Gymnastics Motivation

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I received this video from a young man who has come late in life to competitive gymnastics, yet nonetheless has made some very good progress over the course of the last couple of years. Of special interest to this forum is how his basic strength and flexibility have come along nicely.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Yeah nice video

Ha, I thought I'd recognised the places in the background

Really nice work there!

How old was he when he started? I also started only a couple of months ago at age 24

That was a really good video!

The quote (it sounded like Dr. Weil) about hard work overcoming genetics seemed to be out of context.

This kid must have good genetics or underlying attributes for the sport if he progressed as rapidly as claimed.

Talent + hard work is the ideal combination

How old was he when he started?

How many years has it been? Just curious was a short time is. 2 years? 5 years ?

THAT is awesome!

Great video I don't want to be 'that guy', especially as I am looking forward to posting my 2 year video when the day comes, however, it seemed to me that his arms were not locked on his IC, L support or Straddle PL.

I am not personally familiar with this athlete, my impression from briefly reviewing his youtube channel is that he was 15 or 16 when he started and has now been training for 3 to 4 years.

Breaks did make an excellent observation in that the young man would benefit from backing off on some of the more advanced strength elements and correcting his elbow/biceps tendon preparation.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Excellent video!

Very inspirational. Thanks for sharing.

Wow that's awesome...I don't consider 16 y/o be that late though! I'm turning 21 in a few months and I just started last week. I guess that is really late for competitive gymnastics though. Nevertheless, great video and congrats to that young man for progressing so quickly.

Heh, I hope 32 isn't considered really late then. I just started a few months ago

In regards to age, it is important to differentiate between solely pursuing Gymnastic Strength Training™ and pursuing technical gymnastics skill development with the goal of entering the competitive gymnastics arena. These are two very different and distinct endeavors. In regards to Gymnastic Strength Training™, FritsMB has shown that 69 is not too old to begin.

In regards however to competitive gymnastics however, 16 is quite late for starting. For example, it requires nearly 5 years simply to develop a good quality basic circle on the pommel horse. Regardless of how talented you are when you begin, the developmental process simply requires that much time. So you can see how an older beginning athlete would be substantially behind the technical development curve in regards to his peers who began their technical training much earlier.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I started some time ago and I'm 17 now, but I LOVE hard work and that's the thing that was always making me better than the other guys. By the way, isn't Dillon also the one who began to train when he was 16?

I don't have a coach, or a solid gym, the gym I use to train in has only few crash mats, and a mat floor, no plyo. Although I was able to teach myself flips, and now I'm starting to twist with use of my trampoline.

I'm also 178cm tall, that's not making things easier, either. But level of gymnastics in my country is simply below the global average. Coach who trained our female olympian Kristyna Palesova even told two of my friends who could tumble, that they could have some future in gymnastics, and they're both over 20.

Blaming his progress on genetics is really stupid, he's just progressing fast because he loves the sport, when I was a kid I was complete anti-talent on any movement, the main muscles I used were fingers and forearms to play videogames and my back to lie on the sofa (not mentioning I was overweight a few pounds and unhealthy).

You can achieve everything you want, if you want it bad enough.

This whole "am I too old/weak" thing is just completely stupid! You should do what you love and love what you do and not worry about how strong/big/fast etc. you will be able to be. Accept your age and long limbs and train because that's what you want the only thing that prevents you from achieving your goals is yourself or people trying to tell you what you can/cannot. Enjoy life, train and be grateful for what you may achieve.

I myself am 179 cm tall. that's tall when you compare to the average height of good gymnasts. but so what? I train anyway and so should everyone else.. The difference between those who succed and those who don't do as well is not determined by genetics but by hard work and passion..

Quit the excuses and do the WOD's. :twisted:

Hey, that's Ying Lee's, in my home city of Perth I used to go there for tumbling. That was a quick blast from the past!

:shock: Nice work. Really nice work. Much respect to this man. Thanks Coach for posting that

FutureisNow said:

That was a really good video!

The quote (it sounded like Dr. Weil) about hard work overcoming genetics seemed to be out of context.

This kid must have good genetics or underlying attributes for the sport if he progressed as rapidly as claimed.

Talent + hard work is the ideal combination

Since I've never been a gymnast my following comment only really applies to tumbling: for a reasonably athletic male a 3-4 year span (in your 15's/16's) to learn skills showed in the video would not constitute any genetic predispositions for the sport. The guy worked hard toward a goal and achieved it. This guy is a result of hard work and persistence, not any genetic gifts. I myself only started tumbling at 16 and picked it up again recently at the age of 25 after a 6 year break. After 3 years I was at about his level (he does a double twisting layout I never did more than a single on floor) and I had no special talents for the sport.