Heart of a Champion

You hear it from your coaches, choreographers, and your teammates but do you really have the heart of a true champion? “Heart” is a quality that you either have or you don’t, there is no in-between. So how do you define “heart”? I like to think of it being directly connected to your motivation. Because motivation is really at the center of everything in athletics.

Motivation is the drive that we have to achieve our goals and it has two different forms, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation that you have from within you. It is your drive and desire to succeed and perform well. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that you get from an outside source. These outside sources could be tangible rewards (medal, trophy, money) or intangible rewards (praise or recognition by a coach, parent, or organization).

While extrinsic motivation is a nice drive your intrinsic motivation is where your true heart shines. When you enjoy and find satisfaction in playing your sport you focus more on your improvement and growth. Athletes who are intrinsically motivated have better focus, have less ups and downs in their motivation, they are less stressed when things do not go exactly how they had planned, they are less distracted, and they have greater satisfaction when they achieve their goals.

Take a close look at what motivates you, are you more intrinsically or extrinsically motivated? Do you think you have the heart of a champion?

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Am I a badass cheerleader?

You might be a badass cheerleader if you duct tape the holes in your sneakers instead of buying a new pair.

You might be a badass cheerleader if you refuse to wash your uniform all season because you’re way too superstitious.

You might be a badass cheerleader if you get to practice and search the mats for a hair tie or bobby pin.

You might be a badass cheerleader if you ask your coach for extra conditioning.

You might be a badass cheerleader if you have no fear pulling a standing tuck on a gym floor.








Shari Tarburton is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Educational Programming.  She is a New York State Certified Health and Physical Education Teacher, a certified Personal Trainer and Mental Game Coach, and a Varsity cheerleading coach.

Losing By Addition

This may sound contradictory, or maybe it sounds like everything you hope to hear when you embark on any type of weight loss or maintenance.  However many times, when you are trying to manage your weight, part of the problem is you are not eating enough.

It may seem like it makes sense; not eating a lot or sometimes going to the extreme of not eating at all and for sure you will lose weight.  The problem is part of losing weight is burning calories and if your body does not have any calories to burn, it is going to hold on the weight that it has out of survival, and not be in a “weight-loss” mode.  Even more frustrating, if you are going through a period where you are not eating sufficient calories and then you have that one weekend, day, or night where you eat everything in sight, you will see the repercussions very quickly on your body.

The body is very smart and it is made to adapt.  So if you have put it into a low calorie “survival” mode and then you feed it a ton of food, it is excited.  It also does not know if you will be “starving” again soon so it in an effort to survive and sustain, it holds onto these calories instead of using them for fuel.  It is also when you see pounds put on that you have no idea where they came from because you spent the majority of the past week or however long not feeding yourself enough.

Now I know that does not sound like a cycle you want to be caught in and as athletes it is that much more important to be feeding yourself properly so you have the energy to perform your best.  That is where “losing by addition” comes in.  By adding in small snacks between bigger meals and adding in more fruits and vegetables to your meals, you will see yourself getting more fit, even though you are actually eating more!  The other trick is not eating too much at once so while you are adding in small snacks, you want to make sure your portions are control at your meals so the body doesn’t hold on to calories it doesn’t need.  You’ll be losing by adding in no time!

For ideas on healthy snacks check out my blog Snack Attack!  

Self-Calming Exercise

The 29^th annual Home Run Derby will take place tonight at Citi Field, and will feature two prominent hitting New York players,  New York Yankee Robinson Cano and New York Met David Wright. As captains of each leagues home run hitting team they will face many challenges, more than just picking players and hitting the ball out of the park. The level of stress these players will feel before they step into the box can be directly compared to the stress a cheerleader may feel when they are moments away from stepping foot on the mat.

Follow these simple steps for an on the spot self-calming exercise to reduce stress and regain your focus.

•            Close your eyes and begin with a long, slow exhale

•            Repeat three times

•            Place your hand on your chest.

•            Notice the soothing warmth of your hand, calming you.

•            With each out breath, relax more and more

•            Gently move your breath down from your chest to your abdomen.

•            Think low and slow.

•            Exhale slowly...as slowly as possible.

This exercise is designed to help you relax - either in preparation for a high stakes performance like a competition or as a general way to reduce the negative impact of stress. I encourage you to focus on your exhale because when you are tense or anxious, it is difficult to inhale deeply. If you exhale slowly a few times, you will relax more quickly. Try it!

The hand on your chest can serve as a positive physical trigger for you to use right before you perform. You can tap your hand on your chest in order to reconnect with the feelings of calm confidence and say your focus word to yourself. This is all about training your mind and your body to do what you want, when you want.

In preparing for a competition, I would suggest you practice this technique at every practice. Remember, you are training your mind and body to respond in the way you want and this takes some time and effort on your part. At the time of the event, exhale slowly a few times and use the physical trigger or cue (hand on chest) as you are getting ready to go on the mat. The exhale and the physical cue will get you in the performance state you want.

