Photo: Snapped! by Becca Clark
If you want to practice your skills and improve at home, you don’t necessarily need equipment, but it can be super helpful. Below are some of my recommended “essentials.”
1. Yoga Mat
Obviously, you want something comfortable to do your stretching or conditioning on, especially if you have hard floors. I prefer thick yoga mats or any sort of gymnastics mat. They don’t take up too much space, can be easily stored and aren’t overly expensive.
2. Resistance/Mini Bands
These are quite cheap and can be used in so many ways for stretching and strengthening. Some of my favourite things to do with them are arm circles for shoulder mobility, toe point exercises, ankle strengthening exercises, clamshells, hip abductions and just using them to assist with hamstring stretches.
3. Yoga Blocks
Whether you need to hold onto something for balance or want to elevate your feet for advanced stretches, yoga blocks are the perfect tool. I mainly use them for elevating my feet in a straddle, doing oversplits and holding them at the end of my feet in a pike to pull me down further.
4. Stability Ball
A great tool to use for exercises such as tuck/pike-ins, planks, hamstring curls, push-ups and roll-outs. Although they take up a good chunk of space, they can be used for so many things.
5. Sliding Discs
Another versatile piece of equipment. Sliders can be used to make inchworm harder, do hamstring curls, slide down into splits, and more. If you get some that have a different surface on each side, you can use them on both carpeted and non-carpeted floors.
6. Self-Massage Tools
Foam rollers, lacrosse balls, peanut rollers, etc. are great for self-massage. They can all help you increase mobility, release tension and reduce soreness.
7. Balance Equipment
Standing on Bosu balls, balance discs and wobble boards will improve your balance over time and increase joint stability. These generally aren’t too expensive, but a cheaper option would be to stand on a pillow. If you are going to use any of these options, I suggest standing on them in bare feet to obtain the most benefits.
8. Handheld Weights
Having a few dumbbells and/or kettlebells in your house can give you a bit of an advantage since you’ll be able to increase the load of some exercises. Bodyweight exercises can always be made harder by changing the leverage or using different equipment, but you may not have access to such equipment in your home. Therefore, handheld weights are an easier alternative.
9. Cheer-Specific Equipment
Other equipment like trampolines and tumble tracks are significantly more expensive and will take up tons of space. They can be fun, but if your goal is to improve just strength and flexibility at home while learning tumbling skills at the gym, then you don’t really need them. In addition, I have not tested out other cheer-specific products like stunt stands, so I can’t provide any insight on how useful those are.
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