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Reply 20
Original post by frenchfries


[video="youtube;1egn6D4T82E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1egn6D4T82E[/video]


Great video but apparently gymnastics is for pussys :rolleyes:

Original post by iSMark
You've just proved that gymnasts are pussys. Well done for proving yourself wrong.

Reply 21
Original post by 99luft Balons
Mental strength is the number one key to being a successful gymnast. It doesn't matter how physically in shape you are if you don't have the ability mentally. Gymnastics is all about performing extremely difficult skills and making them look effortless. As you get higher in level, the harder the skills get. For most gymnasts, the problem isn't physically being able to do a skill, it's mentally being able to. Doing flips on a four inch beam or flipping from one bar to the other may seem effortless when watching a good gymnast compete them, but it's terrifying to do.

Many gymnasts say that mental blocks are one of the worst parts of gymnastics.


That's just pressure from competition, same as in any sport. It's only because gymnastics doesn't have very many events (footballers can play up to three times a week) that each time they do something they have huge pressure.

Unless you're saying the gymnasts are fearful of falling off even in practice, which I would find hard to believe. Do it enough times and you know you can do it. But put pressure on, with a lot to lose and then yes, it does become harder.
Original post by Hopple
That's just pressure from competition, same as in any sport. It's only because gymnastics doesn't have very many events (footballers can play up to three times a week) that each time they do something they have huge pressure.


Thats not true. As a former gymnast, a lot of gymnastics is mental strength. In practice as much as at a competition. For gymnasts you're generally supposed to treat every turn like you are at competition and every turn if you mess up there is a risk of injury. And in season gymnastics usually are competing every weekend while practicing at least 3-5 hours a day.

Unless you're saying the gymnasts are fearful of falling off even in practice, which I would find hard to believe. Do it enough times and you know you can do it. But put pressure on, with a lot to lose and then yes, it does become harder.


As I said above the pressure is on in practice as much as competition. During the season you have to treat every turn like a competition to make it as perfect as possible for the real thing. And in the off season you must push yourself to learn the most you possibly can so as to improve your routines for the start of the next season. Especially as gymnasts get older this can lead to mental blocks. Obviously after learning a skill and doing it many times it becomes easier to not psych yourself out but when learning new skills, at higher levels, can be very intimidating. How do you think you would feel about flipping on a 4 inch beam or trying a new dismount/release on the bars?
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 23
You can't compare two different sports on such a vague notion as difficulty, its competely meaningless.

Its a reasonable assumption to make that the best players in the world at sport X are probably roughly equivalent in terms of "ability at that sport" to the best players in the world at any other sport.
Original post by sword
the difficulty of any sport is only based on the level of competition in said sport, and seeing as how the talent pool in football is infinitely greater than it is in gymnastics, no, gymnastics is not "harder" than football


isn't gymnastics hugely popular in China,Russia,USA,Romania, Japan, Ukraine,Eastern Europe?

Not as popular as football ofcourse , but all countries with extremely large populations.There's probably greater level of competition for a gymnast in China than a footballer in England.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 25
For those saying gymnasts don't have the mental aspect of making quick decisions like in football, they do. Look at tumblers for example, when they get an unexpectedly lower amount of bounce they have to change the tumble midway, deciding exactly what will be the best moves to regain power while keeping near the tariff they'd provided.

And my opinion.. much prefer to watch than football!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbsWHsiFQ84
Reply 26
Original post by johnharris19944
Yeah it seems really extreme. My sister is currently doing Gymnastics and i thought she was doing too much at 14 hours a week haha then you came along and destroyed what i thought :P


yeh 14 is till a lot as long as she enjoys it!
Reply 27
Original post by Busby_Babe
I think they're so different and require such a different skill sets it really is impossible to compare the two. Anyone who reaches the top in either is a special athlete in some sense. Physically I don't think there is any doubt gymnastics is harder but I'd argue the mental ability top footballers have to process so much information and act accordingly with perfect technique in a split second is a rarer and more impressive feat, that's purely opinion though.


So do gymnasts.They require tremendous strength—both upper body and core—as well as split second timing at the higher levels.

Original post by MightyMe.
For those saying gymnasts don't have the mental aspect of making quick decisions like in football, they do. Look at tumblers for example, when they get an unexpectedly lower amount of bounce they have to change the tumble midway, deciding exactly what will be the best moves to regain power while keeping near the tariff they'd provided.

And my opinion.. much prefer to watch than football!
[video="youtube;fbsWHsiFQ84"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbsWHsiFQ84[/video]


+1

Football is a spectator sport,it is more enjoyable to watch :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by becky16
yeh 14 is till a lot as long as she enjoys it!


