WAG need advice

[gymnast.soph]

Hi,

I'm an adult gymnast (23yo) and still competing. I'm at a decent level on all other events, but fall short on floor. I've only had excess to a gym with a real floor, pit, trampolines etc. for about a year and a half now and I have a lot of trouble with tumbling. Everyone on my team is training difficult tumbling passes, but I still struggle with the basics. I can do a roundoff backhandspring and roundoff layout. I don't have a front tumbling pass as I can only do one front tuck. I would love to learn how to twist, but don't know if it will be possible for me to learn. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve my tumbling and what I should focus on for getting a forward tumbling pass? Also can anyone maybe give an indication as to what would still be possible for me to learn at my age?

 

[emmaflips]

Hey! I'm an adult gymnast too; I'm currently competing in NAIGC (if you compete with them and are going to nationals, maybe I'll see you there!). Working backwards through the questions, I don't think there's really an age-dependent limit of where you can go with gymnastics. The only thing that may be different is more frequent injuries, but with preventative measures (tiger paws, KT tape, tons of PT and muscle building) you should be just fine.

I can HUGELY relate to having difficulty with front tumbling, but what's helped me most are progression paths and drills. For example, you don't want to jump right into training front layouts if you don't have a front handspring yet. The progression path for that may look something like front walkover -> front handspring -> bounder -> layout-specific drills -> layouts. Also, basics are HUGE for floor! It'll save you so many tenths if you work on shaping and basic floor skills and drills during every practice. It may feel a little funny training things like that while other people are doing advanced passes, but it'll pay off. Typically I'll do drills and work on progressions for about 75% of floor practice when off-season. During season, I'll do 25-50% depending on how much time I have until the next comp.

I feel like as an adult gymnast, it can be difficult to pace yourself with skills. As an adult, it's so much easier to understand in your mind what's going on in a skill and how it should work, but not take the time to teach your body the mechanics. Don't be afraid to slow down and perfect what you already have!

As far as specific passes to work on, that depends on what level you're competing. If you need ideas of what level to shoot for though, I'd recommend checking out these skill checklists: https://gymnasticshq.com/skill-checklists-drag. These have been an awesome resource for me to make sure I have mastered the skills I have before moving onto new ones, along with keeping me on track for steady progression.

 

[gymnast.soph]

Thanks so much for your response!