hamstring, wrist, etc. flexibility

I am pretty new to the whole gymnastics scene. i started around 7 months ago at the tender age of 25. one thing i am constantly struggling with is hamstring flexibility. i want to be able to do L-sit walks but can barely keep my legs flat on the ground without bending them naturally. yes, i have an office job. i learned my roundoff backhandspring relatively quickly and can do most level 4 routines now (exception pommel) without difficulty. i'm happy with my transformation and progression but have a lot of concerns...

every time i try to seriously push myself to increase flexibility in my legs, i end up feeling like i pulled the hamstring in one of my legs, making roundoffs very uncomfortable.

i have been starting bucket circles, and enjoy them believe it or not... but as soon as you take the bucket away and have me work just on the mushroom i fail miserably. my center of gravity is off, i know that... but maybe this goes along with the age thing. i get shin splints, forearm splints, i have to use golden hands/tiger paws because of my wrists... i feel like my whole body is falling apart and i only do this 2-3 times a week.

it is very frustrating for me because i look at little 11 year old kids running around doing tucks and flying around the gym like it isn't even an afterthought for them, and i feel like anything they can do i should be able to do... yet every time i try to push myself to another level i end up injuring myself further, making me feel even weaker. then my coach tells me to slow down with that part of my training and work on something else. being so new to the game i feel like any time off in any one event and i'll lose skills right away...

is there anyone out there who is familiar with older gymnasts starting late who can help give me an idea of a better, safer, way to improve my flexibility so i can begin to improve without dealing with annoying minor injuries? any advice will do.

You have to work into it slowly. You're starting off with less of a strength base, relatively speaking, than those kids are AND you are several times heavier, so your impact forces are like 5-10x greater. It will simply take your body longer to get used to the impacts and be able to safely absorb them.

Find a routine that doesn't cause you any issues and stick with that for 12 weeks. Then make it a little more difficult but still not causing you any problems and repeat. This is essentially what the kids do, but you have to be more careful because you are much larger and have an older body. You can still get there!

As far as stretching goes, active isolated stretching on a daily basis with a harder static and PNF stretching day once a week is going to work well for you. Again, have patience here. You want to find a level of flexibility that you can achieve and master that, make it to where it's natural and you don't hardly have to warm up to get there. THEN go a little further and repeat the mastery process. Continue this and you will be able to achieve excellent flexibility without hurting yourself. This should also take a lot of pressure off. Focus on mastering what you are doing presently, NOT on moving forward!

I've had good success with 3/week isometrics for hamstrings - I do 5x60s tensions for each leg, lifting it up to some object and pressing downward through the heel. I'm not exactly gumby, but I've made good progress

i appreciate you both taking the time to read and reply to my topic.

i will try the PNF stretching... that is new to me.

as far as slowing down and mastering what i do now is concerned... probably great advice, but it will be hard to follow. seeing young level 6-8's running around really makes it hard on the ego when you're struggling to learn pieces of level 5 routines. i wanted to be able to have level 5 routines done by this september so that i could have mock meets with the youngsters maybe getting to level 6 on 2 events end of season in march. seems like lofty goals probably but even now while i'm at work i think about it and want to go play some more.

5x60's? does that mean 5 reps of 60 seconds? just double checking. i want to work on these so that i can do the L sit walks. i feel like i have so much i want to do but cant yet. the splits, the press handstands, everything! this slowing down when i feel so far behind thing is really frustrating.