Acrobatics first time

Posted in: Sport

Trekked out to Beckton (25km from home) for an hour and a half of gymnastics/acrobatics at the East London Gymnastics Centre (Gymnova) thanks to a tip-off from Steve at the London Kettlebells forum.

It was taught by Yakov, this short pot-bellied coach in his 60s at least, about the least likely looking guy. Was pretty free-form - a few rolls, handstands, cartwheels, variations and then one of the guys I met there showed me hand- and headsprings on big mats. Surprisingly, I managed to pull a few altho' the landing pad was a foot or two lower than the launch which make things a lot easier ;-)

Had a go on the rings - they are far, far harder than they look on TV. Even just holding on and swinging back and forth is hard work, and I'd consider myself pretty fit. I recently ordered some Power rings for home use and am looking forward to having my ass severely kicked.

There was a young guy there who was an elite gymnast. Back to the TV again, it's one thing seeing this stuff on the tube but in real life it is truly awesome, and inspiring. What's a little worrying at the same time is that a few of the guys I spoke to had been doing it a couple of years and were absolutely nowhere near the skill of this chap doing double flips. Hmm, I don't want to take that long; physical activity is so much more fun once you're through with the tedious incompetent first stages.

There was a posse of dudes practising breakdancing. A few of them could do front and back somersaults from more or less standing, and big phat floaty ones, not the snappy little hurried jobs. Nice.

Good stuff, was pretty exhausted by the end of it. Also signed up for acrobatics induction at Circus Space Monday after next. Looking forward to this too, a few people I know who've done it say it's challenging and fun.

Only regret was not doing this all when I was a teenager...

Posted by Paul Makepeace at February 9, 2005 23:30 | TrackBack