Am I too old?

[Hayden.M.]

hi all

im 18 years old. i was wondering at what age do you stop progressing through gymnastics training? for example, at what age does it then become imposible to learn things like the human flag, planche and iron cross, due to physiological factors? and also at what age does it become very unlikely that you can learn new skills, especially advanced ones? although circles arent classed as advanced, they are to those that cant do them yet, so at what age would i not be able to learn this any more, and the same goes to things such as the corkscrew or double corkscrew?

i just see all of these really really young gymnasts doing amazing things, and at times i feel that my time is up.

any replies greatly appreciated,

Thanks

[Richard Duelley]

I started when I was 20 your fine, too old would be like 85 lol. But now that I think about it BW conditioning would be one of the safest ways for an old timer to workout! 8)

[Neal Winkler]

Anything that you see martial arts "trickers" doing on youtube you will be fine with. Higher skills that you see in gymnastics will never been in your reach.

The final progressions in BtGB can still be realized by people starting in their 50's, but that's just a guess. I have no particular experience to base that off of.

[Neal Winkler]

I started when I was 20 your fine, too old would be like 85 lol. But now that I think about it BW conditioning would be one of the safest ways for an old timer to workout! 8)

Why do you say that?

[Richard Duelley]

I was thinking mainly about injury potential of lifting heavy when I am older, I could just see myself getting broken from it. But like any training if you do it smartly (like not going heavy when your in your 80s) you should be fine. I dont have any scientific backing for what I said it was just my opinion, after trying to visualize what I would be like when I am that old. The only thing I saw myself still doing is basic BW conditioning and handstand work.

[Tarun Suri]

Even at an older age, I believe resistance training could have very positive effects.

Contrary to being "broken" from it, your bones get denser based on the load placed against it. Albeit weight should be added very gradually, I'd be highly advocating the use of the back squat for spinal loading.

[Charles Weill]

Higher skills that you see in gymnastics will never been in your reach.

What type of higher skills do you mean? Maltese? High Manna? I just started gymnastics training myself, and I am 20. I'm hoping I can at least master the crosses and planche in my lifetime.

[Leandro]

I'm 31 and started gymnastics about 6 months. I had some years of training in my childhood, not elite tough, and I was never sedentary in my lifetime. I think it's pretty possible for me to master skills like the crosses, maltese, planche pushups, front lever pulls, etc. I will take some years, but the training of gymnastics is so so so much fun and the returns for your health and condition are so good that it's worth training even without the perspective of reaching ultimate skills. I don't expect to perform incredible moves like triples, lots of twists, high manna, but even so I will never stop gymnastics until I'm dead or incapacitated.

[Joshua Naterman]

You'll be fine, Leandro!

None of us know what we will achieve until we achieve it, so don't worry about what is possible. Set goals you KNOW you can reach, and when you get close and know you're almost there go ahead and set a new goal. Keep doing this and you will go farther than you think possible.

[Neal Winkler]

Higher skills that you see in gymnastics will never been in your reach.

What type of higher skills do you mean? Maltese? High Manna? I just started gymnastics training myself, and I am 20. I'm hoping I can at least master the crosses and planche in my lifetime.

An iron cross is a "B" level skill, and planche on floor is also "B". The skills currently go to "E." You'll never get the "E" skills! Maybe someday in the future we'll know so much about the human body and how to train it that recreational people will be able to perform "E" skills, but I"ll eat my hat if that day comes before it its any benefit to people in this board.

[Hayden.M.]

i was personally thinking about in tricking, a gainer double twist, and in gymnastics things like full planche and front/back levers, iron cross and hopefully maltese on rings someday, circles and flares on pommel and/or floor (preferably floor actually) and things like double back somersault, full twist and a few backflips (back handsrping over there). oviously not all in that order, but whatever comes first. thanks for all your replies, you've been very helpfull to me. knowledge is power!

[Blairbob]

Hayden, most of those skills and tricks could be possible, but the maltese may take a long time and the double back will depend on how powerful you can get (besides a few other things like the rotation speed and not freaking out).

