VERBUM II - Junior Magazine 2016

Anonymous: Gymnastics in One Page

You may think that gymnastics is easy. Well, you got it wrong this time. Gymnastics needs very strong muscles and a flexible body. If you have high flexibility, then you have a greater ability to master more skills. You need to clear the idea from your mind that "it is too late to start gymnastics".

To learn this sport, you need to do a lot of stretching and exercising. You can start by doing common exercises, such as push-ups, sit-ups, curl-ups, pull-ups, and more. You can also stretch your back, wrist, leg, arm, hand, and feet. Furthermore, it's better to start with easy moves. Beginners can start with level-one moves like cartwheel, bridge, front role, and back role. Afterwards, you can progress to level-two moves, then level-three moves, and much more.

Hopefully, you'll find a lot of equipment to practice on, like bars, mats, beams, vaults, barrels, rings, and trampolines. You can use bars to strengthen your muscles, mats to practice yoga, and trampolines to learn a front or back flip.

There is special apparel for gymnastics, too. Gymnasts usually wear a leotard, which looks quite like a swimming suit, but with different fabrics. However, if you don't have one, you can just wear sweatpants and a shirt or sports bra.

There are several gyms you can go to in Jeddah, such as Dynamic Code Center (DCC), Expression Fitness, and Chamelle Sports Club, where you can also have competitions after a specific period of time.

In conclusion, gymnastics is not is easy, andneeds a lot of practice. For sure you will get injuries and, sometimes, painfulones, but don't forget that "no pain, no gain."