Lessons learned from Ccmpetitive gymnastics
Looking back, leading the lifestyle I led during my competitive gymnastics years was not sustainable. But it was never meant to be.
We worked our bodies so hard that our caloric input could hardly keep up with our output. Our growth and development was delayed by the rigorous physical activity the sport demanded. We developed injuries that lasted well beyond our athletic careers. We were put through mental stress and challenges that most individuals won’t experience in the first 40 years of their life, let alone at age 10.
While these factors may sound negative when stated so bluntly, they are also what makes gymnastics one of the most transformational sports. Sure, all these things in conjunction are exactly what makes the gymnastics lifestyle unsustainable past age 16 for most people, but they are also what shape gymnasts into mentally strong, disciplined and driven individuals once they’re finished with the sport.
A sport like gymnastics builds your mental strength into a fortress - you are simply unable to escape your knowing of how capable you are. You have proved it to yourself time and time again by conquering skills and mental challenges which seemed insurmountable, by coming back from nearly career-ending injuries, re-focusing and bouncing back after a rough routine at a competition, and by showing up to training every day committed to put in 100% effort - even when you desperately want a day off.
Gymnastics is all a game of what you’re made of: rubber or china. Those made of rubber bounce back the fastest, are the most flexible (figuratively and literally) and the ones who can rise instead of fall when faced with a challenge or tribulation. Gymnastics teaches you to absorb your landing; in more ways than just on your dismount. Instead of hitting the ground hard and sticking it perfectly or falling apart instantaneously, gymnastics teaches you how to adapt, how to catch yourself before you fall and how to do the best you possibly can in whatever situation you’re in.
Gymnastics isn’t about perfection like everyone says. It’s about stretching the limitations that we place on ourselves and occasionally going “out of bounds” when it comes to our perception of our own capabilities. Gymnastics, while focused on technique, rigor and discipline, teaches athletes to push themselves, become comfortable with fear and to have 100% confidence in their own ability - which is truly the only way to ever progress towards a challenging goal.
Gymnastics teaches you who you are. It teaches you how you handle yourself when things are great, when things are tough, when you feel weak, strong, neglected, valued, fearful, motivated, resentful, powerful. When you don’t believe in yourself, gymnastics teaches you to pick yourself up, talk yourself out of it, and get out there and prove to yourself that you can do the thing you’re convinced is out of your reach.
Gymnastics teaches you that you can do what you decide to do. If you decide you can’t, you sure as heck won’t. If you decide you can, you might have to work a lot harder than you wanted or thought you could, but you can almost certainly do that thing.
It is about persistence, resilience and strength. It’s about knowing yourself and how to get the best out of yourself in any situation. It’s about not giving in to your weaknesses or fears - and finding a way to do the hard thing, even when every part of you doesn’t think you can do it (i.e. getting back up to do a skill on beam you’ve failed at 25 times in a row).
It’s quite profound looking back and thinking about the mental pressure I went through at such a young age to perform extremely well, constantly be improving, pushing myself, getting better, stronger, faster, tougher (while implicit in the environment around me, most of this pressure was coming from myself). It was a pretty intense environment to grow up in, but it does create a certain mental shell which makes gymnasts less susceptible to the typical distractions or challenges that most people face.
Gymnastics teaches its athletes to be confident and determined. More than anything, gymnastics teaches you how to go for it. It breeds grit into its athletes, and in my opinion, having a few relentlessly hard-working and determined individuals - especially girls - growing up through these experiences is exactly what this world needs. Of course, there are extremes which exist in gymnastics, as they do in any sport, which I do not touch on here… That’s a whole new conversation.
I’ll leave you with a few brief take-aways that I learned from gymnastics. Hopefully, even if you weren’t a competitive gymnast, these will help you take something away from this article that has nothing to do with gymnastics at all. You must master your mind to be the best at anything; success (and failure) is all mental. Work out when you’re sore so you’ll appreciate work outs even more when you’re not sore. Your life gets a lot better, and feels a lot easier, when you stop complaining and start doing. Stop saying “I can’t do X”. We can do most things if we’re willing to put in the work. If you don’t want to put in the work, then revisit #3. Having a supportive team in any intense environment - work, school, sports, etc. - ties you to each other for life. It’s important to hustle, but even more important to rest and let yourself heal when you’re feeling burnt out. This applies both mentally and physically. Listen to your body (most of the time). Inquire before listening to your mind; your emotions often play tricks on you and try to convince you out of doing the things you actually want. Make sure you are excited by what you’re working towards, otherwise the hard work required to get there will feel a lot harder than it should. Try to find joy in the situation you’re in — whether things are awesome and you feel great or things are tough and this challenge will teach you something on the other end. There’s always something to be learned and usually the challenges we face are the situations which provide the most returns in the long-run. Lastly, a big shout-out to all my coaches and teammates who made this sport such a significant part of who I am. You have all been inspiring to me in various ways at various times in my life when I’ve needed a friend or a role model. Shout-out #2 to the little gymnasts out there working hard! Hang in there, the work pays off. And finally, thanks to gymnastics for always kicking my butt and making me the person I am today. Much love to this sport always!