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Better Your Beverages

Depending on how involved you are in current events, you may remember earlier this year the Mayor of New York was trying to ban overly large sugary drinks in attempt to fight the obesity trend.  While the law was never put into effect, you now see commercials on T.V. similar to the no smoking ads about the dangers of consuming too much sugar through beverages.  While smoking was and still is a culprit for chronic disease, obesity related deaths are on their way to becoming more burdening than smoking related ones.  One of the biggest contributors to obesity is liquid calories.

If you have read  my blogs before, you know that I have talked about volumizing food, and eating things with fiber that will fill you up because they take up space in the stomach.  So lets take a minute and think about beverages.  How much did you have to drink to feel full from a beverage?  There is no fiber in soda or those fancy coffee drinks so while you sip up to 400 calories from a medium iced something-cino, none of those calories are really going towards making you feel satiated.  Not too mention the loads and loads of sugar found in sodas, coffee drinks, and even sports drinks stimulate your appetite into thinking your hungry when you really aren't.

Now for the athletes out there it gets even a little more tricky.  Whether it's Gatorade, Powerade or Vitamin Water, companies market to you that their products will make you be the best athlete you can be.  Now, that is not always true.  If you are going to be performing consistent activity for over an hour, then consuming a sports drink is totally fine.  The body needs those sugars to replenish what you have lost.  But if you aren't working out consistently for a long period of time or will only be exercising for up to an hour, why waste those burned calories on sugary drinks?  Stick with water for hydration and a no-cal cool-down.

Even beverages like fruit juices aren't always the best choice.  You should always opt for fresh fruit over fruit juice because you get the fiber and nutrients from chewing the flesh.  Many fruit juices include juice from concentrate or other sources that are not natural juice.  If you are consuming 100% fruit juice, make sure that if you buy it in a bottle, the bottle is only one serving.  Many times a bottled beverage contains up to 3 servings.  For example, if you look at the label for a 24 ounce can of Arizona iced tea you will see it has 22 grams of sugar.  But wait, that is for one 8 ounce serving--there is 24 ounces in each can which means 66 grams of sugar per can.  That's as much sugar as TWO regular sized Snickers bars!

So in this heat when you're looking to cool down with an ice cold beverage, stick with zero to low calorie options such as water and seltzer with fresh fruit or frozen fruit as ice cubes for flavor.  Unsweetened iced teas and iced coffee with soy or skim milk are also good options and ways to get those flavors from other beverages you may be used but without all sugar.

Getting into the habit of drinking these options over sodas and other sugary drinks will be one of the best long-term health changes you make for yourself in the future.  So long soda!

“Moo”ve Over Meat

When I speak to many athletes and ask them what component of food is the most important to their success, more often than not the answer I receive is “protein.”  As a culture, we have placed a great emphasis on protein sources in our meals, constructing plates that focus on meat as the main attraction taking up more space than it truly deserves.  Between larger than life slices of steak, quadruple burgers, 20 piece chicken nuggets and racks of ribs, we have gone a little overboard, using the excuse, “Protein is good for me—I can’t get enough protein!”

While protein has its place in a healthy lifestyle, it is NOT the macronutrient that should make up the majority of your daily intake.  According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, your calories for the day should be 45-65% carbohydrates, 20-35% fat, and only 10-35% protein.  Not only that, but focusing your meal choices on meat could lead to an increase in consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat, found primarily in meat sources.

In regards to athletes, while protein is an important aspect in your meals because it aids in recovery and muscle rebuilding, it is not the main fuel source that is going to have you performing your best.  Your body runs on carbohydrates or more specifically glucose.  Now to be fair, there are some carbohydrate sources such as refined carbohydrates (white rice and breads, cakes, cookies and semolina pasta) that will not help you perform your best.  These carbs will provide you with short term energy and are OK in a pinch when you need fuel during long bouts of exercise (over an hour of moderate to high intensity).  You want to focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes as your main sources of carbohydrates.

More importantly, and this is for everyone not just the athlete, plant based whole foods, that come from the categories listed above, contain nutrients and phytochemicals that meat does not.  More and more research is coming out in support of plant-based lifestyles because of their ability to ward off chronic diseases and obesity related illness.  Not only that, a meat-based diet seems to encourage an environment that cancer and other chronic diseases prefer to grow in.

Scientists say that this may be the first generation of children who do not out-live their parents due to increasing chronic illness, the majority of which is brought on by being overweight or obese.  By making an effort to include more of these plant-based foods in your meals, you can help keep yourself from becoming a statistic.  Now all of you who read my blogs know that nothing is off limits, so if you are a diehard carnivore, try and make meat as more of the sidekick as opposed to the star of your plate.

Visit www.choosemyplate.gov or email me at shelbi@cheer360.com for some helpful hints towards how to build your healthy meals!

Cheer360 Holiday Week

This week Cheer360 staff will be taking time off from blogging, as we will be out of the office. Our normal blogging schedule will resume on Monday, July 8th with our usual line up of mental fitness, nutrition, cheer lifestyle, fitness tips and Cheer360 happenings.

Have a happy, healthy and safe holiday week ahead!

-Cheer360 Staff