Haha yup i think she does although it is tiring for her.
Reply 29
Original post by Busby_Babe
I think they're so different and require such a different skill sets it really is impossible to compare the two. Anyone who reaches the top in either is a special athlete in some sense. Physically I don't think there is any doubt gymnastics is harder but I'd argue the mental ability top footballers have to process so much information and act accordingly with perfect technique in a split second is a rarer and more impressive feat, that's purely opinion though.


Original post by Hopple
Your ability as a footballer is determined by physical ability, but also on your mental ability to outsmart and/or out-react various opponents. You also get many chances at doing this, and have team-mates to back you up should you fail, but also the opposition being a team means you need a string of mini-victories to succeed over all.

Gymnastics is purely physical ability, so I don't think you can really compare them. There is also less demand for gymnasts, and football is definitely easier to get into (no fancy equipment), so there's why it's tougher to get to the top as a gymnast (though you could argue that even being the best footballer in the world might not be able to win trophies if they are in a weak club/national team).


You guys obviously do not have a clue about gymnastics.Gymnastics carries a huge mental burden on athletes. The goal of the sport is perfections. Every routine an athlete steps into they are trying their best to not make a mistake. If they make a big mistake or a small mistake there is no reset button the routine must go on,it could also lead to serious injuries such as being paralyzed.

I swear they practice for like a endless hours a week, and even if they don’t, it must feel like it. Gymnastics requires, sickening balance, mental toughness, body control, and even a bit of speed to get to that vault.

The wipe outs in gymnastics look painful as hell, and never mind the fact that the injuries are some of the worst in sports. I have personally watched 3 athletes blow their achillies tendons and I don’t watch it that much.

Generally, gymnasts are short, but incredibly strong and quite young while competing at an international level. I would think that this amount of training would be incredibly stressful on them as they have been training from the time they could walk. Also, they don’t have as long careers as footballers.

Most of the population of the world could not even do one practice of what people in gymnastics go through.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 30
Ok, here is a little example:

A sport with 2 people competing against each other

vs.

A sport with 1000 people competing against each other


which is most likely to be the one of a higher standard and more competitive?

I don't need to answer. Now sit down.
Reply 31
Original post by frenchfries
isn't gymnastics hugely popular in China,Russia,USA,Romania, Japan, Ukraine,Eastern Europe?

Not as popular as football ofcourse , but all countries with extremely large populations.There's probably greater level of competition for a gymnast in China than a footballer in England.


Football is the most popular sport in the world. Please give informed information instead of thoughts that pop into your head about China being BIG and stuff.....durrrrr.
Reply 32
Original post by 99luft Balons

Anyway I would love to see you do a double back handspring on a beam which is only 4 inches! you climb a 20 ft or longer rope with only hands or do 50 handstand push ups.You probably can't get off your fat arse:rolleyes:

I have taken so many of my football-playing, rugby-playing, tough guy friends to open gym with me, and not one of them could climb the rope using only their arms and keeping their legs at horizontal like I had to do every day at the gym when I was an 8-year-old little girl.


Well, thanks for getting personal. I'm not actually that fat, last time I checked I was 13 stone with 9% body fat.

So your friends generalise the whole of the football/rugby community? I don't think I would ever want to climb a rope like that, I was given legs for a reason. I don't challenge you to do 100 keepy ups with a football, because that would be silly, I would know you can't do that, you're a gymnast.
Reply 33
I just gave you the example, now re-read and try to understand. That is logic :wink:
Original post by iSMark
Football is the most popular sport in the world. Please give informed information instead of thoughts that pop into your head about China being BIG and stuff.....durrrrr.


How is that relevant to anything that frenchfries said? :confused: Also the popularity or amount of people participating in a sport does not make it more or less competitive. Competitiveness stems from the rules of competition and the desire to be more successful than others...not the amount of people participating. :colonhash:
Reply 35
lol @ this thread, what does it even mean? Which is "harder"? What the **** does that mean?

You can participate in either sport to whatever extent you like. There's nothing "hard" about either of them, at the level a given person can perform. What does it mean?
Original post by iSMark
I just gave you the example, now re-read and try to understand. That is logic :wink:


Lol what you presented to NYU was not logic. Please try again. :colondollar:
Reply 37
No you don't.
Reply 38
You may study logic, that doesn't however make you win every debate. No wonder you're a douche, you need to study logic hahah.
Original post by iSMark
You may study logic, that doesn't however make you win every debate. No wonder you're a douche, you need to study logic hahah.


So why is it then that the more people participating makes something more competitive? Where is the logic behind that reasoning?

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