Anybody else start gymnastics training in late 30's?

[mramo]

I just started incorporating some gymnastics training into my workouts and using BTGB as my guide, and I am HOOKED. I wish I discovered this when I was younger, my question is is there anyone else who started this training later? If so what did you work on and how do you feel after training in this way for a couple of years. Any injuries that older guys starting gymnastics training are prone to?

[John Cook]

Mramo- Interestingly enough I immersed myself into gymnastics strentgh training a little less than six months ago... and I'll have attained the ripe old age of 34 on the 25th of this month!... Needless to say the shift from traditional bodybuilding style training to BtGB has forced me to muster up an ever increasing dose of humility for gymnasts in general every time I step into the 'pain chamber' for a workout. Not knowing your fitness education/training background, past or present injuries, or your current level of conditioning makes it impossible to infer what hardships you may encounter along your journey but I will tell you this... I was made immediately aware of just how inflexible I was overall through what I now know to be a proper range of motion.

I've always been one to set my standards high in regard to my own physical appearance and performance... often figuring that if I can stay in better shape than guys in their early 20's im golden... but exercise caution- looking and performing better are one thing... recovering and healing from damage is quite another!! Be mindful of your joints, tendons, ligaments, and allow extra time for recovery when you have doubts about pushing onward. Most of all enjoy yourself and have fun.... this forum is frequented by some of the most knowledgable people you could ask for in regard to this style of training and questions are welcome! -cook

[David Picó García]

Hi, i'm now 38 years old. Started a few years ago, and i can tell you some advice about injuries. Be careful, you will gain a lot of strength and is easily to get overexcited and start to do some things maybe your body is not prepared and recover time and prehab is the key. I had small injury on my shoulder (overuse tendinitis), this is about 2 or 3 years. Then i went to the Coach seminar and learned a lot about prehab and since then no issues.

My job is from 8 to 3 and after that i have three small kids (5 and twins of 2 years old), so i'm pretty bussy until 9 PM

Now i workout 3 times a week (not always is possible so, 2 times is the fact) in an adult gymnastics class. Not really hard on my training and started some tumbling, and i'm gaining flexibility, but most important of i have half an hour of mandatory warmup with coaches. This alone worth the money, and prepare all the body for strength elements, from light running and jumping, to mobility from neck to ancles every joint is covered on the warmup, flexibility, specially for splits and some bridge work. Finally handstands. After that we can do what we want. But that 30 minutes of warm up are the best part of my training, really, and is similar to what i've learned at the seminar (take in mind that my coaches also came to the seminar :wink: ) Now i can mantain a reasonable good shape and strength and i'm not having any injury issue, with just a few training per week (can do easily the coach ring series 3, 5secs full front lever on good days, almost OAC, 45 secs freestanding handstand, and some round off to backflip recently )

I don't have any structured planing of training just what i want and i like (some rings or perhaps some tumbling, who knows), not the best way to progress but i enjoy it a lot.

[Coach Sommer]

... but I will tell you this... I was made immediately aware of just how inflexible I was overall through what I now know to be a proper range of motion ... but exercise caution- looking and performing better are one thing... recovering and healing from damage is quite another!! ... Be mindful of your joints, tendons, ligaments, and allow extra time for recovery when you have doubts about pushing onward ... Most of all enjoy yourself and have fun.... this forum is frequented by some of the most knowledgable people you could ask for in regard to this style of training and questions are welcome! -cook

Excellent advice!

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Cole Dano]

I started in my mid forties, but had a long background of yoga before that. Flexibility was fairly good, but strength not so. Same advice applies, take it slow, work within your limits, listen to how your body responds.

I'm a systematic person, so enjoy working through the progressions without any sense of hurry to get anywhere.

Mobility work and general joint preparation are absolutely critical at this age, and a good proportion of your training time should be spent there. The static fundaments are also very important to work through before trying to move on too quickly.

[Brutus]

I´ve just started in my mid thirties and have been practising all kind of sports before (swimming, running, windsurfing, snowboarding and also some bodybuilding: some of them even at a competitive level)

I´ve realised of some very important issues.

a) Despite the fact that your muscles are well trained to resistance exercises, your joints and tendons most of the times aren´t

b) Although you think you have followed a well designed balanced program to develop muscle strength it´s almost for sure you have forgotten something on the way

c) Pride is your worst enemy

d) Younger athletes can recover faster than you, and most of the times support more workload. Don´t try to imitate them

e) Find your own pace (it´s like marathon running. If you start too fast, maybe you would have problems in the race development)

[Gavin Strelitz]

I'm 34 and have been training with the BtGB method for around 2 years. All of the above comments are excellent advice so I'll answer a separate part of your question. Having kept fit, healthy and active throughout my life I feel physically in the best shape of my life through this program. I've enjoyed strength increases and flexibility gains and, more generally, an overall increase in healthiness. My general movement and posture have improved as well.

