The perfect straddle jump

Straddle jumps are one of the most popular jumps in the cheer world. While they are fairly easy to learn, perfecting them can be difficult. Many athletes think that a good straddle jump is one that is wide and parallel to the ground. However, this is a common misconception. The perfect straddle jump is one that is over extended with the legs in a high "V" position. Arms are extended outward and the chin and chest are raised. You may be asking yourself how you will achieve this over extension in your straddle jumps. The process will take time, but it will be worth the additional effort. The first thing that you should work on when perfecting your straddle jump, is flexibility. If your legs are not able to extend into a wide stance when performing your straddle stretches on the floor, you will need to work more on your range of motion. Start your warm-up with some right, left, and middle splits. Make sure that your hips are square and you are not tilting your body to one side or the other. Your hands should be over your front leg when doing right or left splits with your front toe pointed forward, heel on the ground. The back leg should be extended with the back foot pointed, heel to the sky. You can modify these by raising one arm to the ceiling, while keeping your hips square to the floor. When working on your middle splits, make sure that your legs are extended as far as they can, leaving as little space as possible between yourself and the floor. Move your body down even further by dropping your elbows to the floor. When doing your splits, don't forget to breathe. Exhaling even further into your stretch. When you have completed your middle split hold, drop your body back to the floor into your straddle stretch. Do not close your straddle, it should remain just as wide as your middle split. If you have not already done your right, left, and middle straddle stretch, you can do those at this time. After your stretch, remain in the same position. Now is your chance to work on some strength exercises design to increase the ability to raise your legs into an over extended straddle jump. Start with doing some straddle leg lifts. Simply raise your right or left leg off of the ground as high as you can with your toe pointed. Repeat this process 15-25 times on each leg. It is important to retain control of your leg at all times, gently raising and lowering it to the ceiling and the floor. Do not just let your leg fall to the ground, and do not bend your knee when raising your leg to the sky. Place your hands to the front to retain balance throughout this exercise. Other exercises that will increase your range of motion include partner stretches. These can be done with just two or three athletes that work together to stabilize each other while over extending the stretches. While flexibility is extremely important when working on your straddle jumps, strength is key. Working on your squats, lunge kick backs, and standing straddle jumps without use of arms will increase your leg strength tremendously. Before you know it you will have the perfect over extension you are looking for in your straddle jumps.