Just Curious...

[liseybeast]

I was wondering how adult gymnastics programs are run at other gyms. You always here about how important following skill progressions are for younger gymnasts, but I feel like like the adult classes at my gym don't do that. All the classes are drop in so there will be new people who have never done gymnastics before mixed with people who go every week (like me). It will be someone's first time there and they'll be trying to do a front handspring yet they maybe can't even do a backwards roll. Is there a reason adult gymnastics is setup so differently? I feel like because it is drop in I'm kind of learning everything in pieces. It wasn't till a few weeks in that an instructor actually explained what a hollow position is to me. Because I go so often the instructors sometimes work with me a little more, but sometimes I just wish I could learn some more basics like a front limber or backbend kickover. We do practice different handstand drills, rolls, cartwheels, and round offs every class, but the goal for my beginner class is to do a bhs, fhs, and maybe a ft so that is what they work on the most. How are your adult gymnastics programs set up?

 

[teena82]

Our classes work similar to that. I for instance can do a front handspring-front tuck but can't so a simple front walkover. It just depends on the coach. We tell our coaches what we want to work on each night and go from there. Occasionally they'll take someone back a step if needed. My understanding is that we're not training for compulsories so we don't need all of those skills. Also, as adults we have more body awareness.

 

[AndromedaAiken]

My coach is Chinese/Taiwanese so they emphasize alot on basics here. However, you can tell the coach what you want to achieve and he'll figure out a way for you. I've already learnt more body awareness than from my classes back in Australia, where the situation's similar to yours. They had me doing front tucks from the tramp when I was not taught how to. In my current class, you have to do progressions to learn the front tuck and the coaches are very particular about our body form and line. Very typical of them!

I'm not so sure if adults do bendback kickovers early in classes because that requires quite a huge amount of back flexibility. What my coach does here is after warmups, he splits the class up into two groups (or with someone who is kind of in-between and has that person work on something on their own) and the two groups are split based on level - beginner or advanced. Perhaps you could get your coach to do something similar?

 

[CoachGoofy]

Ours are like an open gym situation with a group stretch session at the beginning and conditioning at the end. If someone wants help with something, half the coaches are there & will work with people, but it's more a "tell us what you wanna learn" situation than "soooo we're going to spend 6 months teaching you roundoffs & handstands that meet my standards".

 

[Kiwi]

I have the same problems, but at least you are getting some structured coaching. We have only one coach for the whole class and he will help with something specific if you ask, but pretty much it is not really a class but just that you can use the gym. There is no training plan or education about progressions, the kind of stuff I really need, having only done a little bit of recreational gym as a kid. It does make it very difficult as I have little idea what I should be learning and in what order. I think the reason they run it this way is because most of the class is parkour guys doing stunts and they want to do their own thing.

 

[elitehorses]

We have to do basics (forward rolls, handstands, cartwheels and round offs) at the beginning of every class. Then we have a ten minute run followed by two events so one day might be beam and floor and so on. Then we do at least 25 minutes of conditioning at the end. The gym I go to is very small and the adult class is at the same time as team practice and a recreational class so the owner felt like it would be wiser to make us adhere to the same rules and standards as the younger kids. The only difference is we don't compete so we work more skills rather than dance and if there is a particular skill we want to learn the coach has that person work certain conditioning or drills.

 

[liseybeast]

I'm not so sure if adults do bendback kickovers early in classes because that requires quite a huge amount of back flexibility. What my coach does here is after warmups, he splits the class up into two groups (or with someone who is kind of in-between and has that person work on something on their own) and the two groups are split based on level - beginner or advanced. Perhaps you could get your coach to do something similar?

That makes sense about flexibility for backwalkovers and other similar skills. Most of the adults in my class aren't super flexible. I have a good amount of flexibility from dancing for years. Our class does split up into two groups, but anyone who can't do a back handspring, front handspring and front tuck without assistance go in the beginner class. That's me

 

[liseybeast]

We have to do basics (forward rolls, handstands, cartwheels and round offs) at the beginning of every class. Then we have a ten minute run followed by two events so one day might be beam and floor and so on. Then we do at least 25 minutes of conditioning at the end. The gym I go to is very small and the adult class is at the same time as team practice and a recreational class so the owner felt like it would be wiser to make us adhere to the same rules and standards as the younger kids. The only difference is we don't compete so we work more skills rather than dance and if there is a particular skill we want to learn the coach has that person work certain conditioning or drills.

Your class sounds amazing! Ours is similar with the basics and conditioning, but we only work on tumbling. There is a separate apparatus class, but I currently don't have the time to go to that one also. I've never thought about asking a coach to work on a certain skill because my class is so structured with what the coaches want to do and there's only two coaches for anywhere from 12-20 beginners. Maybe I will on day when there aren't many people... I can't wait till I finish school this year and have time to go to the apparatus class

 

[Kiwi]

We have to do basics (forward rolls, handstands, cartwheels and round offs) at the beginning of every class. Then we have a ten minute run followed by two events so one day might be beam and floor and so on. Then we do at least 25 minutes of conditioning at the end.

Wow, that sounds great!

 

[elitehorses]

Wow, you have that many in your class?! Our class meets twice a week and on Tuesday I am the only one and on Thursday there are only four of us.....I kind of wish we had that many, but now I realize how much harder eveything would be. I hope that you get to take the apparatus class to it's so much fun playing on the bars! Are you in college?

 

[liseybeast]

Yeah, I'm a fourth year undergrad graphic design major. I'm ready to graduate!

