Raptron's Rebel Gymnastics: STAGE ONE

[raptron]

Main Quest:

 

 

Compete on my gym's recreational gymnastics team next competition season (January - April 2014)

 

Brief Background:

 

I did gymnastics from age 4-14, competing seriously for a good number of those years and spending between 16-20 hours in the gym every week. I quit when my coach quit our gym: he was hoping to establish himself somewhere else, but it never happened. I wound up diving for 4 years in high school, but it never really had the same effect on me. I participated in token attempts to continue maintaining a good level of fitness including kickboxing, yoga, and running, but none of them really held my interest. I kind of hate distance running as well, so that in particular wasn't working for me. My general fitness condition began decay. 

 

In June 2013, I discovered that adult gymnastics classes were available at a gym really close to my work! After working up the courage to check it out, I've been going to advanced class once a week and slowly getting back my skills. So far this is only tumbling, but I hope to redevelop my skills on the other three apparatuses soon! 

 

1. Actually DO Gymnastics

 

 

How I'm going to do this:

 

*Open gym or gymnastics class 1x - 2x a week

 

*Actually JOIN the recreational team officially

*Attend rec team practice every Saturday

 

The recreational team has sessions that are roughly seasonal, and the fall/winter session will be starting up in the next few weeks. I should be able to join soon, and once I do join, I'm aiming to attend every Saturday that I am not traveling. Because of the uncertainty of when I'll be able to join the team, I'll leave the grading on that until later. I will also be doing some handstand and press work at home as time permits.

 

Grading:

A - 6+ open gym/classes

B - 5 open gym/classes
C - 4 open gym/classes

F - <4 open gym/classes

 

2. Get Stronk

 

 

How I'm going to do this:

 

*Strength training at the gym 3x a week. 

 

I've begun Starting Strength at my gym with supplemental bodyweight exercises at home including v-ups, hanging leg lifts, presses, and working on my pull-up progression. Right now we are going to focus on me getting to the gym 3 times a week, with bodyweight work filling in at home whenever I have the time/energy. Some of the applications of lifting might not provide as direct benefit to my gymnastics progression as greater bodyweight work would, but I'm also just interested in developing consistency and routine, Having something very clearly laid out and uncomplicated will help me stay on track. 

 

I would be following the Starting Strength regimen at the gym 3x / week, but I've recently developed a mild rotator cuff injury that is aggravated by both high and low back squats, so I'm going to be doing other variations and exercises as my shoulder allows.

 

Scoring:

A - 17 - 18+  gym workouts

B - 14 - 16 gym workouts

C - 11 - 13 gym workouts

F - <11 gym workouts

 

3. Improve flexibility

 

 

How I'm going to do this:

 

*20+ minutes of stretching EVERY SINGLE DAY

*PNF stretching once a week with a partner

 

I've got to get back into the habit of stretching every day if I want to increase and maintain the flexibility necessary for this sport. I've recruited my husband to help me out with some PNF partnered stretching for my hamstrings and hip flexors at least once a week, which will help me get up to speed quicker than on my own. 

 

Grading:

A: 38 - 42 stretching sessions w/ 5-6 PNF sessions

B: 33 - 37 stretching sessions w/ 4 PNF sessions

C: 29 - 32 stretching sessions w/ 3 PNF sessions

F: <28 stretching sessions w/ < 3 PNF sessions

 

My Motivation:

 

This is probably supposed to be some kind of emotional thing.

 

I just want to have amazing control over my body, be stronger, look awesome naked, and get booty. 

 

[SirEarl]

woot woot!  raptron's stupid first challenge!  lol

[littlewings]

RAPTRON UNSTOPPABLE!

[SirEarl]

 

these gifs?

[Parolles]

Awesome.

[Tamesis Greer]

Cool quest!

I did advanced recreational gymnastics from 2nd-11th grade and tried club gymnastics in grad school but couldn't really get into it again. Went from 10+ pull-ups at my prime to 0. Body isn't up to it anymore, so doing other functional strength training.

I look forward to hearing about your progress!

[ClaraBear]

That first gif Sir Earl posted is an approximation of my gymnastic skillz.  Your quest is completely bad ass.  And I can't even deal with the one you posted for getting strong.

[lyranedara]

Subbed. This looks incredible. Good luck!

[alice.x]

this looks amazing! and makes me want to do gymnastics

 

subbing for the awesomeness.

