups too before practice but the calf raises really help with strengthening so its not wobbly during stunting

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but what are calf raises?

I have my flyers do their body positions on the ground first, so i can fix issues.
And it´s really important to look at the bases grip, once they hit a stunt (my bases do this) confidently, they start being "lazy" on their grip. So i tell them to fight every time like they never did this stunt before.

 

[Matt Faherty]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but what are calf raises?

I have my flyers do their body positions on the ground first, so i can fix issues.
And it´s really important to look at the bases grip, once they hit a stunt (my bases do this) confidently, they start being "lazy" on their grip. So i tell them to fight every time like they never did this stunt before.

Ah calf raises, a beautiful thing really. Seeing that baby cow all grown up. It happens so fast...

Just kidding, calf raises are an exercise that strengthens the calf muscle complex(the gastrocnemius and soleus muscle.)

• Stand with feet hips width apart, feet parallel, and knees over the ball of the foot.
• Be sure to be squeezing your abdominals, and engaging your glutes (your butt muscle) throughout the entire exercise.
• Then begin to push through the toes, raising the heel off of the floor. Then slowly lower your heel back down to the floor.

Common errors to look for are: Arching in the back, and the knees either internally or externally rotating. Make sure you correct these errors, by making sure the abs are squeezed, and knees stay over the toes.

After the exercise can be done on 2 legs, you can progress your athlete to do the exercise on one leg. An even further progression would be be have the athlete do the calf raise on a balance beam, or stairs, where their toes are on, but heels are off. This creates a greater Range of Motion for the exercise, thus making it harder.

Hope this helps,
Coach Matt
Full-Out: Cheer and Fitness

 

[Matt Faherty]

If the description still doesn't make sense. Here is a picture of the calf-raise exercise...

Or it's picture of the worlds worst male poll-dancer, i haven't fully decided yet.

 

[beelovesfury99]

I would agree with Matt Faherty. Leg strengthening will help this A LOT. I had to do a lot of srengthening when I was first learning how to fly.

 

[caylaepstein]

I was really shaky at my one leg stunts, too. One day, in my pe class, we did the steps. After, I went to cheer practice and I hit ALL of my one legs! Also, believing in yourself and trusting your bases was one of my main issues (i have sprained my ankle before from them). Hope this helped!

 

[mytriplek]

I was really shaky at my one leg stunts, too. One day, in my pe class, we did the steps. After, I went to cheer practice and I hit ALL of my one legs! Also, believing in yourself and trusting your bases was one of my main issues (i have sprained my ankle before from them). Hope this helped!

When you say did the steps, are you talking about calf raises? What do you mean you did the steps?

 

[Iván Roldán]

I have a level 2 youth team and their one leg stunts have become weak and wobbly. Does anyone have any ideas to help strengthen this area?

Hi there, this are some things that I teach to my girls to keep the body position.
At prep level, Top person´s work is to keep the posture and not to balance her self, so in that way the Bases can work better with her.
Posture I teach for Top person is,
1st - Don´t squeeze your body to be tight, instead of that stretch your body to make a better line with the vertical axis, and lift with the shoulders.
2nd - The belly to the back (like hiding your belly). If you squezze your abs you are just using your front part of the core to try tight hips but you still can rotate to the hips to the sides, so if you "hide your belly" you are going to use more muscles of the core to do it.
3th - To block the knee, need to squeeze cuadricepts to extend that joint.
4th - To tight the ancle, you need to squeeze the toes. (Like the wrist, you need to tight or squeeze the fingers to block the movement of that joint and both joints are very similar)
5th - In lib, the free leg very tide to the inner part of the supported leg, to avoid starting balance herself.
6th - Practice and have fun

Hope this help

 

[caylaepstein]

When you say did the steps, are you talking about calf raises? What do you mean you did the steps?

yes, thats what i meant.

 

[Jessica Zoo]

Totally agree with Ivan:

1st - Don´t squeeze your body to be tight, instead of that stretch your body to make a better line with the vertical axis, and lift with the shoulders.
2nd - The belly to the back (like hiding your belly). If you squezze your abs you are just using your front part of the core to try tight hips but you still can rotate to the hips to the sides, so if you "hide your belly" you are going to use more muscles of the core to do it.
3th - To block the knee, need to squeeze cuadricepts to extend that joint.
4th - To tight the ancle, you need to squeeze the toes. (Like the wrist, you need to tight or squeeze the fingers to block the movement of that joint and both joints are very similar)
5th - In lib, the free leg very tide to the inner part of the supported leg, to avoid starting balance herself.
6th - Practice and have fun

One additional thing that will REALLY help -even though this may seem unrelated is headstands and handstands, and practice keeping these for as long as possible. Whilst inverted, athletes will have no option but to adjust their alignment and core strength, and elongate their bodies to be as long and straight as possible. Inverted training on a regular basis will then give them enough muscle memory to replicate this in the air, with all stunts - and especially, one legged ones.

This exercise is not just great for the flyer / top person, but also a great exercise for bases to drill good posture for all their stuntng so that they don't over-compensate by arching their back - instead make full use of their core strength.

Hope this helps!

 

[Iván Roldán]

Totally agree with Ivan:


One additional thing that will REALLY help -even though this may seem unrelated is headstands and handstands, and practice keeping these for as long as possible. Whilst inverted, athletes will have no option but to adjust their alignment and core strength, and elongate their bodies to be as long and straight as possible. Inverted training on a regular basis will then give them enough muscle memory to replicate this in the air, with all stunts - and especially, one legged ones.

This exercise is not just great for the flyer / top person, but also a great exercise for bases to drill good posture for all their stuntng so that they don't over-compensate by arching their back - instead make full use of their core strength.

Hope this helps!

That´s true, I basically tell them you must keep the same posture of the handstand but standing non-inverted. Love your post

 

[cmghas3]

That´s true, I basically tell them you must keep the same posture of the handstand but standing non-inverted. Love your post

I agree with this and have to share...first of all I'm a parent of 3 CP's. I don't know really how to explain this other than there is a certain way that my fathers side of the family walks. I inherited it along with my CP's. It's call the "T....bounce". Everyone walks on their tip toes and that exact exercise is something that we all subconsciously do when we are just standing still.


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