Get stuck in, slowly.

[mattdaly]

I'm 36 almost 37 and have been doing gymnastics workouts for about 2 months, previously been weight lifting for 21 years. I have never felt more fitter, stronger and healthier! I too wish i had started earlier but making up for lost time, I just watch joints if i feel soreness I just take it easy on a particular exericse. just be consistant I find being that I progress fairly quickly and just think if progress is frustrating always look at even the minute progress as a good thing. Have fun and keep trying the many variety of exercises. If you have not incorporated a healthy diet do so as I have lost 10kg since jan and it certainly helps in etting exercises done and look a lot better too!

[Aaron Griffin]

I didn't start pretty much any physical activity until I was about 26. I was a sedentary video gamer and programmer up to that point. I will be 30 this year.

Now, my progress hasn't been the greatest, but I think it's been fairly good. I can definitely hold an adv tuck front lever for 30s (haven't trained it directly in a while) and have a fairly decent handstand. I'm currently working on my Straddle HS press, and flexibility is my limiting factor there, not strength.

[haui]

Hi

i stared gymnastic trainig with 40 years. the last 20 Year i was running and rock climbing at a high level.

i work 8 hours a day and have a 2 year old kid so i try to do my workout 3 times a week around 1 to 1,5 hours.

It's important for me to get engouh sleep and when i feel not so strong to redurce the trainnig or skip some exercises.

But i think i never had more strength in my live an i feel realy good.

Always keep in mind i need more time than an 16 year old boy which has enough time for training and recovery.

But i does not matter if t reach fore example the straddle planche afer 1 oder 2 years

[mramo]

Thanks for all the responses! I am definitely aware of lack of flexibility....never one of my strong points.

As for my background, like a lot of other guys, I started out with weights in late teens and 20's. Never actually did anything for me other than cause injuries I started feeling in 30's :? I got really into just BW stuff when I picked up Furey's "Combat Conditioning" about 10 years ago (much better books have come out since then). However developed shoulder impingement and that got cut down.

I am 6'4" and 215, so I am taking it slow. I started to dabble in gymnastics while deployed last year. One of the guys was telling me about a tumbling class he had taken and demonstrated some stuff he could do. I was impressed and I began to try doing some things like handstand against a wall, L-sits etc. Since I started, somehow my shoulder impingement went away!!!! When i got home I ordered BTGB and I love it. Now I mix it in with crossfit-type stuff.

Signed up one of my boys (age 7) for Parkour classes at a local gymnastics facility and Im going to try to do the "open gym" they have there once in a while. he is hooked as well! They aren't running adult classes yet but hopefully soon.

Looking forward to learning from you guys!

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

I started with T&F 100m, 200m, high jump in my late teens; after a few years, I was also on 400 & 400 hurdles & covering up for decathlon; small club, we did not have a specialist. I also spent most week ends on the right wing of the local rugby team, waiting the ball to run with it.

Mid '20es, I moved on and started kyokushin; I ended up competing full contact (these were the crazy 80es), but family and work took me away from sports for close to 20 years during which I dislocated my left elbow (it folded the wrong way) in 1999... (I don't remember how, I was a bit drunk on my 36th Bday).

Fast forward a bit: in 2005 I had to get major anti inflammatory treatment for back pain (unloading trucks in my factory in China,) and I was told I'd never run again (disc damage, etc...) - really? In 2007 I jumped over a drain in New Orleans and badly sprained my left ankle; 2 years later, I ruptured the left Achilles during the warm up of my first kyokushin session in 20 years. The Achilles healed without surgery, just in time for me to injure my left AC joint doing break falls, then partially tearing my left supraspinatus tendon during sparring.

Last year, I fell in the Himalayas (stupidly slipped), broke the fall with a straight right arm and severed the right supraspinatus; this required an arthroscopy performed in France last August; when I woke up, the surgeon told me with a wide grin: "I put 4 staples, so you won't have to come back". Rehab for 4 months, I competed in a friendly full contact in NYC last December; I was out of shape and weak, but I stepped on the mats... then got serious about prehab...

