Me, after one of the open gym sessions last year

This year, the gym decided to offer a class for adults — specially, adults like me who were intimidated by the swarm of current/former gymnasts in the open session. So I immediately signed up, along with a few other mom-types who also wanted to get some exercise and do something new.

I’ve been loving the class, guys. It kicks my butt, but that’s a good thing. Our coach (oooh, it makes me sound so GYMNAST-Y to say “coach”) runs us through a warm-up (jogging, sprints, jumping jacks, skipping) and then we all move around to different areas of the gym.

• Parallel bars: Ow. We don’t do crazy flips and stand on them (actually, some of the better people in my class do!). I mainly just hang on them, and tuck up my legs, or have to swing them out to the slide. Ow. Ow. Ow. Hanging there, holding up my weight, KILLS my hands (which apparently are soft and not-calloused and that’s how I’d like to keep them thankyouverymuch)
• Floor: I love the bouncy feeling of a gymnastics floor. I just start bouncing up and down lightly whenever I stand on it. It’s irresistible! During our floor time, we do handstands (I try), cartwheels (I try), summersaults down or up a wedge, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, hopping on one foot, sprints, etc. The floor at our club is pretty grotty and smelly when you get up close to it, but when you’re exhausted, you don’t care. You lay face-down on it and it’s the most comfortable place EVER.

• Balance beams: I do like beams, because I can see my balance improving every week. We walk along them and do “dips” (dipping our legs down below the beam gracefully as we walk), kicks, little jaunty steppity-step things, tiny jumps (well, mine are tiny at least), cat leaps, and walking backwards. There’s something about pointing your toes while holding out your arms for balance that makes you feel very Olympian-y, at least in my books.
• Double-mini trampoline: This is a great one! It’s very bouncy. We run up to it and do one or two jumps on it, and then do a leap-forward somersault off it, onto the mat.  

• Tumble Track: This is what the “tumblers” (a.k.a. Young Agile Flippers and Twisters) use for their tricks. I enjoy running down it as fast as I can and then throwing myself onto a mat. Everyone laughs at me, but it’s really fun. Oh, and we also use it for bouncing down in a row (practicing to point our toes), doing donkey-kicks (hideously unflattering crawl-type kicks), and doing tuck jumps. My tuck is a pretty sad attempt, so far, but it’s coming along.

• Vault: I look nothing like the gymnast in this picture, of course, but we do use a vault in our own way. It’s basically running really fast, bouncing one on a little trampoline, and then jumping up onto the vault and landing on both feet, and then somersaulting onto a crash mat after it. 

Post-gymnastics peanut butter FTW!

We only have three more classes left of this session, and I’m definitely going to sign up for the next one (which will start in January). I have no desire to do a cartwheel or handstand (nor do I think I EVER COULD), but I love bouncing, I love feeling like I’m improving my balance, and the conditioning is brutal/awesome.

What do you think? Is “adult gymnastics” something you’d try? Or should I just buy a trampoline and get my bouncing out of my system in the comfort of my own backyard?