VIRTUE Gymnastics invited me to a one-to-one session earlier this month and I was more than impressed by my experience.
When first stepping into the building, gymnastics coach Celine Payne welcomed me in and showed me around, including where the main facilities were.
She made me feel instantly at ease as I felt slightly nervous at the fact that I hadn’t stepped foot in a gymnasium in over 15 years.
At first glance, the whole space felt very clean and tidy and all the signs dotted around made it easy to find where certain rooms are.
To start the one-to-one session, Celine led a thorough warm up consisting of a light jog around the floor area and a full body stretch.
After warming up, Celine brought me over to the track area where I learnt cartwheels, hand stands, forward rolls, round offs and flics.
Celine was clear and precise in explaining and demonstrating each exercise.
If you progress quickly, then Celine is not afraid to challenge you with a more complex move if she thinks you’re capable of it.
She decided to let me try a preparation into a flic, which was great to try out on my first session.
Moving on to the trampette, Celine then took me through the basics of going into a tucked front somersault.
She showed me how to correctly run up and prepare to jump on the trampette before going into the move.
We then went over to the bars, where Celine showed me back hip circles, which looked quite daunting at first glance.
And she was great at physically supporting my back and legs as I attempted the move.
I used a round ball underneath to sit on at the start, which was to help me get into position and get round the bar a bit easier.
The idea behind this was to prepare you for the more advanced version of the back hip circle, and to not use the support underneath.
For the last part of the class, we finished with some exercises on the beam.
Going through all the basics on how to correctly walk on it, Celine demonstrated slowly how to find your balance on the beam.
Once I’d got to grips with that, she showed me how to do a round off dismount.
As this was difficult, Celine again was there to hold my legs and guide me through the exercise.
Each lesson finishes with a cool down, this is to prevent any injuries after class.
And Celine uses this time to ask how you found the session and what you achieved.
Throughout the whole class, Celine was friendly, supportive and patient.
From talking to her and owner Kara Chance after the lesson, you can tell how much they care for their students.
Prior to the sessions, the coaches will get in touch with the student and go through what they want to achieve with the classes.
The one-to-one lessons are tailored to the student, and the coaches take their time to put a plan together to cater each pupil.
Virtue Gymnastics not only offers classes for all ages and abilities, but it also hosts regular weekend parties.
This includes a one and a half hour event with games, gym time and food.
The party options to choose from are preschool, gymnastics, parkour and aerobic dance.
If you’re keen to learn how to cartwheel and tumble then I’d highly recommend trying out Virtue Gymnastics.
For more details, log on to: virtuegymnastics.co.uk