[avivlugt]

I´m 18, turning 19 on monday, I´ve been doing recreational gymnastics from my 9th to 14( 1 hour a week, no highbar, no mushroom). Then I started doing abit more when I was 14. Went to a different club, so also did mushroom and highbar, started there at 2 hours and has gone up to now 4 hours gymnastics and 1 hour a week a jumping hour. I started training planch about last May I think, I can do straddle now5+ seconds. I am not seriously buisy with Iron cross but I am getting further and further. And I´ve started training giant swings on highbar now not attached to the highbar .We have a guy who joined at the age 21-22, he can do circles on the mushroom, is buisy with doing more then one on the horse handles and on the head. He learnt hadnstand quit fast seeing at what age he joined and can swing to handstand on P bars. He btw is also training iron cross and planch, but then he was doing already 3 hours a week fitniss when he joined, so he wasn´t lacking strength. But starting at 18, you should be able to do these oneday. Maybe a little longer, depending on how strong you are, but also how diciplined you are( I am no that diciplined with strenght work All these exercises from the forum that I want to do I need to do at home cause we spend so ´little´ time in the gymhall, but then lots of guys here are diciplined doing it all at home

[Blairbob]

Since you don't have much time in the gym, it's very wise to do what you can at home instead and do what you can't at the gym.

When I was going to an adult gymnastics class and paying, I generally did skill work there since it was only 90-120 minutes and strength work at home.

[whitemonkey]

I don't think that you are ever to old as long as you're in good health. I read about a lady who showed up to an adult gymnastics class(i think in portland, oregon) when she was 65 years old. said that she had always wanted to do gymnastics when she was younger but never did. so she gave it everything, not wanting to have any regrets in life, and is now doing gymnastics into her early 70's. I'm sure she can't do anything particularly amazing but it showed me anyone can acheive what they want as long as thier desire is strong enough.

[Hayden.M.]

for those of us at around the age of 20, that have previously played other sports such as soccer, and also have the flexibility of one of these sports players, is it posible to build gymnastic flexibilty still (shoulder splits, side splits, front splits) or can that only be acheived when younger. i know its easier when younger, but im just looking for some kind of hope, someone to tell me i can still be very flexible if I start now.

i appreciate everyones posts, and thankyou for your time in replying.

hayden

[Neal Winkler]

Yes, you will be fine.

[Guest]

Dude, you think 20 is old? don't worry too much and just go for it! There are easy and intermediate progressions for every 'trick' and 'move', just start, train diligently and listen to your body and you'll find out what level you're capable of in due time. Sure, you won't become an elite gymnast. So what?

As far as flexibility goes, that should be even less of a problem. I'm almost 36 and despite never having done much stretching I can almost do front and side splits, I can put my hands flat on the floor in a standing pike and I can do a decent bridge. I have no doubt whatsoever that I can still improve significantly if I put in the effort, so you shouldn't worry at all (and by the way, I did my first backflips and aerials when I was over thirty, too...)

Good luck in training and reaching your goals!

[Hayden.M.]

thanks all.

ive just started looking nto manna, and i love it! its now one of the static positions that i want to achieve the most, but i was thinking; am i too old to achieve such a skill? im 18 now and coach sommers boys starting training the manna very very young by the looks of things.

also, im practically training the tucked variation of everything else at the moment.

[Neal Winkler]

Yes, manna is achievable by regular folks, I would guess. My guess is that most people will start to top off around "C" level skills which can be found here:

http://figdocs.lx2.sportcentric.com/ext ... ument=1205

I'd love to here everyone elses opinion on where regular folks will start to peak.

[Leandro]

I'm also very intrested in hearing ppls and coach sommer's opinion in this. I think you can't tell how far "regular folks" can go, since everybody has different levels, starting points, strength etc. There are older people who are very fit, and with some time of adaption in gymnastics can do some cool stuff!

As for me, i'm very impressed with the speed i'm improving (I'm 31). I'm doing some stuff that people who are younger and have more time in gymnastics than myself aren't. I guess it all depends on dedication.

[Neal Winkler]

I can see some talented people getting a couple "D" skills. On rings for example, I can imagine that a talented short person might get a couple "D" strength moves. I don't know for sure though.

[Joshua Naterman]

It is definitely all about dedication, which is nothing more than long-term consistency. Keep working, keep eating, keep sleeping, and you'll get there. Heck, you're going to do at least two of the three, why not go all out?

[Nick Van Bockxmeer]

hi all

im 18 years old

http://www.youtube.com/user/FritsMB#p/u

THIS GUY IS FREAKIN 68 AND TRAINING FOR FL AND CROSS.

Doesn't look like an ex gymnast either if you check out his handstand.

[Leandro]

That was VERY inspiring!