I am forgetting tennis elbow on both arms sometimes in 2010/11

I did my first push up post surgery on January 10th or 15th this year and got my kyokushin last brown belt this April... The day when a nagging Achilles tendinitis flared up, seizing most of my right lower right calf for a week before abating a bit!

I started an SSC on the prerequisites of BtGB 5 weeks ago and I am on triple rations of humble pie... mind you, I thought I was maybe not "strong", but "sort of strong"! I also stopped putting sugar in my tea, dropped all sodas and I am looking for a source of protein powder in China that is not laced with melamine! Tough luck, I'll have to smuggle it!

I'll be 50 in 16 months and in perfect physical condition with, thanks to BtGB, a reinforced frame and a bigger engine! I am looking to hire an online coach to guide me and help me towards a few short term goals (shodan in kyokushin, getting back to sprinting; 100m in 14s would be great) ... and longer term ones too.

Thank you for reading

Fred

PS: On a good day, I am 1.93 (6'3"); 104Kg.

[mramo]

I'm 36 almost 37 and have been doing gymnastics workouts for about 2 months, previously been weight lifting for 21 years. I have never felt more fitter, stronger and healthier! I too wish i had started earlier but making up for lost time, I just watch joints if i feel soreness I just take it easy on a particular exericse. just be consistant I find being that I progress fairly quickly and just think if progress is frustrating always look at even the minute progress as a good thing. Have fun and keep trying the many variety of exercises. If you have not incorporated a healthy diet do so as I have lost 10kg since jan and it certainly helps in etting exercises done and look a lot better too!

I have never felt fitter or stronger as well! Ive always kept a pretty clean diet (beer.....I do love good beer) but this is awesome. It is good to see there are others in my age range starting gymnastics training later.

[Coach Sommer]

Fred,

Good Lord, that is quite a list of injuries. You need to come see me for some joint prep and mobility work!!!

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

I will certainly do Coach, thank you for your concern and invitation ; the Sept seminar is a bit early for me, but I have plans to be in the US in Sept/Oct, I'll contact you when that firms up.

Yes, these injuries span many, many years, but I was surprised too when I wrote the list; of concern are the recent increase in frequency and that tendons and soft tissue seem to have become more fragile.

I omitted the muscle tears, pulls & strains (calves, hammies, shoulders) of a previous lifetime, and forgot to mention a left foot plantar fasciitis that lasted 8 months last year! (the left ankle area sure has problems)

Cheers

Fred

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

Great news: there is a beer, just for us!

Although, I am not too sure about the flavor, it certainly has gas in it!

[FritsMB Mansvelt Beck]

I agree with what has been said before. The key is to find out what you can do and how you can progress with what you have. Sounds easy, but speaking for myself, I am still discovering what and where I am at as I progress; my mind (filled with all the age-related prejudices) is still the limiting factor. And yes, I too have benefited from this website and the BTGB book. For me, it gave the concept of How to Progress a whole new and much better meaning. For most of us, hearing how somebody else overcame his or her setback is inspiring. In answer to the OP, therefore, here is my short story. At 62, one year before retirement I came down with a very high fever and after two weeks ended in the hospital, where they could not find what was causing the fever. This illness is aptly called a Fever of Unknown Origin and can kill; there is no treatment against it because the infection, that is the root cause of the fever, can not be found. So after two weeks in the hospital I was send home where, after another four weeks of sweating and wasting away in bed, the fever finally came down and subsided. I survived because I was pretty healthy before becoming ill. In the beginning, after the fever had come down, I was very weak and I could not walk more than 100 yards before having to sit down. Looking back now, I must have had a single minded focus on getting back in shape. Mostly through walking, then biking, then rowing, then x-country skiing and climbing (in a gym). The first year or so, I would spend the rest of the day recovering after exercising for an hour. It took about five years to get my endurance and strength back; of course, after getting back, I did not stop but kept going. When I was 68, I became interested in hand balancing and learning to do a front lever and a back lever and stumbled onto this website. Perfect timing for me. I will be 72 next week. Three years ago, together with my wife, I joined a small group of x-country skiers that was skiing from south to north (North Cape in Norway) in Finland (1800 km in 31 days). We only did the last 720 km in 11 days. Last year, a couple of weeks before my 71-st birthday, I went climbing with my son in Belgium (Freyr) and (to my surprise) I could follow him on the hardest climbs that I had lead there more than 40 years ago in the 60’s when I was climbing at my peak (5.10b to 5.10c for those who know rock climbing). So, sure you can start when you are in your 30’s. Approach it as an adventure and, most importantly, have fun.