what do you guys think, BE HONEST! :? don't say "it's never too late!" :roll: because we all know you can't start gym. when your 89 years old etc.. haha. :lol: so what age do you think is too late? 11? 12? 13? 14? etc. :?

do you mean to go to the Olympics? the age of the women gymnasts competing is going to the 20's and even 30's (i.e. Svetlana Khorkina, Mohini Bhardwaj, Annia Hatch, Oksana Chusovitina), and the men gymnasts have been competing at 20's and 30's for some long time...so, even if you start at 16, and get to elite in 7-10 yrs. you'll be like 26 - and can go to the Olympics too if you want! gymnastics is really fun - it's not all about going to the Olympics or competing - so there really is no limit - helps though if you start before any brittle bones (and prevent them too!) :wink: what do you think?

i agree! jw what gym do you go to? i know a girl named haley- another question.. what if you are like 12, and you dont know how to do the splits and you just started gym. how long would it take to learn how to do the splits?

hey beamqueenxo! welcome! i agree too! :D how long it takes you to get your splits if you're 12 and just started gym depends on how flexible you are already and how tight your muscles/tendons are - you could get your splits in a few months with practice, or it could take a bit longer. some girls on our team aren't that flexibile in their shoulders and their splits, so they kind of make up for it by strength - like doing a 'table-top' backwalkover rather than a standard bendy one! someone posted on stretching your splits and that bouncing on your splits is bad in the practice/workout section: http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/login.php?sid=54cfaaa35764bc9a53c53224974be898

Aloha, My name is Carolyn, I am 28 from Northern California. I've been a gymnast for 25 years and counting. I started in artistic gymnastics and recently in the last year made the switch to rhythmic gymnastics due to too many injuries requiring surgury. I've only competed for 6 years. 4 years as a child and 2 years as an adult. I will be returning to competitive rhythmic gymnastics in 2007-2008 as a level 5. I have been married for almost 4 years now and I am a mother of two. My son is 3 and my daughter is 20 months. Gymnastics is in my blood and even though I never reached my potential. I love training in the sport. I've even spent the last 9 years coaching all ages and levels in girls rhythmic, girls artistic, and boys artistic. So all of you that feel that you are too old to even start, you are not. You only think you are too old when you feel too old. I may not spend as many hours training like I would and I do have an abnormal training schedule, but I make it work because I LOVE GYMNASTICS!

well if you didnt love gymnastics you wouldnt be on gym chat now would you? lol! hi, my name is jackie and i probably love gymnastics as much as you do. i've been training since i was 4 yrs old and now i'm on my high school team. lots o fun! :D

If someone wants to be a proffessional or an elite gymnast,it has to start as early as possible,maybe 11 or 12 its too late to be proffesional.I had never taken gym lessons,but i learned quickly to make both splits(it was about 3 years ago),and i recently learned to do a fronthandspring,and im 17 years old! (yeah im old!).

Daiane dos Santos started gymnastics at 11 years old and she's champion, won floor titles over Cataline Ponor,Cheng Fei, has 2 skills named after her - the piked and the laid-out double arabian somersaults (that 2nd one is called Dos Santos II). more at: http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=2151#2151 so, it can happen! There are other examples too.

but it depends on the coach too! because i have a cousin shes 11 years old,and she quickly learned splits,fronthandspring,backhandsprings,both splits(i taught her). She can do also a fronhandspring with one hand,whick i havent seen a gymnast do that on the beam or floor... on the tramp she can do back and front tucks and stufff,and my conclusion is that maybe youre right,its not that late to do gym... Daiane Dos Santos is a pretty example,thanks for posting about her,i didnt knew that! Thankx!

sure! It's true the coach does matter, and so does the gymnast. If she had a coach that kept telling her she can't do it or she's too old, etc. it would be harder. And also it matters if the coach is experienced, knows how to coach / teach and has good spotting technique, etc.