Want to start gymnastics

Hi i am interested in starting gymnastics and would like to know a rough estimate of fitness levels/goals to achieve before even joining a gymnastics club. I am a 21 year old male who is 6ft3 and weigh 85kg, I am not that fit but have kept up jogging and yoga on and off for the past few years so I know I will never be that great at gymnastics but I would like to give it a try. There is a club in my local area but I  don't want to look to weak starting out as am quite a self conscious person.

If your local gym has classes open for pure beginners I would just go and give it a shot. Everyone has to start somewhere. 

Hello Jack,

I am 32, 171cm and 81kg. I started acrobatics training at 23, in circus school, with no previous gymnastics background whatsoever. I did three years of three times a week acrobatics/tumbling classes, and the occasional other apparatus class (rings, parallel bars and high bars). After those three years of circus school, I kept training by myself occasionally, as my travel schedule makes for long stretches of time when I am not able to enter a gymnastics venue. That means training 2-3 times a week for three to four months, then nothing for three more months, then repeat. I always try to keep a solid general physical preparation all year round, but this also varies.

I am by no means nowhere close to being what I would call a "good" acrobat, but you can see here my most recent tumbling achievement:

This is to say that your stance of "I will never be that great at gymnastics" is really something that you should get rid of. Your current level of fitness will of course affect how fast you progress, but if you're passionate about it, begin training and then just keep doing it. You'll advance at your own pace and you'll get where you will get. And believe me, you will be surprised at how far you can get if you stop worrying about where your road might end. That has been the case for me, for many of my colleagues, and for most of my own students.

The only thing you should really worry about is to find some good coaches. That's really the main difference between getting solid progress and getting nowhere, or worse, injuried. I can speak about this from experience, sadly, as I have been following a bunch of... let's say "not really competent" guys that claimed to be advanced coaches and instructors. Thankfully, I now know better.

Enjoy your journey in gymnastics. It is truly an amazing activity.

F

The sooner you start the faster you improve. If you really want to try it then don't let the fear of embarassment get in the way, as long as they have beginner classes. No one starts at a place of automatic competence. Think of it this way: beginners make the most and fastest gains.