An Overview of Geriatric Gymnastics

This article was written in my early 40’s as I was really gathering steam in my training. It tracks my entry into gymnastics as an adult, and how it quickly developed into a cult-like passion. While I will never be elite athlete or an Olympian, I have found an athletic spirit that will carry me for years.

This was written a few months before I was turning 50. It’s a reflection on where my body is, for better or worse, and what I’m doing to stave off the inevitable decline that age presents. My ultimate goal is to slow that down and not make things worse in the process.

This is the first official installment of my blog series about being an adult gymnast. Here, you’ll learn about how a middle-aged mind and body must work together to defy the odds. Part of that process is recording the work and (gasp) posting it to social media for others to see. It provides validation of the work in addition to the proof that it is possible to be a #geriatricgymnast. 

Mastery requires hundreds of trials over many years. Like the toddler, who gets up, takes a few wobbly steps and falls back down again, tumbling skills are quite clumsy in the beginning. You don’t get good at it until you’ve developed consistent fundamentals.

In the gym, a healthy dose of fear can keep us from facing imminent disaster. My heart races at least once every time I go to train, because there’s always a skill that I’m not completely comfortable with. This is when I must take a moment, draw a breath, pay attention, and make sure everything is in place before I hurtle my body into space. It has taught me to think before I act and to “be where I am” (a favorite phrase of mine). 

The bone-building benefits of gymnastics training became clear when I sustained an injury that could have potentially broken a hip. When the X-ray showed no breaks, the doc said that my bones were likely incredibly strong from all of the bouncing. It was good to know that I was taking an active part in staving off osteoporosis.

Just under the surface of my work at the gym is the buzz of “I have no business doing this thing that teenagers do; how long can I keep this charade up?” Those murmurs can turn into a cacophony of anxiety and doubt if we are not careful to keep those voices hushed. In this chapter, I offer the strategies I use to silence those voices and maintain a positive self concept as a #geriatricgymnast .

When our coach moved on to other things, we were left without a leader for our adult class. Luckily, I had enough training, experience and support to step into the coaching role. Here, I talk about the process of thinking like a coach, relating to your students, and making sure that they feel safe under your tutelage so they can have a long life as a #geriatricgymnast.

Sometimes, your brain gets in your way of progress. This is especially true when you are an adult gymnast. This post shows how, when you go back to the basics, you can break through mental and physical roadblocks – at any age.

Why is jumping on the trampoline so much fun? Why is it such a draw? The focus of this blog post is how adults need to play just as much as kids do and how gymnastics provides an excellent way to satisfy the needs of our inner-child.

This is the beginning of my Geriatric Gymnast YouTube channel. It features a few conversations with my flippy friends, class journals and shorts that follow progress, new skills, and setbacks.

The first GG conversation with my dear friend and flippy partner Tammy. She’s a rockstar, brilliant, and has so much skill. The episode is in five parts: here’s the first one on YouTube.

The brain, in all its complexities, can help us or harm us, depending on the day, our mood, or the direction of the wind. We know that anxiety is a killer beast, and at the gym, it can really get in the way of progress.

This is one of my favorite sayings. Really, it applies to everyone for everything that we work for, but I have had to lean into it as I have spent my time over the last 15 years at the gym.

Michael is a long-time friend and coach at the gym. We talk about our community of adult gymnastics: the “Hive Mind,” being a quinquagenarian, spotting and coaching, and the necessity for the gym to be a judgment-free zone. 

This focuses on a particular IG reel that I posted that got some big attention and great feedback. It led me to think about why I post so much of this GG stuff.

Injuries suck, and this chronicles the MRI scan that I got that revealed what was really causing some of those aches and pains.

Moving into a rehabilitation mindset, I talk about what was going on with my injuries and how, when medical advice is incomplete or squishy, it’s important to seek a second opinion.

This is the first of an 8-part series documenting the trials and tribulations after breaking my foot on a poor roundoff-back handspring landing. (Don’t worry, it healed.) These are the links to the rest of the posts: part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

This is an addendum to the first mental breakthroughs post, talking about how sustaining big injuries can cause Lizard Brain mental blocks. This talks about the process of trying to get past it.

A deep dive into the fundamentals required for safe, strong gymnastics skills, through the lens of the adult mind and body.

If you are looking to improve your back handspring, this will give you some food for thought. I offer essential conditioning exercises, drills and approaches you can work on to troubleshoot your own technique issues.

This was initially written and published in February 2024, before my April version of Improving Back Handspring Technique. For some reason, it got lost in the WordPress ether and I had to do a lengthy archive search process to find it again. When I read it through, there was even more useful information, so I offer this as a second resource.