Welcome to The Geriatric Gymnast website!
Hopefully you’ve had a chance to click around a bit. If not, check out the different topics in the navigation menu to see what piques your interest when you get a chance.
We’re now in mid-July and I’ve been settling into my summer break nicely. I’ll be going back to work as a high school dance and theater teacher in September, but in this moment, I’m practicing my retirement habits. I’m quite happy about it.
In the past three weeks, I’ve done a whole lot.
I helped my friend Debby move Flipper’s Gymnastics to its new home. That was a LOT of work, but in the two weeks of moving, I got the best non-flipping workout ever.
We removed the old gym floor from the old space into the new space. That was like climbing Mount Everest. 5’x5′ sprung floor squares fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, covered with 5’x5′ luon, covered by the foam flooring.
It was an insane project. The team moved every ounce of gym equipment large and small, office stuff, and everything else in the business from one warehouse space to the one next door. And we had to fit it into less square feet.
Then, there was my carpet removal project at home. For years, I’ve wanted to get rid of the 40-year-old wall to wall gross carpeting in my bedroom. After we did all of the gym moving marathon, I still felt some energy to take on this next project.
Back to training
I was so happy to get back to my regular gym workouts!
Our first few classes at Flipper’s were all about navigating the new space. It’s a little more compact, so we had to orient ourselves. It didn’t take us long to find the fun in our new training home.
Tammy mentioned that Paradigm Athletic Center was doing a Friday open gym during the summer. They have all sorts of foam pits, so I thought it might be a good way to try some of the skills I won’t do at Flipper’s (yet). During the school year, it’s too far for me to travel. But in the summer time, I can do a mini-road trip once in a while. 😉
Then, the piece-de-resistance:
The Geriatric Gymnast website.
Since I started blogging on Stacey’s Headspace and calling myself The Geriatric Gymnast for fun, I wanted to make a separate space for all my gymnastics posts. The domain name was available, and I thought it was time to take it on.
Website design isn’t exactly my strong suit, but I’ve figured it out before. I went with the blue, black and white colors to match the logo I made last year. Then, my creative brain went into overdrive. What did I want to say? How did I want to reach people with this?
Each piece of the navigation menu represents a facet of gymnastics that I’ve discovered in the last eighteen years. What inspires and motivates me is sure to do so for someone else. What is existing in midlife like when you’re a gymnast all about? How do I deal with fear, injuries, and the non-linear nature of progress? And how in the world does a 50-something have the gumption to step foot in a gymnastics camp or competition stage for the first time, ever?
Remember, I did not do any gymnastics as a kid. Everything I learned about doing gymnastics, save for watching the Olympics every four years, was learned as an adult. I was 36 when I started bouncing on a trampoline and trying my first handstands.
So now, I have a dedicated space for all things adult gymnastics. Let people in your flippy friend circles know about it. Subscribe, share, comment: do all the things that we do for things we like. What would you like to see more of? Let me know!
The Geriatric Gymnast 
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