There's usually a surge of people who want to start in gymnastics after a gymnastics world championships, or nationals, or even more so after the olympics. So where to start? First you want to find a gymnastics club near you - better to have professional instruction than trying those tricks on the trampoline in your backyard or tumbling without professional instruction and advice in the grass - plus, in gymnastics you also need to have the conditiioning and flexibility necessary to do the skills, which helps prevent injury. Try the Gym Chat gym clubs directory at http://gymchat.com/listings - it's categorized by type: artistic (which is the bars, vault, floor, beam for girls/women; high bar, p-bars, vault, floor, pommel horse, rings for boys/men), rhythmic (which is with ribbons, clubs, ball, hoop), acrobatic (which is partnering tumbling/floor moves), tumbling and trampoline...you can tell from the pictures also what each are. :D Post your reviews on the gym directory everyone too...it will help others in deciding on gym clubs. Once you have picked some gymnastics clubs near you, then you want to go visit them, preferably as others have said on this message board before, you want to visit and watch the practice without them knowing/expecting that you are there watching to decide on a gym - so you can get a look of what it is like in the gym possibly without the added variable of what it is like if someone is watching to join, etc. you know. Probably all gyms allow one free trial lesson - I have never heard of a gymnastics club that doesn't, but perhaps there are some that don't. Try out the gyms you like when you were watching, and decide which you like best: based on coaches, coaches experience, atmosphere in gym...check out the "How to choose a gymnastics club" topic on this at: http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=1034 . Great topic posts!

What are the skills you start with in gymnastics? When do the flips and the cool stuff come in? Can you do cool stuff on the first day?

It does depend on your gymnastics coach, and also what basics / strength&flexibility you already have. Lots of clubs have gymnastics coaches teaching level 1 -3 that just teach those skills, and aren't qualified to teach the harder skills, but some do have the experienced coaches from the beginning, and if they think you are ready, you could learn something like the back flip or front flip or back handspring on your first day of gymnastics practice! The levels/skills kind of go like this: -forward roll/backward rolls, handstands, back extension roll (backwards roll to handstand, with bent arms, then with straight arms), handstand forward rolls -back walkover, front walkover (depending on the gym and the club you might be doing back/front bends or tic-tocs before this, or while learning this), back handspring, front handspring -back flip, front flip ...then you build on those, put skills in combination... on bars: -pull-over, back hip circle, underswing dismount, front hip circle, back hip circle, shoot through circle (one leg over the bar, with undergrip you go around the bar), squat on, swings on the high bar, flyaway (tuck dismount from the high bar), layout flyaway, cast flyaway, giants on straps, .... on vault: -you might do squat on vaults and squat through vaults first -the first part of the handspring vault, jump from the spring board, push with your hands, and land on your back on a soft big mat -then the handspring mat -then the tsuks, half on vault - kind of a roundoff off the vault table beam: -dance elements, basic turns, walks, then handstand, cartwheel, handstand half turn dismount, backwalkover on beam, front flip off beam, back handspring on beam