Adventures in adult gymnastics

When I was a kid, I was a competitive gymnast.

I had gotten into gymnastics when I was young—in part because I found team sports weren't for me, and in part because I was NO ballerina.

But mostly because I loved the feeling of flying through the air or of accomplishing a trick that required strength and focus. In a word, because it was FUN.

But as I got better at performing, my coaches got more intense about pushing me. They did a pretty good job of sucking the fun out of gymnastics, and infusing it instead with perfectionism and constant comparison.

I left my gymnastics career behind when I had surgery on both my knees at age 15 due to all the wear and tear on them. I was partly relieved to be done with the pressure of constantly striving to be better and to push farther, but I really missed flipping around and doing tricks!

Last fall, a friend of mine told me that the rec center in our town has an adult gymnastics class. I started dreaming about what it would feel like to swing on the uneven bars again or to punch a springboard and launch myself over a vault.

Would the muscle memory come back like riding a bike? Or would it break me?

I decided to sign up and see for myself.

It turns out that the muscle memory is there…but sometimes my 42-year-old muscles and joints say, “Excuse me, but just what do you think you’re doing??”

I’ve got to baby the old hamstring and shoulder injuries, and I have to watch out for my trick knee--but hell if there aren’t some tricks I can still do!

Just to be around the creak of the bars, the feel of chalk on my hands, and the sound a beam or the springy floor makes when I land a jump brings me right back to my childhood.

But unlike when I was a kid, rather than getting critiqued or shamed, I get cheered on and encouraged by the other ladies in the class and by our coach.

In fact, everyone gets loved on and celebrated for whatever they attempt. Not in a cheesy way, but in a way that just feels good.

Instead of fear and shame, our practices are full of joy and love. We giggle all the time.

We dance around and sing out loud to each other to loud pop music while we wait in line for our turn.

We laugh at ourselves when we all have to take a bathroom break before jumping on the trampoline. (Didn't have that problem when we were kids!)

We make up silly games with conditioning props—how many times can you dive through a hula hoop rolling around the floor before it falls on its side?

We spontaneously race each other across the floor by bouncing on our butts with our feet lifted—which, I’m here to tell you, is a serious core workout!

In short, we get to be kids. Which, if you’re an adult who is out there in the world adulting hard, is so f-ing healing. And doubly healing if it’s in an activity you didn’t get to be a kid in when you were actually a kid!

What did YOU love to do as a kid? Play catch? Ride horses? Tap dance? Play tennis?

When was the last time you did it?

Maybe you could give it a go again…just for fun.

Because there really is something delightful about resurrecting a childhood love and finding that that little kid still lives in you…even if now they have more rickety knees and less pep in their step.

But even with that, I’ve found (as have the other ladies in my class) that the natural limitations of an aging body help to infuse whatever you’re doing with more softness, acceptance and appreciation. So even as it’s still the same activity in many ways, it’s also very different.

I’ll leave you with the words that our wonderful coach says to us as we leave adult gymnastics class each week…the same words she says to the four year olds and the high school team girls when they leave their practices:

Make good choices, and be a good human.

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