Sometimes having a class that size is nice... i've been meeting a lot of people! Sometimes I wish it was smaller so I'd get more 1:1 time. The coaches handle the class very well, though. My gym offers the Beginner/Intermediate class a few times a week and on the busier nights they'll be over 30 of us together conditioning and warming up before we split into separate groups. I try to go on Thursdays because it seems to always be a slow night.

Bars seem like they would be fun to learn. It'll be something to look forward to next year!

 

[kyliesmith1]

I think the main thing about adult classes is letting the coaches know what you want out of the class. I think if its a class just once or twice a week with all different levels they figure you're just in to have fun and don't feel its necessary for you to learn a back extension roll. Instead they usually have you work roundoffs, backhandsprings and stuff like that which they figure you'll have more fun with. Also as someone said earlier a lot of adults just don't have the flexibility for backwalkovers or they may have back problems and the coaches would have to find out before they make everyone start working on that. If you want to work them I'm sure they'd be happy to help.

I also discovered that what makes a big difference on how a coach trains adult gymnasts is whether you are doing it recreationally or competively. Since our group has started competing competively for AAU our coach is very particular on our form and on dance type stuff for floor and we do a lot of conditioning to improve our leg extensions for bars, our rebound for tumbling and more. I think thats the main reason I decided I wanted to compete was to train harder and have more direction and more well rounded. Now certain things as adults are different still. I can't do a backextension roll still or a front hipcircle on bars but since all adult stuff is optional I don't have to learn those things so the coach doesn't work on them with me. Also my teammate has a bad disc in her back so since she can do backhandsprings on balance beam there is no reason to make her do backwalkovers.

Anyway I hoped I helped a little. Maybe you can think about getting a group together to start training towards competing AAU or if not just realize that you're paying and so communicate and tell the coaches what you want to do during practice.

 

[10.0]

Our gym has a teen and up class, geared towards people with little to no gymnastic experience. It is structured but the coach allows them to choose what equiptment they want to work on. Nice thing is they are all pretty much around the same level and the class is very small so they are all working the same skills. Not sure what happens if a more advanced person joins. But we have a lot of options, we have just tumbling, and even a ladies division for highschool-adult gymnasts with at least level 6ish skills that would like to compete but don't have tons of time to devote to it. So pretty much everyone can find something that works and gets good coaching. Our gym owner is not an open gym type of person, freaks him out so I don't see a semi-supervised adult play class ever happening.

 

[mustlovejumping]

In my class we do a group warm-up and stretch for about 25 minutes, and then my coach sets some things up for conditioning for another 25ish minutes. We can either join the group conditioning or go off on our own and do our own conditioning or just open time. Then the last 35-40ish minutes are totally open time and my coach comes around to check on everyone and to set things up for people to learn different skills. There are usually anywhere from 3 to 10 people in the class, and only one coach, but he really does do a good job of making sure everyone is getting help if they want it. I think adult classes are less structured because the coaches figure most people either can't or don't want to train like the competitive team girls. I'm only almost 20 and I've been active for my whole life, so I'm perfectly capable of the level of training the team girls get, and I would love to be able to train with them. I think the key for adult gymnasts is to watch lots of youtube videos to learn about all the different things you can do for conditioning and progressions. I was never a gymnast as a kid, so I've pretty much had to learn what I should be doing through youtube. I try to work on as many things at home as I have the space and resources for, but I still really wish I could find an adult class that's a little more structured.

 

[Kiwi]

My gym has just started a structured adults class, running alongside the usual unstructured class. There is only a small group of us, usually between about 5 and 10. The coach we have is absolutely awesome. He does a group warm-up and conditioning and then we work on skills, and he rotates around everyone, keeping everyone going. I hope this class keeps going, it is just what I need, I am going to improve ten times faster.

 

[TMichelle]

I'm still waiting for our move to a new city, so I can do gymnastics again. In my old city they did not have adult gymnastics either but I was allowed to practice tumbling with the teenagers who were tumbling for cheerleading. We warmed up with laps around the gym, then we stretched and then we worked on round-offs/back handsprings. I always needed a spot for the back handspring. Then we worked on back tucks or something like that. It was so much fun, I really miss it.

Until I can go back to class I decided that I am going to work on some things at home. I am really going hard with flexibility and then I will work on back bends/kick overs to be able to do walk-overs.

 

[mustlovejumping]

Good luck with everything and I hope everything works out well with your new gym! I've just started doing more at home also and I still need a ton of work on flexibility, especially in my back and shoulders.

 

[TMichelle]

Thanks! I hope all goes well for you and your flexibility too.

 

[Mag_7_Fan96]

The nearest gym at this point is 2 hours away so for now I'm doing stuff at home until I can get back. When I was in college I was able to take a class. It was once a week and there were 2 or 3 people depending on the week. We basically worked on what we wanted. Back then, all I wanted to be able to do was the back walkover. Now I'd start from the beginning and ask them to teach me from level 1. (good form and all) I want to be able to do all of the skills needed for the first few levels. Eventually I'd love to be able to coach rec or the first few levels part time.

 

[peace.love.gymnast]

I currently do a structured ballet class for 1 hour/week, a private tumbling lesson for 30 min-1 hour/week, and then every other week I participate in an open gym for 2-3 hours for apparatus work (not really all that structured, but I know what I need to be doing for the most part). There isn't a place close to me that has an adult gym class so for now this is what I'm doing.