WAG considering adult gymnastics- 38 years old and a beginner

[dani4]

I admit it, part of the reason I take my kids to gymnastics is because that *I* want to play too. And our gym has a drop-in adult class, but I'm a little scared to go. I'm 38 years old, I can do a cartwheel and I'm in pretty good shape (I lift heavy weights at the gym) but I'm still nervous about injury. And looking like a fool if all the other "adults" are 19 years old and did club gymnastics.

FWIW I never did gymnastics as a kid beyond some tumbling with my friends out on the lawn.

Anyone else in my boat, ever go to adult gymnastics? Are any of the gymnasts old enough to have kids doing gymnastics? Do you actually learn anything? The class at my gym is expensive enough that I expect to get something out of it more than just getting to play on the equipment. Though the first class is free, so I guess I have no excuse not to try it out.

 

[bookworm]

I'd be afraid I'd seriously harm myself...that's why i read

 

[Cosmos]

I'm older than you and go to adult workout at the same gym where my kids (6.5 and 4.5) go. I spend more than half of the time stretching and warming up, and stay in my comfort zone. Don't try to keep up with 15 year-old kids on the team. I certainly don't! You need to go through the progressions, just as the kids do, starting from your current skill base. You should have a coach and not workout only in an open gym setting.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I'd be afraid I'd seriously harm myself...that's why i read

bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah...and why i coach today!

 

[Aussie_coach]

Do it! If you can do a cartwheel you are already ahead of most adults your age who never do them!

gymnstics is a great sport for adults it develops your strength and flexibility and doing it now will help ensure you stay agile when you get older. Who cares if you are not as good as others, you will be getting great health benefits for yourself.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

do it - but keep in mind that your body is a lot older than your little inner self, so when the inner slef says - go on , you know you want to, think about how its going to hurt in the morning

 

[Amusibus]

I say go for it. It is fun... but be aware there are certain gymnastic moves that the older body can't do as well (such as extention of the spine) and the issue of twisting and rotating in the air can make adults much dizzier than children. I don't know if you've gotten to the age yet where amusement park rides are less enjoyable than they used to be- age does something to the vestibular system. If you listen to your body and take it slow I think you could have a great time. Prepare to be very sore in muscles you didn't even know you had.

 

[CreateMagic]

Go for it! And grab a friend...that way you can both be beginners together. Be prepared to be SORE the next day. I generally get my gymnastics fix in by coaching, but occasionally also play around with them. In spend most of the next week recovering, haha.

 

[dani4]

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I'm going to do it next week. It's funny, I posted this right after doing a pretty big new workout yesterday, and today I'm SOOO sore that I'm wondering if gymnastics is really a good idea . But I want to... Hey and not only can I do a cartwheel, but I can do a backbend and as of 3 years ago I could do a backflip off a diving board (into a swimming pool). But it's true, I get super dizzy spinning around. I took a free trial dance class "for fun" a few months ago and I couldn't do turns across the studio- I would get too dizzy! I used to love turning- ah! Oh and one REALLY GREAT thing- I told DH that I wanted to do this, thinking he'd try to talk me out of it, and he wants to go too! So we can be beginners together. FUN! He's 50 but in better shape than most 30 year olds (and me), so I think he'll be fine. Now we just have to talk our au pair into working extra hours one night.

 

[Sunmama]

There is actually a team in our region in IPO/APO who are all "older" gymnasts. They competed last year at the state meet and one was 40 yrs old. I was so impressed! If you can private message me, I'll give you the name of the team and they even have some you tube videos. I say, "Go for it!"

 

[QuietColours]

Go for it! The class I'm in has a huge range of people--some are young women in their late teens who are recently retired from club, some are in their forties and had never done a forward roll before their first class, and most are somewhere in between. Listen to your body, listen to the coach (and be open about any nagging injuries you have), be prepared to be sore the next day, and have fun! One of the great things about all the adult classes I've been to is how supportive everyone is of each other. People have a wide range of reasons for being their and goals they want to achieve, and everyone really just wants everyone else to learn and have fun.

 

[ivyagogo]

Gymnastics at 41 - YouTube

This is from a few years ago, I'm 44 now. I did hurt myself doing a full twist, but you won't have to worry about that. My tumbling now is much better than it was in this video except I am still afraid to go for that full again.

Go for it and have fun!

 

[Kiwi]

Go for it! I did some rec gym as a kid but didn't get much further than cartwheels. I finally got up the nerve to go to adults class at 43. I'm now 46 and have recently learned front handsprings. I've also learned other new skills and competed at Masters Games three times. I felt awkward at first amongst all the younger, fitter people, but in the end I decided I wanted to do it more than I cared what other people thought.