[imahuph]

awesome goal sounds like it would be fun, sounds like a lot of work.  make wonderful things happen

[KiltedCowboy]

Subbed for sure!  I'm thrilled for you to have found those classes!  I wish I could do some gymnastics, but I'm not exactly built to fly through the air like that  It'd look like Bo and Luke Duke trying to jump the river in a rattly pickup truck...

[raptron]

woot woot!  raptron's stupid first challenge!  lol

 

I know, I definitely should have gone with that title...

 

RAPTRON UNSTOPPABLE!

 

More like Juggernautron, am I right?

 

Cool quest!

I did advanced recreational gymnastics from 2nd-11th grade and tried club gymnastics in grad school but couldn't really get into it again. Went from 10+ pull-ups at my prime to 0. Body isn't up to it anymore, so doing other functional strength training.

I look forward to hearing about your progress!

 

What prevented you from getting back into it at the club level, if you don't mind my asking? The people at this gym are really awesome so far, which is something I was worried about more than even my lack of physical prowess, so they also help make it exciting for me, personally, to come back to the sport.

 

That first gif Sir Earl posted is an approximation of my gymnastic skillz.  Your quest is completely bad ass.  And I can't even deal with the one you posted for getting strong.

RIGHT??? She's a BEAST. Getting my basic press handstand back is on of my personal skill milestones, and that move just completely blows it out of the water. LOOK AT HER LEGS. Ugh, I love it. 

 

this looks amazing! and makes me want to do gymnastics

 

subbing for the awesomeness.

 

Thanks! You should doooo it. Sadly, not many places offer adult classes, but I think pretty much anyone should learn how to do a handstand just because of how awesome they are and they're the type of thing you can progress on on your own...

 

awesome goal sounds like it would be fun, sounds like a lot of work.  make wonderful things happen

 

Thanks! It's going to be a lot of work to get to the level I want to be at, but I am trying to take it out in bite-sized pieces for now. The fact that it IS so fun, really helps.

 

Subbed for sure!  I'm thrilled for you to have found those classes!  I wish I could do some gymnastics, but I'm not exactly built to fly through the air like that  It'd look like Bo and Luke Duke trying to jump the river in a rattly pickup truck...

 

Haha, I think you probably underestimate yourself!

 

I'm mad at myself for not looking into local classes sooner. I could have been doing it all this time! 

[KiltedCowboy]

I want to make one of those things I see the parkour crowd using.  It's like an open cube that you can swing and go from one side across to the other and whatnot.  looks like fun.

[Gneiss Assasin]

So happy I read your post!! Gymnastics is hands down my favorite sport on the planet. It gives me the most incredible rush to my heart and soul just stepping foot on the floor. When I run into anyone that loves it, I immediately start blabbering like an idiot out of pure happiness I just can't help myself. My mom coached when I was a kid and young teenager, so I naturally lived in the gym. She got in a crazy accident when I was around 13 so after that she had to quit and we had to pay for classes so that didn't last. I mainly tumbled for fun after that and quickly lost my skills as I got older. I'm in pretty sad shape right now, but I'd like to see myself bustin out some handsprings by summer. (K my sob story is over..)

 

GO YOU!!!! For your goals I'm cheerin you on!!! I really want to see how your journey goes so I'll check in, in fact I think as part of my flexibility  challenge I'm going to adopt your 20 min plan. Thanks for sharing and I really hope this challenge is awesome for you. Go Raptron. Attack!

[raptron]

I want to make one of those things I see the parkour crowd using.  It's like an open cube that you can swing and go from one side across to the other and whatnot.  looks like fun.

 

Wait, whaaat? I don't think I've ever seen that and I tried to google "parkour swing cube" but obviously those were not the best search terms... 

 

So happy I read your post!! Gymnastics is hands down my favorite sport on the planet. It gives me the most incredible rush to my heart and soul just stepping foot on the floor. When I run into anyone that loves it, I immediately start blabbering like an idiot out of pure happiness I just can't help myself. My mom coached when I was a kid and young teenager, so I naturally lived in the gym. She got in a crazy accident when I was around 13 so after that she had to quit and we had to pay for classes so that didn't last. I mainly tumbled for fun after that and quickly lost my skills as I got older. I'm in pretty sad shape right now, but I'd like to see myself bustin out some handsprings by summer. (K my sob story is over..)

