Gymnastics style workouts are becoming ever popular in the fitness world: Crossfit, aerial fitness, callisthenics and adult gymnastics (yes, it’s a thing!) are just a few ways that traditional gymnastics movements have made their way into adult fitness classes.
Now, more than ever and in particular through social media platforms, we are seeing adults doing handstand, pull-ups, muscle- ups, back flips, somersaults…. the list goes on!
So how do you go from being your average person that has no gymnastics background, to successfully completing these movements as an adult?
1. Be prepared to start at the beginning
A big frustration that can come up when starting out is attempting the whole movement too early. If unsuccessful (which is highly possible) this can leave us feeling deflated (like the movement is completely out of reach, injured), or scared to attempt it again! The person you see completing that movement with ease was once a complete beginner too…..be that as a child or as an adult.
2. Good technique is ‘money in the bank’ for later
As much as the learning journey to a new skill has to be engaging and motivating, rushing to the final outcome might give you only a temporary feeling of satisfaction. It can be short lived when you try and then move on to the next level of the skill, and find yourself struggling to make new progress. A good example of this is a handstand and handstand walking. If time is not taken to learn a good, solid handstand with good alignment and the ability to hold statically; it is likely when you move on to handstand walking you will struggle to go beyond 4-5 steps.
3. Don’t be afraid to move like a child!
When we were children we were encouraged to run, jump, hang, swing and turn cartwheels! As we move through life these movement patters appear to become redundant, with the exception perhaps of running. The human body is designed to move…to climb, jump, lift, crawl, run! In many cases our lifestyle doesn’t require those movements to be performed daily, and over time we lose the confidence and ease with which we once completed them as children.
4. Have fun and seek out the right coaches!
Like anything, there are good gymnastics trainers and inexperienced (I don’t like to say bad!) ones. If you are learning gymnastics movements, your safety is paramount so seeking out an experienced coach is very important and will enhance your progress.
About Lyndsey
Thanks for this blog Lyndsey, we hope it inspires adults to find their inner child and get invloved in Adult Gymnastics.
Lyndsays background is in competitive gymnastics, where as a performer and then coach spans 35 years. She was a member of the British national squad and competed nationally and internationally before going on to coach at a Centre of Excellence. Having always had a passion for performance she later went on to perform internationally as an acrobat, dancer and aerialist, followed by a period of circus and dance training.
Start Adult Gymnastics today
Strength and conditioning are the fundamentals of gymanstics, they are like the foundations of a building – without them you will not have stability and the power to hold the building up. We have just the thing to get you started and well prepaired for Adult Gymnastics, our gymnastics game;
Although this game is used by lots of young gymnasts it is easily adaptable for adults too. It has 9 levels within it so that you can easily increase or decrease the skill level to suit your level of fitness.
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