Trying to Lose the 'C' Word

 

I find there is something I do when something pops up in a WOD, the first thing I say is that I can't do it.  My mind goes into overdrive and shuts down.  This is what happened when I decided to join in the gymnastics WOD on Saturday.  Normally we have Pilates but our instructor was away so the coaches substituted with gymnastics instead.  I have absolutely no talent for gymnastics WHAT.SO.EVER!  I could have not gone, it would have been easier to stay at home but because I'm not good at it I chose to stick around after the 8 am WOD and do gymnastics.

 

The warm up included cartwheels.  Like handstands, I have NEVER been able to do cartwheels and, of course, everyone in the class were cartwheeling like they do them every day.  Me, I had to get shown where to put my hands and what to do with my legs ... it has been 30-odd years since I failed gymnastics in PE.  My initial thought was, "Nope, it's not going to happen.  Everyone is going to laugh at me."

 

I know I've said it so many times, but the coaches are so patient with people like me (uncoordinated and unathletic) and after some instruction I managed to do a bunny hop pseudo-cartwheelie thing.  We then moved onto some muscle up transitions which I enjoyed.  Ring dips and pull ups are something I'm kind of okay at.  I have a long way to go before getting remotely close to a muscle up but I love bouncing around on the bands when we do the transitions.

 

Next up was rope climbs.  I have actually never climbed the rope before as we only have one rope at our box.  We were shown how to clamp the rope between our feet so we use our legs to shimmy up the rope rather than tax our arms.  I managed to climb halfway up the rope but, to be honest, I don't think I would remember my foot positions if I tried it again today.

 

We finished the day with a quick 10 minute WOD of bear crawls, push ups and sit ups.  I left the gym with a big smile on my face.  When I got home I said to Mal that the one thing I like about myself is that I can still have fun even if I'm not great at it.  I hope they find a spot in the week for a regular gymnastics class ... mind you, it may be like the mobility and pilates classes for me in that I never have time to get to them with my family commitments.