 

GO YOU!!!! For your goals I'm cheerin you on!!! I really want to see how your journey goes so I'll check in, in fact I think as part of my flexibility  challenge I'm going to adopt your 20 min plan. Thanks for sharing and I really hope this challenge is awesome for you. Go Raptron. Attack!

 

Yessss! Another gymnastics person! I love other people who love this sport. Seriously, ask anyone and they will tell you that as soon as I even HEAR the word "gymnastics", I pretty much don't shut up about it for a long time. It also doesn't help that it is kind of jargon-y because you can only explain different skills in so many ways before you just default to using their official names... and that's when the eyes glaze over. 

 

When you get to that point, I think you'll be surprised at how quickly some things come back. Handsprings next summer? Hell yes!

[Loren Wade]

HAHAHA. I love it. A few of my friends give me a hard time for sometimes pronouncing "g" as "k" so I was cracking up at Get Stronk.

 

Looks great, raptron. I'll be following your progress.

[Tamesis Greer]

 

What prevented you from getting back into it at the club level, if you don't mind my asking? The people at this gym are really awesome so far, which is something I was worried about more than even my lack of physical prowess, so they also help make it exciting for me, personally, to come back to to the sport.

The other gymnasts in the group were great, but there was no coach, so I didn't feel comfortable trying a lot of the harder stuff. It's also harder to get back into it when you are 30 lbs heavier (I was underweight when I was doing gymnastics). I ended up with rotator cuff tendinitis from trying to get my strength back and working on the computer for hours for my thesis and decided it wasn't working.

I think it would have been different if there had been a coaching staff to help me get back into shape and spot me on the techniques.

I've half thought of trying adult gymnastics if I could find it but getting back into it at 33 would be challenging.

[Shukar]

Gymnastics eh? I do so enjoy some gymnastics inspired work. I look forward to watching how this goes. Welcome to the challenge!

[Elastigirl]

I was looking for your challenge over in Assassins and wondered why I couldn't find you.... This is your first challenge?!You are so awesome, it already feels like you belong here.

[EmCee]

[raptron]

HAHAHA. I love it. A few of my friends give me a hard time for sometimes pronouncing "g" as "k" so I was cracking up at Get Stronk.

 

Looks great, raptron. I'll be following your progress.

 

<3 Hi, LW. 

 

The other gymnasts in the group were great, but there was no coach, so I didn't feel comfortable trying a lot of the harder stuff. It's also harder to get back into it when you are 30 lbs heavier (I was underweight when I was doing gymnastics). I ended up with rotator cuff tendinitis from trying to get my strength back and working on the computer for hours for my thesis and decided it wasn't working.

I think it would have been different if there had been a coaching staff to help me get back into shape and spot me on the techniques.

I've half thought of trying adult gymnastics if I could find it but getting back into it at 33 would be challenging.

 

Oooh, yeah. I definitely would not feel comfortable without a coach. A good spotter is so necessary to learn or regain most skills. I'm having trouble even imagining how a team would work without proper coaching staff. I am also sorry to hear about the tendinitis -- developing a chronic injury is one of my biggest concerns right now and I'm already nervous about the current issues with my rotator cuff...

 

A return to the sport would certainly be challenging, but we definitely have a lot of 30-year-old+ participants at my gym's classes at varying levels of skill who seem to enjoy it a lot! 

 

Gymnastics eh? I do so enjoy some gymnastics inspired work. I look forward to watching how this goes. Welcome to the challenge!

 

 

I was looking for your challenge over in Assassins and wondered why I couldn't find you.... This is your first challenge?!You are so awesome, it already feels like you belong here.

 

 

Yeah, it's my first official challenge! I'm quite excited about the format and being able to have a place to reflect on my progress and ask for advice.

 

 

[Loren Wade]

<3 Hi, LW.

Ohai.

[raptron]

 

EXCITING UPDATE #1: 

 

Recreational Team Open Gym this Saturday! I'll get to check it out and hopefully learn when the new session officially begins!

 

Tonight's Agenda:

Two hours of mixed-level gymnastics class from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. 

I'll let you guys know what we do.

[Hammlin]

Gymnasts are one of my most favorite athletes <3

 

Strength and beauty. Perfect.

[EmCee]

 

 

 

 

It's like you just GET ME.

 

<3

 

(Also - I need these cards in my life. Plus the "You park like an asshole" cards.