Jumps make your cheerleading performance more exciting. You can incorporate them into cheers and dances or perform them after your team scores. One of the most widely used and well-known jumps in cheerleading is the toe touch. Every cheerleader should work to learn and perfect this jump. Understanding the muscles used can help you improve your form in your toe touch.
Toe Touch
To do a toe touch, start with your feet together and your arms in a high V motion above your head. Rise on the balls of your feet. From this starting position, cross your arms in front of your body, forcefully swinging them down as you bend your knees deeply. Explode off the ground, lifting your arms up to a T position, straight out from your shoulders, and raising your legs into a straddle position. Your knees should face up and your toes should be pointed. Keep your arms parallel to the ground, lifting your feet up toward your arms. In spite of this jump's name, never reach for your feet. Land the jump with your feet together and your knees slightly bent.
Calf Muscles
The muscles of your calves get your body up and off the ground for all of your jumps. Your larger gastrocnemius muscle is on top and connects from your femur in your thigh to your Achilles tendon near your heel. Your smaller soleus muscle lies just beneath your gastrocnemius. It connects from your tibia just under your knee to your Achilles tendon. Together these two muscles flex and point your foot, making it possible for you to jump off the ground.
Hip Flexors
Your hip flexor muscles help you get your legs high into the air when you are doing a toe touch. Running along the front side of your hip are your iliacus and psoas major muscles, commonly referred to as your iliopsoas, or hip flexor, muscles. They connect the bottom of your spine to your femur, or thigh bone. These muscles are responsible for flexing your hip. You use them in a toe touch to lift your legs up into your straddle position.
Abs
Lifting your legs up into a toe touch also requires strong abdominal muscles. Your rectus abdominis muscles run along the front of your abdomen. They connect from the bottom of your sternum all the way down to your pubic bone. They are responsible for helping you bend the bottom part of your torso. When you do a toe touch, your rectus abdominis muscles will help you get your legs up into your straddle position.
Posted in: Cheerleading