WAG sorry long post but please help - post gymnastics depression, quitting, what to do

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Ok guys, I have been on this forum for at least 2 years now. I wasn’t a member until now but always watched the new threads and searched for things I needed.
At the moment, I have a very tough time. Everything is going to change and I am pretty desperate and so I thought I would register here and maybe get some help from you as you are such a great community!

I will first give you a short background.

I always wanted to do gymnastics but there was no gym around. When I was 12 my familiy and I moved town and I started at a gym on rec team.
I loved it from the beginning. I really always wanted to be the best I can, however, I never dreamed of college gymnastics or Elite path. I just did is as a hobby and loved it so much and my parents were happy that I am so passionate about it.
I am 18 years old now and last year I competed JO Level 7 training L8. I was training 18 hrs a week. (6 days, 3 hrs)
However, this is was my last season and I won’t continue training at my gym after summer due to various reasons.
We were 7 friends, but all of us will quit so there won’t be a real team anymore. I could train with the younger ones, but they are all age 10-14 and I just don’t feel comfortable spending my whole afternoons with them. Also, I will start college plus will work part time (I will coach a rec team).
However, I still love gymnastics soooooo much, I just feel that this competetive sport is over for me now. I thought about doing other things, I went to a real gym lifting weights with a friend, I tried crossfit and track, but none of it was as fun as gymnastics and acrobatics!

So, I still want to do gymnastics everyday. I love sports and I will always be active, going hiking, playing softball, swimming etc. But I want to keep all my skills, my strength and my flexibility in gymnastics and I still enjoy doing it so much.

So, I will go to a circus school right next to my college everyday (whenever time allows, sometimes around midday, sometimes evening, you can train all day) and stay there for about 3 hrs and do my gymnastics workout routine. There are a bunch of former gymnasts, aerial silk people, handbalancers, dancers,.... it is just a big hall for all kinds of acrobats and I love the atmosphere! So I will go there and do a training routine I put together myself.

And this leads to my problem: When I was on team, it was so easy. I just went into the gym and did what coach told us. I didn’t have to think about sets or reps or which exercises to do. How much conditioning? How much stretching? How many back Handsprings? We also had a periodization, like harder conditioning over the summer, more routines in winter etc.

So, main goal is now to keep my strength, flexibility and all of the basic gymnastics skills really perfectly. I don’t want to lose any strength or flexibility and I also still want to be able to do back handsprings everywhere. I am fine with not being able to do connected tumbling or harder bar skills as easy as now, but I want to always be in a great shape!
I spent a long time thinking about everything, I even timed how long it takes me to do those skills and this is the plan I made.

I would now really appreciate if you would look over it and give me your opinion about it.

Working out 6 days a week, about 3hrs at a time.


10mins Warm Up
Running, Arms Circles, Short Sprints, Punches, Stretch etc.

50mins Floor Basics
10 Handstand Hops
10 Handstand Forward Rolls
10 Back Extension Rolls
3 Cartwheels left and right
3 Round Offs from knee
3 Round Offs from stand
3 Round Offs from hurdle
10 standing Back Handsprings
10 Round Off Back Handsprings
3 Front Handsprings stepouts
3 Front Handsprings from Stand
3 Front Handsprings from hurdle
10 Front Tucks
10 Back Handspring Stepouts
10 Side Aerials
10 Standing Back Tucks

20mins Active Flex and Dance
Some Leg Kicks and Needle Kicks
10 Split Jumps
10 Sissones
10 Wolf Jumps
10 Split Leaps
10 Full Turns
A few Tic-Tocs for shoulders

30 mins Handstands
I do 50 Press Handstands all together, but I don’t want to list the exact exercises as this would be too much. But those are pike and straddle presses.
And I do some V-Sits also.

30mins Strength
3x10 Chin Levers
3x10 Pull-Ups
3x10 Dips
3x10 Pike Push-Ups
3x10 normal Push-Ups
3x10 Leg Lifts
3x10 Single Leg Squats per leg

30mins Stretch (usually at home)
Oversplits, shoulders, bridge

Whenever time allows (like on weekends or holidays) I will go to open gym with some of my gym friends and just have fun there. Doing kips, giants, Round Off Back Handspring Back Tucks and Layouts and maybe some Front Handspring Front Tucks also.

But in general I will try to do the routine I mentioned above everyday to keep my level of fitness, strength and flexibility and also to keep in shape.

Do you think this is enough? Can I keep my current level like this even without a coach and training with a team? Have I forgot anything? Should I do more of something?
Of course, maybe my Giants get a little worse becaue I don’t do them so regulary.
But just overall....

Please help me, I feel like I have a post gymnastcs depression.

PS: Maybe I will feel differently in a year or two. Maybe I get bored with this. Maybe I find something else. But for now, it makes me happy and I need your opinion, please.
 
Hi! I'm not any sort of a coach, but it's already a huge step to quit gymnastics. I'm glad you've found something where you can still practice to keep in shape. I think your routine will keep most of your skills if you do it regularly. Of course you might lose your bar skills but I think you might not need them later in your life. But it's always healthy and good to stay fit! Your routine IS really demanding, I couldn't do it. But if that's what you want to do, keep it up! If you find yourself bored, maybe make another routine, and also keep in mind that's not the only way to stay fit. You can always find another passion with something else. And at this point I would recommend to try something else aside of that. So you could still do your work in circus and try something new. Good luck for the future! Xx
 
This post is from more than 2 years ago. Please don't post on very old threads.
 

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