Let’s face it, regardless of how many rule changes USASF makes, you and I both know that tumbling will always be a very crucial part of All-Star Competitive Cheerleading. And athletes will always find new ways to push their skills to the limit.

Because of this, I’d say competitive cheer is one of the hardest, and most physically demanding sports in the world today (after artistic gymnastics).

Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply misinformed, or hasn’t had the courage to step in a gym.

I mean, just think of the physical attributes an all-star cheerleader needs to master:

• Flexibility for flying
• Plyometrics for jumps and tumbling
• Strength for basing and basket tosses
• Coordination for stunts and dance
• Cardiovascular Endurance to get through a routine

Now add on the fact that a cheerleader trains anywhere from 6-12 hours per week, and you have a recipe for leg-shaking soreness and body aches. And if it’s close to competition season, the “full out” run-throughs don’t exactly help.

How Can You Bounce Back?

The unfortunate truth is that most athletes have no clue about what it takes to properly recover from such a demanding workout. And when you don’t know what you’re doing, one of two things will happen:

1. Your body will shut down (you’ll get sick or injured)
2. You will rely on band-aid solutions to get you through the day (IcyHot patches, RubA535 creams etc.)

But today, I’m about to show you 6 proven, scientifically-backed tips that you can use to beat the soreness, and recover in less time than it takes to complain about your conditioning program.

I’ve broken all the tips down into two groups: Physical & Nutritional, and near the end I’ve posted my personal routine so you can see how I put everything together and avoid limping all day.

How can you be sure all these tips work?

Well besides the scientific references I’ve listed (you’re free to read them if you like), I use them myself. And you should bare in mind that I not only tumble, but I’m also an active competitive Powerlifter and coach anywhere from 4-7 times per week where I have to do quite a bit of heavy spotting.

If I didn’t know how to recover and bounce back quickly, I doubt I’d be able to function!

Let’s Get Physical

1. Get More Sleep: I know what you’re thinking, “DUH! Tell me something I don’t know, coach!” And that’s precisely the problem – getting more sleep is such an obvious thing to do, that no one seems to realize its importance.

You can apply all the little body hacks I’ve listed below, but if you’re not sleeping enough, then none of it will work. Your body recovers best when you’re getting some shut eye because that’s when it undergoes something called “protein synthesis.” Basically, that’s a fancy way of saying “rebuilding and repairing muscle tissue.”

Lack of sleep has also shown to negatively impact your performance (1). And if you can’t get enough sleep during night time, there’s nothing wrong with taking a few naps during day time.

2. Ice Bath: A lot of MMA fighters and wrestlers have been known to do this, and for good reason too! Science has shown that submerging your body in ice-cold water after working out can significantly reduce soreness and inflammation for – get this – up to 24 hours! (2) For an athlete that trains every day, that’s as good as magic.

Now I will admit that ice-baths don’t exactly feel good… but you only need to do them for 5-10 minutes. So fill up that tub, throw in a bucket or two of ice and time yourself for the length of one song. Two if you’re a bad-ass and can handle it. The reward is worth ten times the asking price of a few shivers.

3. Foam Rolling: When you physically exert yourself to a high degree, the muscles in your body start to get little knots in them. When you leave these knots unattended and keep training, they build up over time until you end up with a trigger point. These feel like a small marble sized “bumps” and are quite painful to get rid of.

So the best thing to do is to use a good foam roller and roll out all the major muscle groups (quads, hamstrings, lower/upper back, biceps, triceps and glutes) before the problem gets worse (3). The best metaphor I can give is when a female cheerleader ends up getting a bunch of knots in her hair after competition. What happens when you run your fingers through it? That’s right, it gets caught and is painful. The only solution? To brush it out.

Nutrition For Recovery

4. Hydrate: Did you know that if you train while dehydrated (or even under-hydrated) you’ll end up doing more harm than good? What happens is your muscles end up taking more damage than they normally would, and on top of that the body’s ability to repair itself is greatly reduced (4).

You might as well just kick yourself when you’re down. Oh and forget Gatorade – it has the same amount of sugar as a can of Coke and is no better in helping you hydrate than good ‘ol water. The only time you should consider a “sports drink” is if you didn’t fuel yourself with proper food and are pushing yourself to the limit for over 3 hours. At that point, replacing the glycogen (sugar)  and electrolytes in your body is a reasonable thing to do.

