Topic: My progression is......slowing

[Zeus]

I feel lately like I simply can not get any better. I mean I am still having fun and all but I am having a really hard time.

I am at the point where the things I want to try cant be done (by me at least) outside of a gym. I want to try things like gainers and whipbacks but I dont know if I can or should.

Now the big dillema is that my gym situation is kinda wierd. First of all I cant try stuff in gym 1 because they care more about their cheerleaders than the people who pay to be there. I wouldn't mind joining the gymnastics team but they apparently dont want me

Gym 2 would let me try stuff but does not have the equipment.

I am not sure that I could try any of this stuff outside because I train alone.

I am really stuck and any advice is welcomed

[The Tinga]

well just go ahead and try the stuff at the first one and see what happens. or are you saying you need a spotter and they wont spot you at the first gym.

[Nicolas Finn]

I would suggest that you try and do some of the stuff that the other people in the gym 1 are doing, and hope that they realize that you can handle doing some / all of the stuff that the actual teams can do. That way they know that you are trying to actually train, as opposed to just trying to hurt yourself and have them pay the court fees. Then I would just start working my way up to them, see if they'll let you do something like a gainer, or whatever.

The real question is: How doesn't the second gym have to equipment (or what is it that you are doing that is so potentially dangerous)?

[Zeus]

My problem is at the first gym they want me to pay for private lessons (more than four times as much) because what i would be doing (Gainers, ect) isnt part of the regular tumbling program (meant for cheerleaders, teaches back handsprings, tucks, arials, ect)

The other gym is very small, ie. it only has a runway, small padded area, and a crash mat with a springboard.

[The Tinga]

well does the first gym have an open gym session? cause you could teach yourself then.

[Zeus]

I will have to ask about that open gym night. I asked about it once but they may have changed something.

[Zeus]

lol trust me im doing basic stuff too. Good advice though.

[CyanideSoda]

Well my progression has temporarily halted to a stop. But it's completely unrelated to not having a gym. My advice is, don't even use a gym for learning parkour. For tricking, or freerunning ok. But in my opinion, it is better to train outside of a gym. Of course i'm sure some don't agree.

[Nicolas Finn]

Hope you solve this situation soon, but during the time you can't practice gainers, you should not give up, but try to train other, less known aspects, like cat balance, or running in the forest. Improve basic parkour, your strenght, you flexibility and so on.The simple way goes like this: learn vaults, then learn tricks, so when one can do vaults, he wants to progress to tricks. I like tricks too, but these are not the only way to get better, you just have to be creative.
That way, you won't be bored because you can't get into gym, and when you finally get into gym, you are more developed and can learn the tricks faster.

wtf? who is this kid? I mean, in the last 6 months he's posted 5 times, and he's telling you to practice basic stuff??? Magnus, we know what to practice on our own, he's talking about GYMS here!

[The Unexpected]

I believe you mentioned wanting to do whip backs?  If you can't get safety equiptment I would find a field, and then do round off backhandsprings.  Then slowly increase the speed with which you "whip" your legs over.  Until you can do a roundoff whip.  This method also has minimal danger because you can always put your hands down.  That's how I learned them anyways...

[Flippusmn]

I feel lately like I simply can not get any better. I mean I am still having fun and all but I am having a really hard time.

I am at the point where the things I want to try cant be done (by me at least) outside of a gym. I want to try things like gainers and whipbacks but I dont know if I can or should.

Now the big dillema is that my gym situation is kinda wierd. First of all I cant try stuff in gym 1 because they care more about their cheerleaders than the people who pay to be there. I wouldn't mind joining the gymnastics team but they apparently dont want me

Gym 2 would let me try stuff but does not have the equipment.

I am not sure that I could try any of this stuff outside because I train alone.

I am really stuck and any advice is welcomed

yeah the best thing to do (I also had this a few times), is to still do your regular parkour/freerunning but also do a bit more working out such as muscle ups, puch ups, sit ups, and one legged squats. Not so much lifting weights because there is a big difference in what you accomplish, it's more natural so to speak. Also do some good hard running. You will always see improovements when you run or workout, it just happens.

As for the gym, it is better in my mind to practice outside. I sucked it up and did everything outside and it seemed to raise my confidence much more and much faster. Do the tricking whenever you get the chance. Or maybe find a way to do it with matresses etc.

[Zeus]

Agh..... I went to gym 1 today after taking two weeks off, and I think I may have gotten worse. I am getting extremely irritated now not only with the gym but with myself.

Now just to clarify everything I write about in this thread is freerunning/tricking/gymnastically related. If i want to train parkour I almost never do it in a gym and in that my progression is coming quite well

The people at gym 1 said they were going to be setting up mens stuff (p-bars, horse, rings, etc) in two weeks. this is good news.

The part that makes me angry is that I go for my regular class. And I didn't even talk to a coach for 40 minutes (in an hour class) so I spent that time doing handstand and hand balancing work

Then when I went for a back handspring I just couldn't get it, I felt like I had to muscle through it.

My back-tuck-low, my arial- kept putting my hands down, front tuck my head fricing scraped the mat, my roundoffs even sucked.

I just dont get it

my only relief is soon I will be on a gymnastics team and my training will go from 3 to 16 hours a week......but what will that matter if i cant improve or if I even get worse

Sorry if it seems like I am ranting but....I am, this is very frusterating for me

[Steven Low]

Gymnastics in general is frustrating because it requires an immense amount of time to learn the basics. It's not that kids who start younger are better at learning then older people -- it's that they have the basics drilled in them so that they will have the right body position or technique required to learn new skills.

As an older person in gymnastics I would suggest that you pick a few goals to work on. A good number of skills to work on would be approximately 2-3 per apparatus/event you are working on. Too much and your body won't get enough repetitions and with too many it's hard for your body to adjust neurologically if you're trying to learn massive amounts of stuff at once.

Talk with your coach(es) more and outline what you want to learn -- after all you are paying and if they can help you work on stuff you want to learn while not bugging the rest of the students if their goals are different then that's better than you going off on your own to do stuff.

Remember always to work on strength, conditioning and flexibility as well as body shapes as these will help you immensely in the long run.

[Moa]

For parkour i think you should really train outside as much as possible because parkour is so that you will be able to do it outside not in a competition. You should just do the parkour outside that you feel comfortable doing. You said you were tricking, i have the same dillema i dont have a spotter and dont have an gyms so i am screwed unless i want to kill myself. Do you have any tricking advise for me i am just starting and need help with aerials