Chances are, you think of gymnastics as child’s play. That’s because most tweens give it up when puberty and homework get in the way. But there’s no rule that adults can’t do somersaults. Tim Preston, owner of Preston Gymnastics Academy in Gaithersburg, learned that lesson seven years ago when a parent of a student begged him to start teaching grown-ups.
“I was nervous at the time, but all of those fears have disappeared,” says Preston, who now offers adult classes three nights a week.
They aren’t all that different from what he does with youngsters. “It’s basically like teaching big children,” Preston says. Turns out, no matter how old you are, getting to jump on trampolines, perform vaults and hang on rings makes it easy to forget you’re also developing core strength, balance, flexibility, power and body awareness.
I know I did when I took one of Preston’s classes back in 2006. So why haven’t I managed to go back? Location, location, location.
There are an incredible number of fitness facilities in the District, but there isn’t a single gymnastics gym. That means urban dwellers of all ages looking for a place with a regulation 42-by-42-foot floor better get ready for a drive (hardly any of them are accessible via public transportation). And even fewer of them open their doors to adult students.
Head over heels in the burbs
The two biggest hurdles to my plan are space and cost, explains Joe D’Emidio, who has run the YMCA of Greater Washington’s gymnastics program in Arlington since 1972. As property values have risen over the years, he’s seen gymnastics drift farther into the suburbs, where it’s easier to afford warehouse-size buildings.
“You need high enough ceilings so that people doing giants don’t hit the lights,” he says. (A giant is when you hold on to a bar or rings and swing all the way around, starting and finishing in a handstand.)
Equipment is pricey, and so is insurance. Preston says it’s much more expensive to have adult students because they’re more likely to hurt themselves. Thick mats and spotting from instructors help make moves safer, but when accidents happen, older, heavier, less limber bodies don’t tend to handle it as well.
That hasn’t stopped the demand for adult offerings, however. In 2004, when Carly Meyer took over the gymnastics program at Arlington County’s Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center, there was just one class for age 17 and older. Now there are four, divided into levels of ability. (Details for the next session are in the county’s spring recreation catalogue.)
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