It's no secret that the Olympics inspire me. Watching the athletes compete makes me hungry to take care of my body and stay in shape. During the Athens 2004 Games, I was moved to take up swimming. Goggles? Check. Swim cap? Check. Affordable membership to someplace with a pool? Forget about it. My dream was short-lived.
I decided that, after watching the Men's Gymnastics competition in these Beijing 2008 Games, that I would look into some gymnastics classes for adult beginners. Surely NYC, if anywhere, would have something like this. After all, it is the place where dreams come true. Chelsea Piers offers just the course I was looking for. Last night, I went with my buddy, Will, to this gymnastics class and it was awesome!
Understand, I have NO gymnastics experience. Didn't matter here, though. We learned forward handsprings, back handsprings, jumping forward rolls, and some other stuff, too. It's the ideal place to learn because the whole place is padded and you just practice again and again and again without worry of hurting yourself (too) badly. I managed to sprain my thumb early on, but I persevered through the pain and finished the night strong. If only Bela Karolyi had been there to carry me off the mat.
The other cool thing is that, in this same gymnastics room, is all of the Olympic apparatuses. There were guys there who were practicing on the high bar and still rings. These fellas look like Olympic hopefuls. It was amazing to watch them practice. Who knows, maybe we'll see them in the 2012 games?
If you're inspired by the Olympics like I am, ride the inspiration and go pursue your athletic dreams. I'll never be Olympian, but at least I can say I gave gymnastics a try. No regrets.
1 comment:
After watching yesterday, I believe I would like to do rhythmic gymnastics. It's got sparkly costumes, fancy props, cheesy choreography. It's like drill team, and colorguard, and Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion all rolled into one. Awesome.
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