Is this judgement true/ fair?

Hello everyone,

I'd like to know whether it is too late for me to train for a cross, maltese, planche on rings, after recieving this answer from a "level 10 gymnast" I was a little bit put off, but I heard that coach sommer, and many others on here are very knowledgeable

about the development of ring/ strength gymnastics, so I'd like to ask the same question listed here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 409AA5NSeo

Also I read on the forums that some older people can achieve ring strength, without having being training since 5 years old. Just to give a bit of a background,

I am 17 years old, 5'7, 10stone, I have muscle up, fairly decent front and back lever on rings, I'm working on planche pushups on the floor, and cross on rings.

Hello! and welcome. Let me start of by telling you something. I started almost a year ago at 22, and i sent Coach an e-mail. "Coach is it too late for me to start?" His answer was as follows "Is it too late for you to go to the olympics? 35 years ago i would have said no, but times have changed so unfortunately yes, if you want to go to the olympics, then you are too late. The skills have become far more technical over the years. Howqever! that does not mean you cannot get amazing strength and become as good on the rings as some of the pros.

Let's honestly look at this mathmatically. Besides the fact ur 17 (some people on here are over 50 and have started much older then both u and i), people on here who are far older then me, are also far stonger. SO if you start now and train for a while, even if you stop when your 40, can you imagine the strength? Coach Also said to a 30 year old on youtube "Are you too old? You are just a baby compared to some of the 60 year olds on my website who have really increased their strength with gymnastic training. I have someone over 60 who is currently training an iron cross".

NO! you are not too old to get incredible strength, but yes you are to old if you want to go to the olympics. But you will find a wonderful environment with supporting people on this website.

p.s yahoo answers sucks, don't ever ask questions there becasue you don't know who to believe becasue you don't know if they are pro's at what you are asking or not. I live right next to Plano, and WOGA (where this apparent level 10 has trained) has a very poor reputation in TX, there are several hundreed that are better

Ian Legrow said:

Hello! and welcome. Let me start of by telling you something. I started almost a year ago at 22, and i sent Coach an e-mail. "Coach is it too late for me to start?" His answer was as follows "Is it too late for you to go to the olympics? 35 years ago i would have said no, but times have changed so unfortunately yes, if you want to go to the olympics, then you are too late. The skills have become far more technical over the years. Howqever! that does not mean you cannot get amazing strength and become as good on the rings as some of the pros.

Let's honestly look at this mathmatically. Besides the fact ur 17 (some people on here are over 50 and have started much older then both u and i), people on here who are far older then me, are also far stonger. SO if you start now and train for a while, even if you stop when your 40, can you imagine the strength? Coach Also said to a 30 year old on youtube "Are you too old? You are just a baby compared to some of the 60 year olds on my website who have really increased their strength with gymnastic training. I have someone over 60 who is currently training an iron cross".

NO! you are not too old to get incredible strength, but yes you are to old if you want to go to the olympics. But you will find a wonderful environment with supporting people on this website.

p.s yahoo answers sucks, don't ever ask questions there becasue you don't know who to believe becasue you don't know if they are pro's at what you are asking or not. I live right next to Plano, and WOGA (where this apparent level 10 has trained) has a very poor reputation in TX, there are several hundreed that are better

Thank you, I don't particularly think it would be realistic for me to go to the olympics, but I would still like to obtain a strength level so I can do maltese to planche on rings, and cross etc. I guess I'll be using advice from the forums to help me achieve this.

Yes, absolutly. If you want to achieve thoseit will take lots of work, but you will be able to do it if you put your mind to it. In this case the saying "age is just a number" is true

What a stupid answer since the OP didn't even ask if you could become an elite or national level/collegiate gymnast. Basically he just wanted to be an ***hat even if he is a L10 from WOGA.

Given time and all the right factors, maybe maltese could be worked up to. That might depend on genetics though. Don't bank on stuff like Maltese but planche or cross, sure...with all the right factors.