My advice is take it easy at first, but your body will get used to it over time. Re the vestibular issue, I had the same problem at first, but this has also improved over time. For high impact activities such as landings use landing mats - I learned this the hard way by aggravating a lumbar disk practising round-offs. Also be careful with number of repetitions, as it may feel all right at the time but afterwards you might find you've overdone it - again I learned this the hard way doing too many round-offs and injuring my wrist, which then took a year to heal. I now wear Tiger Paws and am more careful about number of repetitions. Also don't do anything that aggravates any existing injuries or weak spots - for example I don't do straight leg lifts because my lower back doesn't like it, but I can do tuck lifts. I also recommend doing lots of drills rather than chucking skills like the youngsters do. I did lots of handspring drills to flatback on a crash mat before attempting handspring to feet on the pit mat.

I hope you have heaps of fun!!

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

I took an adult class when I was 44. It was a mixed group of beginners like myself (2-3 other team moms) and younger men/women in their 20's more advanced and in way better shape, lol. We did conditioning and cartwheels, round offs, handstand, HS forward roll, Bhs on cheesemat with a spot, tuck off tumble trak. The more advanced "students" did harder skills.It as actually more fun than I expected, lol.

 

[bookworm]

Against my better judgement, I mowed the lawn this weekend and my whole body aches....that's why i read

 

[dani4]

Wow- so many inspiring responses! I would really like to learn how to do a handspring and a walkover, it's great to hear that people have done that later in lafe. I just learned that my gym is changing the adult class from a drop-in format to a regular session class- so I'll have to pay up front to go every week through the session. That actually sounds better to me- get to know everyone in the class, and work with a coach to make progress over time. There are still a few more weeks of drop-in though, so I'm going to try to go this week or next week and see if I want to sign up for the whole session. Luckily the summer session is short. Childcare logistics are going to be difficult because my husband is teaching evenings, but I think it's workable.. I am more excited about doing gymnastics than going back to rowing this year. I think it's because rowing would be a serious team commitment for me, at least 3x week morning practices, plus weekend races, etc. Whereas I can go to gymnastics once a week for fun and learn some skills, develop some more agility and stuff (I have interesting imbalances- I am both super athletic and pathetically klutzy, just like my 4 year old).

 

[Cosmos]

What you are describing as "dizziness" in adults who tumble most likely is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Usually, it is worse when you're tired and gymnastics on a regular basis can help your brain learn to compensate for it, so that it gets better faster.

 

[Kiwi]

That actually sounds better to me- get to know everyone in the class, and work with a coach to make progress over time.

It is heaps better with a coach. Our gym has sometimes had both a 'structured' (coached) and 'unstructured' class (like open gym with a coach who supervises and helps you out on request), but some years has not run the 'structured' class. I've made heaps more progress with a coach and it is much more fun than putzing about by myself. When the structured class started I improved my handstand more in one night than a whole year of practising by myself - that's what good coaching can do.

I have interesting imbalances- I am both super athletic and pathetically klutzy, just like my 4 year old

I'm the opposite - quite well coordinated, but not especially athletic. My 10 year old DD takes after me, she loves dancing but hates running. Gymnastics class is about my only exercise each week!

 

[BlairBob]

A couple of years ago, when I was still training gymnastics in Marin, our old crew had a couple of 50 year olds in them. The rest of the core group of us were 30-40.

Dan was pushing his mid 50s and his son eventually trained L10. Now his son is training for the Olympics in Winter Skiiing. Mainly flipping and twisting in the air kinda stuff.

And Dan still worked flyaways besides giants and tumbling. Hugh was just about the same age but generally didn't tumble much after he hurt his back. He still trains a few times a week.

With enough reps, you will probably get past the vestibular issues. There are some vestibular issues especially as you older past 1/2 century but most adults can overcome this unless it's a physical problem that needs to be addressed (damage to the inner ear).

Be cautious of your landings. And any idea to start doing some parkour-ish stuff, especially if you are on the bigger than traditional gymnastics size. Just more force on weird landings and stuff.

And let's face it. At our mid 30's we do not recover as well as we do when we were 20 year olds. Even if we sometimes think we are the same.

 

[dani4]

I'm glad to hear that practicing gymnastics can help the vestibular issues. I used to love spinning around, and roller coasters, and I'm sad that I now have to stay out of those things. That's one reason to take up gymnastics . Unfortunately I know all about how hard landings are much harder on a mid-30s body... last summer I did a cartwheel while wearing a tight skirt. I was so dumb that I did it a couple of times when I wasn't happy with my performance. The next day my knee was in terrible pain- turns out the skirt caused me to land the cartwheel especially hard, and it was a minor trauma for my knee. It wasn't a major injury but it caused me to miss some gym workouts and skip running for a while, and a few visits to the physical therapist. I don't like these avoidable setbacks, I get enough of the unavoidable ones. From now on I only do gymnastics while wearing the proper attire (and on nice soft surfaces).