5. Fuel Up With Anti-Oxidants: Why do you want anti-oxidants?  Because they help reduce the swelling that occurs in muscles when they get damaged. When do they get damaged? When you bust your behind and train hard. This reduced swelling effect allows the body to really ramp up the recovery process. But wait, that’s not all!

The juice of Tart Cherries is so effective, it can beat out Aspirin as a pain reliever. On top of that, one study found that marathon runners that drank Tart Cherry juice for 7 days before their big event saw a significant drop in muscle soreness than those that didn’t (5). But cherry juice isn’t the only way you can get anti-oxidants. Most berries (blue/black/red/rasp) are very high in anti-oxidants and a big bowl of berries with cherry juice is not only delicious, but can get you back in the gym faster.

6. Take Your Protein: There is a saying in bodybuilding that goes like this: “Flesh builds flesh.” Basically, if you want to build/repair muscle, you need to eat muscles (meat). The optimal thing to do is to eat your favourite type of meat (chicken, steak, fish etc.) a few hours before training, or even in the morning. This not only keeps you full so you aren’t snacking on garbage all day, but helps protect your muscles from breaking down too much during training. Then as a double-recovery-whammy, drink some chocolate milk before bed time. Why?

Well as you learnt from the first tip, sleep is when our bodies are most efficient at rebuilding muscles, and when you provide them with good protein, you’re giving them the best possible building blocks necessary. In fact, science has shown that the delicious carbs inside chocolate milk can help the body bounce back from a hard workout much faster (6). I don’t know about you… but I didn’t need another reason to drink chocolate milk, but I’ll take it!

An Example Routine I’ve Used

I understand that it might seem a little overwhelming to apply all these tips at once, but with a little bit of practice and diligent habit-building, it will become second nature. And they’re so effective that you’ll want to apply them all, and here’s why: When you stack all the tips in this article, they compliment each other and work even better. Below is an example day you can use.

Hint: For even more nutrition tricks that will help you have endless energy during practices, help your body burn fat and reduce muscle/joint pain, be sure to check out my new book The Cheer Diet.

Night time: I absolutely LOVE sleep so I have no trouble with implementing this tip. On top of that I train hard, so I can easily get anywhere from 6-8 hours a night. Finally, if I can find even the smallest excuse to take a power nap during the day, I go for it.

Early morning: When I wake up, I usually have a breakfast that contains a decent amount of protein. Usually my go-to choice is eggs, but I’m also a fan of tuna. I also drink plenty of water when I wake up along with a big cup of coffee. After this I wash down my multi-vitamin, and take some omega fish oils (Bonus: fish oil has also been proven to decrease inflammation!)

Pre-Workout: Before heading off to the gym, I usually drink a protein shake (one scoop) or if I’m in a rush I’ll buy a small carton of chocolate milk and chug it down. I highly suggest you never eat solid food (especially meat) an hour or less before training. You want your stomach to be relatively empty. Then just before I start my warm up, I will spend a good 5-10 minutes using the foam roller to increase blood flow, roll out knots and get a nice massage.

Post-Workout: Again, I’ll use the foam roller to work out the knots and do some light stretching. Then I take another scoop of protein along with a big bowl of mixed berries. I don’t have a specific amount that I eat. I just grab a bowl and toss in everything I can get my hands on; blueberries, blackberries, raspberries etc. The only thing I won’t use is strawberries since they’re huge compared to the others, and require chopping. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Finally, if I went really hard in my workout, I’ll take a very cold shower or suck it up and take my ice bath for 5 minutes. Now remember, if you plan on doing the ice bath, don’t take a hot/warm shower before it. Take a shower in either cold or room-temp water first, so you get used to it. Otherwise you will cry and I’ll say “I toldya so!”

And that’s basically all there’s to it. Six simple, yet very effective tips that will help  you get back in the gym without feeling like you got run over by a truck.

If you found this article useful, please do me a favor and pass it on to at least ONE friend that could benefit from it. And finally, be sure to check out The Cheer Diet – it’s a must have book for every cheerleader and will give you that extra edge over your competition!