Warm Up It's hard on your body to go from watching TV to running around—that's why athletes warm up first. That way your muscles gently "warm up" and you don't get hurt! 1. Stretch your arms to the side. Slowly raise them over your head. Bring them back down to your side. 2. Swing your body back and forth bringing your arms to the front and back of your body. 3. Swing your body from side to side, bringing your arms down to your feet. You're all warmed up! Grab someone to help you and make sure you don't get hurt, and try cartwheeling!

Cartwheeling

By Dee Ebersole

Feel so happy you gotta move—or BURST? Do a cartwheel or two. Don't know how? No problem. Follow these simple steps and you'll be spinning in no time!

How to Do a Cartwheel

These directions are written for cartwheeling to the right. Some people do cartwheels better from the right, others from the left. Try both sides and see which suits you better.

1. Seesaw

• Stand sideways, with both arms raised up in the air, close to your ears.
• Bend your right wrist so your hand is flat and ready to be placed on the ground.
• Bend your right leg, and put most of your weight on it.
• Bend at the waist and bend your right leg.
• Put your right hand, then both hands on the ground, lifting your left leg up into the air (like a seesaw)
• Reverse what you did and come back to standing.
• Practice the teeter-totter exercise until you feel comfortable. Take two counts ("one…two…") to bend forward and hold the middle position with hands flat on the floor, body upside down, and back leg raised. Take two more counts to seesaw back up to standing position. Rock back and forth—like a seesaw—from right-side-up to upside-down, until you're comfortable.

2. Paint a Rainbow

• Stand with your weight on your left leg.
• Step on your right leg, bending your right knee.
• Reach forward with your right arm, kicking your left leg up as you do so.
• The left hand should follow very quickly, and as it touches the ground, your right leg should be off of the ground also.
• As your legs go through the air, try to paint a rainbow with your feet. This will help you keep them high in the air.
• Then your left leg will reach the ground first, followed by the right.

Hint: Say "hand, hand, foot, foot" as you practice the cartwheel.