Rings

I left the park but I forgot my rings. When I came back, someone was training on them.

@verretor Lord of the Rings

@pete There’s actually a gymnast that is known as “Lord of the Rings”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBmy9JWyCS4

You’ll notice that he’s quite short. Ring specialists are never tall. I’m 5’9”, almost 5’10”. Too tall to be a ring specialist.

@verretor ha, that name totally doesn't surprise me.

Gymnasts are amazing. I nearly took gymnastics as a kid. But I was too shy back then. I really should have.

@pete My mother didn’t care when I told her I wanted to do gymnastics as a child. I did acrogym later and I actually gave classes but that’s more like circus stuff.

@verretor @pete Ya'll should try parkour if you have a gym in your area. Lots of crossover with gymnastics and acro. I was always angree at the gymnast/acro folks because they rolled up and could do most things day 1.

@Corydoras @pete Government keeps closing gyms here. I also like rock climbing but I haven’t practiced since the first lockdown.

@verretor @pete That stinks, I'm sorry. Things are opening up in my area but a bunch of good gyms didn't survive the mandated shutdowns. Sometimes you can find meetups to train parkour on the street but I always found that intimidating. Unsurprisingly, rockclimbing also has a lot of crossover with parkour (that grip strength tho.) I'll always shill for parkour lol. It's a great sport.

@Corydoras @verretor Parkour is a lot scarier than climbing. I used to do what was basically traditional parkour as a kid before I even knew about it (there was a large boulder breakwater near me). If I did it now I'd be taking pretty big risks, as falls are so much worse when your fat...

OTOH, even as a kid I made almost no mistakes.

@pete @verretor I guess it's all a matter of perspective, ha. I don't do big gaps because I'm old and scared and love my knees lol. But I still feel like I can do a lot with parkour - focusing on techy movements rather than big, showy stuff.

I've tried climbing a few times and liked it a lot. I'm cheap though so I've never worked myself up to investing in the memberships/gear.

@Corydoras @verretor Climbing is unusual, because it tends to either be very safe, or deadly. It's fairly uncommon for people to even sprain ankles climbing, especially with top rope. OTOH I've seen someone fall 30ft due to a belaying mistake - had they not been in a padded gym, or had just fallen awkwardly or on someone, they'd have been killed instantly. Fortunately the thick padding the gym had installed left them with nothing more than a sprained back.

@pete @verretor That's terrifying, haaa. What are the demographics for climbing like, out of curiosity? At parkour, I haven't seen too many serious injuries personally, but OFC idiots yeet themselves off tall buildings, and that makes headlines as a parkour accident. The worst injuries I've gotten are severe bruises from whiffing vaults.

@Corydoras @verretor In terms of top-notch climbers, I think the majority are late 20's to early 30's, with men and women being represented about equally.

But as for who you actually see at gyms, it's a really big age range. It's not uncommon to see people who look like they're in their 60's and even 70's climbing in gyms, both men and women.

It's a sport where intelligence can make up for being weak and fat. I would know... 😂

@pete @verretor Interesting. Now that you mention it, I do remember my climber friend saying something about grip strength peaking later in life comparatively than most other physical assets. Parkour is mostly teenage boys at the gym, but one of the top global teams is men in their upper 20's/30's. Teenage boys don't think they can die so they always win on the mental game.

I definitely think parkour could be more like climbing, where you have an older crowd that focuses on intelligent and precise movements rather than just big death drops, but it has a such a reputation as a sport for dumb kids.

@Corydoras @verretor You're right, turns out grip strength does peak in your 30's for both men and women: https://theconversation.com/what-your-hand-grip-says-about-your-strength-through-life-35063

I didn't actually know that!

Though I wonder if climbers have the same peak? I started indoor climbing when I was 15 or 16, and climbed trees much earlier than that. I'm sure that must affect how your body develops.