What is it?
Gymnastics is the performance of exercises that require strength, balance, grace and control.
How does it work?
There are hundreds of gymnastics clubs across the country, and many of these groups now hold classes specifically for adults. Alternatively, you can practise some of the basic floor moves, stretches and toning exercises at home.
Is it really for adults?
Apparently so. But a childlike fearlessness, suppleness and determination come in handy too.
What is it like?
I was not exactly lighthearted as I approached my afternoon of stretching, tumbling, beam work and vault jumping.
The sight of all those wall-mounted wooden bars, parallel bar equipment and dangling ropes did little to ease my panic. I was not, you see, good at gymnastics at school.
Joining me at the training session was the Commonwealth Games gymnast Ruby Harrold, who walked me through her warm-up training session, including most of the main gymnastic disciplines.
We started by jogging around a floor so highly sprung, I felt like a gazelle in leggings.
We then tried to do reverse sit-ups on one of those wooden benches that you hook on to wall bars. Well, I tried, while Ruby did about 40, suspended in mid-air like someone undergoing medieval torture. Frankly, Ruby is a superhero – as strong and supple as I am soft and creaky.
I was treated to more of Ruby’s superhuman heroics next as I watched her clamber up a rope with her legs pointing out in a perfect mid-air split.
A number of girl gymnasts, who came up to my hips, were running, whirling, spinning in the air, leaping off vaulting blocks and parallel bars, and doing perfect flips in the air without any fear.
I had a go at the beam, of course. It was basically like doing yoga on a 10cm wide plank. I did however, manage something I think we can charitably call an arabesque, with a lot of assistance from the girls around me.
Finally, I asked a girl who barely came up to my knees to teach me how to do a somersault. You know, a proper one. Apparently, the secret is to jump as you go into it and keep your head tucked in. I managed something like a forward roll.
It’s fair to say I’m never going to win a medal for my gymnastics. Unless they hand out an award for the Most Tight-Fitting Leotard.
But I got to wear Ruby’s medals. And I did leave the class feeling like I had just run 10km, swum for an hour and done two hours on the climbing wall. Which is more than I ever managed at school.
Where can I try it?
For gymnastic classes all over the UK go to the Adult Gymnastics page of the British Gymnastics website .
I had my session at the Academy of Gymnastics, in suburban Portishead, where medal-winning athletes have trained.
