Now That I'm "Old"...

[polevaultpower]

Growing up, I never struggled with motion sickness and was always fine in gymnastics.

Even in college, I did some gymnastics training for pole vaulting, and while I wasn't tumbling much, I don't remember having any problems with it.

But a bit over three years ago I moved back to my home town and found an awesome gymnastics class that I love. I mostly do strength and conditioning stuff as opposed to actually doing gymnastics, but we spend time as a group doing basic tumbling.

I've found that now that I'm "old" (27) I get really motion sick/dizzy/headaches doing the basic tumbling. I think rolls are the worst.

To make things worse, I got glasses for the first time a year ago. They stay on fine when I am doing most stuff, but they won't stay on for some of the tumbling. When I take them off it makes me even more dizzy.

Does anyone else ever have problems like this?

If I was going to do gymnastics more often/seriously, I guess I would have to get contacts (well a contact, only need it for one eye). But right now there aren't any gymnastics clubs within an hour of where I live, so I only get to do gymnastics if i visit my parents on the right day of the week.

 

[AndromedaAiken]

Know that you're not alone in this. I get dizzy doing forward rolls too and last time, pullovers but I think that was more of a fear factor than giddiness. Handstand forward rolls are ok for me. I wear glasses normally too, without them, everything's quite fuzzy. I wear contacts when doing gym and they've worked well for me so far. I know Chinese gymnast Zou Kai uses contacts too so not all gymnasts have perfect eyesight!

If you were ok when you were younger, there shouldn't be a very big reason (I think) why you get dizzy now. Perhaps it's just that your body is not used to it? Give your body some time to get used to it and maybe the problem will disappear by itself. Good luck!