i always wanted to do gymnastics but unfortunately, i am 16.
YEP, "TOO OLD TO START."
but i wanted to give it a try.

you can say i was inspired by the olympics, but under what category can i start in order to catch on to the events in the olympics?

from your experiences, what was the difficulty, experience ,etc. like?
and depending on the practices, how fast can i catch on and learn?

its gonna be embarrassing cause i know ill be the oldest in a beginning class amongst 6-9 year olds T-T.

BTW,
if any of you live in los angeles, where are some affordable good places to learn?
ive only found the los angeles school of gymnastics but i wanted more alternatives.

I think there was a thread already with questions like these, but I'll answer them anyways ^ ^

I kinda don't understand when you say catergory..do you mean like a class?
If you're just starting out, you could see if any gyms have highschool classes.

Okay my experiences:
I started out in a recreational class and then decided to start competition levels.
(Competition levels is where you start to build up to elite levels and become really really good).
Once I started out it wasn't too hard (4 hours a day, 3 days a week with meets on the weekends).
But that was only when I was in level 4.
Once I started moving up levels, practice just kept getting harder and harder.
It was 4 hours a day 4-5 days a week (plus meets every single weekend).
I had to become wayyyy more flexible and strong, so that meant stretching and conditioning all the time.
I got up to level 7 and that was all that my body could take.
Plus my coaches always seemed to have a stick shoved up their butt, so that was another reason why I quit.

I can't really say how fast you can catch on because it's different for everybody.
But I know that gymnastics isn't an easy thing to catch on to period.
It takes a lot of time, practice, and dedication.

And if you're trying to find a gym, try driving around warehouse areas.
Gymnastic places are usually warehouses because they need lots of space.

I hope this all helped! And good luck!

^
how much did you pay for your classes?
im looking for a general amount.
and when you started off with recreational classes, did you start off with tumbling and like, the balance beam?

do you start getting to uneven bars and floor exercises as you level up to the top?

how exciting though o_o
how old were you when you started and quit?

Lol. Haha. I'm 14 and people said 'Too old to start too.'
I was asking my sis ' Should I do artistic or rhythmic?'
And she said 'None. Do Taekwondo.'
My friend said 'Your bones are matured already.'
But I still stretch and try to gain more flexibility at home.
Trying to do oversplits now.
Also looking for courses in Spore.

i found a few videos you can watch at home online and learn

http://www.expertvillage.com/search.htm?s=...p;submit=Search

i'm also interested in gymnastics but i'm past the 'age'.. and i'm quite 'tall' for gymnastics.. but i don't think you can ever be TOO LATE to learn anything.. and i don't think height/weight/handicap will stop you and anyone from learning anything. impossible is nothing.. (hahha i sound corny but hey i like the 'impossible is nothing' slogan from adidas)

but i guess it's unrealistic to expect to become an elite/professional athlete but i think it's totally doable for recreational purposes..

i heard the best thing before starting is to become as flexible as you can.. lots of stretching...

i don't think i'd fare well in gymnastics.. i have the weakest arms ever and can't last a second on flexed arm hang and can't do a single pull up. i watched nastia liukin conditioning/warming up... ahhh you gotta be super strong in the arms and just everything...

Ahhh sorry for the late reply ><

Right now I'm doing a high school class which is only 2 days a week.
We have this stamp card (when we come in for practice, my coaches put a stamp on the card)
And it was $150 for a card.
I think the card had about 15-20 spaces.

When I started with recreational, we did every single event, but we didn't go straight to routines.
We did drills all the time to work on basic things.
At the gym I went to (and this most likely goes for every gym out there), all 4 events had to be done.
Unless you have a certain injury and can't do all 4, you would pretty much be doing all the events.

Hmm, lemme think for a second---
I was in kindergarten when I started so I was about 5/6 years old.
I quit competition level when I was 14.
I still do gymnastics though, but only for my high school team (I'm 15 right now).