WOGA off-hand has some rep as I've heard from them and heard of 9s and 10s. I'd have to look them up to see what they really have produced.

I don't know if you'll ever be able to press from a maltese to a planche, but there a good chance you could do those individually.

That dudes answer was idiotic. You are really young and those moves are not highly technical. They just take strength.

It was actually just a kid that responded to you - a 15 year old. 15 years old don't know jack about anything.

RatioFitness said:

It was actually just a kid that responded to you - a 15 year old. 15 years old don't know jack about anything.

I think everyone knows something about something and age shouldn't be what determines knowledge though in this case, I agree. OP, there is only one way to find out and that is to try.

I take it that there are people who can do ring routines and those who can teach ring routines.

PHILIP said:

RatioFitness said:

It was actually just a kid that responded to you - a 15 year old. 15 years old don't know jack about anything.

I think everyone knows something about something and age shouldn't be what determines knowledge though in this case, I agree. OP, there is only one way to find out and that is to try.

Sooooo you thought I was being literal that 15 year olds don't know anything? You think that everyone knows something about something? That's very astute of you. haha

RatioFitness said:

PHILIP said:

RatioFitness said:

It was actually just a kid that responded to you - a 15 year old. 15 years old don't know jack about anything.

I think everyone knows something about something and age shouldn't be what determines knowledge though in this case, I agree. OP, there is only one way to find out and that is to try.

Sooooo you thought I was being literal that 15 year olds don't know anything? You think that everyone knows something about something? That's very astute of you. haha

I've learned from young people on more than a few occasions. I don't think knowledge has any age limit.

PHILIP said:

I've learned from young people on more than a few occasions. I don't think knowledge has any age limit.

True, but predicting the future and determine what people are and are not capable of is not "knowledge", it is "wisdom"

phrak said:

PHILIP said:

I've learned from young people on more than a few occasions. I don't think knowledge has any age limit.

True, but predicting the future and determine what people are and are not capable of is not "knowledge", it is "wisdom"

Think it's a little more than that...

I agree with phillip, i have heard several older people on more then serval occasions learn from people who are sometimes 20-25 years younger then them, and the older person im talking about was a coach

RatioFitness said:

Sooooo you thought I was being literal that 15 year olds don't know anything? You think that everyone knows something about something? That's very astute of you. haha

RatioFitness you're pathetic.

To the OP, will > anything. If you want it badly enough, you will have it. Caveat: Does not apply to women.

Ian Legrow said:

I agree with phillip, i have heard several older people on more then serval occasions learn from people who are sometimes 20-25 years younger then them, and the older person im talking about was a coach

Thanks Ian! It is amazing what you can learn with a little humility isn't it?

irongymnast said:

RatioFitness said:

Sooooo you thought I was being literal that 15 year olds don't know anything? You think that everyone knows something about something? That's very astute of you. haha

RatioFitness you're pathetic.

Haha I totally didn't realize that he had made a joke at me. That is probably because I am a "20 year old kid who doesn't know anything" Even though I am getting some pretty awesome results for myself and my clientele not to mention becoming a PICP trainer... Internet tough guy syndrome.

Please explain how I am pathetic so I can learn from you and improve myself.

RatioFitness said:

Please explain how I am pathetic so I can learn from you and improve myself.

Try not writing others off so quickly just because they are younger than you.

I don't always write people off because of age. I do write them off if they argue on the internet, however.

phrak said:

I don't always write people off because of age. I do write them off if they argue on the internet, however.

Because they argue on the internet, you think they don't know anything?

You're as old as your connective tissue. Take care of your body and the effects of aging are less of an issues. As always prioritize recovery and you might see "older" people advance faster then the young ones. Set no limits on yourself. Ok Maltese "flies" might be a stretch but you know what I mean..

canthar said:

You're as old as your connective tissue. Take care of your body and the effects of aging are less of an issues..

This should become the Gymnastic Bodies rap.

changpion said:

Hello everyone,

I'd like to know whether it is too late for me to train for a cross, maltese, planche on rings, after recieving this answer from a "level 10 gymnast" I was a little bit put off, but I heard that coach sommer, and many others on here are very knowledgeable

about the development of ring/ strength gymnastics, so I'd like to ask the same question listed here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 409AA5NSeo

Also I read on the forums that some older people can achieve ring strength, without having being training since 5 years old. Just to give a bit of a background,

I am 17 years old, 5'7, 10stone, I have muscle up, fairly decent front and back lever on rings, I'm working on planche pushups on the floor, and cross on rings.

I don't know how all the bickering applies to the OP comments but whatever. I am a State JO judge for Indiana and a Gymnastics Coach. That 15 year old kid really didn't know what he was talking about. He woudn't be what i would call strong. Back uprise straddle planche is not the epitomy of strength. Most of the level 10's that i judge can't even perform the skill correctly. I normally deduct points on every single one of those gymnasts due to lack of strength in some way or another. I'm of the philosophy of Coach Sommers. If you are strong enough to do it then your body can do it. Age doesn't matter. You are not far away from where the "level 10" is. You could definitely outwork him and surpass him in a relatively short period of time if his ignorance matches his work ethic. That is my judge/coach opinion. Now as a gymnast i don't believe there is any skill i cannot train for and do. Especially when it comes to strength. You're talking to someone who was 135 pounds coming out of high school. If you have your sights set on high level ring skills then you need to be on them 4 days a week and doing it the right way by strengthening and preparing your body for the INTENSE strain of being up on the rings. Everything is a progression so learn them and get to work. It will not be an easy trip but its definitely one that has an endpoint if you are willing to put the Years of time into it.

PHILIP said:

canthar said:

You're as old as your connective tissue. Take care of your body and the effects of aging are less of an issues..

This should become the Gymnastic Bodies rap.

This needs to happen.

OP, like many have already said... you're fine. Dillon Zrike has only been training for 4 years and he started at the age of 15. He now has maltese, planche, IC and recently invert cross. I personally watched him press, with straight arms, through all of those with straps on rings. It was easily the craziest display of strength I have ever seen.

I'm not suggesting that EVERYONE can get there in 4 years, I mean heavier guys like me are probably looking at 6-8 years because of the extra weight and decreased leverage, but if you train correctly then there is no way to fail. There is no way to put a truly accurate timeline to these skills, but if you are consistent and start off with the understanding and expectation that you are going to put 4+ years into this, going step by step and only moving from step 1 to 2 when your body is good and ready (not at day 111, for example) then you are essentially guaranteed success.

Don't ask whether or not you're too old/tall/fat/stupid/etc. and just work.

(Sorry Cole, I just had to share my thoughts about the opinion of the competitive gymnast.)

If you are strong enough to do it then your body can do it. Age doesn't matter. You are not far away from where the "level 10" is. You could definitely outwork him and surpass him in a relatively short period of time if his ignorance matches his work ethic.

This is so true. I could not have said it better myself. I mean i did not start doing this type of training until april of 2011 and now i am at a box HS, almost a 60s HS, working on my one arm and all sorts of other things without any coach training. Phillip, who is probably 3 or 5 times stronger then me, can already do a straddle planche, and people like Josh and John (slizzardman and Ts00nami) are not only ripped to s**t but two of the strongest guys i have ever met, and the only formal coaching of gymnastics they have that i am aware of is coaches seminars. Everyone here will tell; you the same thing. You cannot be too over zealous or you will probably hurt yourself. All of (myself included) at one point or another have learned the values of this. I will speak for myself right now. I am 23 and sometimes i think about how strong i will be when i am 30 or 35. And someone like Philip who is two or three years yonuger thn me, and 3 or 5 times stronger has crazier stuff to look forward to.

What i am getting at is do not underestimate your abilities, and be patient. There is a lot of information here and it has helped a good deal of people. Hell you might make some freinds as well!

Hope this helped!

-Ian Legrow