I wonder where this little girl went . . .

[MaryGilbeaux]

I was watching little girls turn cartwheels. At that age, I was turning cartwheels without using my hands - you just had to believe you could do it. I believed it and so I could do it.
I don't know when this stopped.
When did I become timid? I wish I was intrepid

[Birdsgottafly]

I think it's a combination of getting a sense of danger and losing confidence in our physical abilities (which happens more in girls than boys).

More boys die in accidents, or rather because of taking risks, than girls, so it's not a bad thing, as such.

However, Society loves to tell Women what we can't or shouldn't be doing, especially as we age.

Embrace a feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway, Ethos.

[lemony7]

She's still in there! What happens when you try to do this now? You might surprise yourself or fall in a heap and do damage

[CaoNiMartacus]

How do you do cartwheels without your hands? slightly misses point

[Silvercatowner]

you just had to believe you could do it

You really didn't.

[KindergartenKop]

I could never do cartwheels, I was too cautious! Also fat.
But I can still lick my right to. Not my left though, it's curiously less bendy.

[KindergartenKop]

Toe, not to!

[DeadGood]

As well as the usual "children are rubbery and don't get injured in the same way us brittle old wimmin do" argument, I think there is a degree of physics to it as well. Children are smaller and can move differently... someone cleverer than me will come along soon hopefully, and explain it.

I'm thinking along the lines of how ants can fall from great heights and wander off happily and without injury, or how you couldn't scale a mouse up to the size of an elephant, the distribution of weight wouldn't work.

[CarbyDiem]

I tried this a short while ago. In my head I could still do it. The unpracticed stiff body couldn't. I landed on my head. It hurt.
However at 43 and quite fat I can still do a normal cartwheel and in a good day a walkover. My teenagers love it

[frogsoup]

I can pinpoint the exact moment this happened for me. I used to leap over the school gym horse at top speed, like a gazelle. Then one day, aged about 14, I got to the bouncy thing that you take off from (you can tell I'm well up to speed on my gymnastics terminology...), and thought 'shit, this is scary', and stopped dead. That was it. Never managed it again!!! I think it's partly a growing up thing - you start to think of the things that might go wrong and get a healthy measure of restraint! Some people never acquire it, you'll find them on top of Everest, on the moon, crossing the Antarctic, and suchlike. Or often, dead, after one risk too far. So go easy on the handless cartwheels, you hear .

[BewareOfDragons]

I think we called them aerials, handless cartwheels, and I could never do one. :(

[GrouchyKiwi]

Silvercatowner Gymnasts do hands-free cartwheels all the time...

[0to3SadOnions]

Off the back of this thread, I just did a handstand up the wall to see if I still could, and I think I've fixed my prolapse

[ZeppelinBend]

Last time I tried to do a normal cartwheel I pulled a hamstring - after me bigging up to the dc how I used to gymnastics and I'd show them how to do it properly . I used to be able to do flips dammit.

[Flowershower]

hmmmm...free cartwheel takes more skill than just 'believing'...seen plenty of gymnasts learning it and it takes a while. As for why not now - age/lack of flexibility/the physics of launching my much heavier body into the air!

[Grimbles]

When I was younger, and shops were closed on Sundays, we would go up to the top of the local muti-story car-park and roller skate down the ramps at full speed, never even worrying that we might meet a car on its way up.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I used to ride horses.
Now I'd fall off, injure myself and (most likely) wee myself

Where did that brave slender equestrienne go?

[hmcAsWas]

Its not just lack of self belief in my case - my 49 year old body (despite regular exercise - running and cycling) is highly inflexible, particularly my spine and hips! Ffs - if my shoelace comes undone on a dog walk I am looking for a raised tree stump to rest my foot on (in order to minimise the stoop required to tie my laces)

[SemiNormal]

I used to love doing handstands, then my mum told me about this man who did a headstand in a pub and fell, snapping his neck and it either killed him or left him paralysed. That was the end of my handstands!

I also watched a video recently of a man doing some kind of flip and he fell and broke his neck too I think. Pretty sure he died too.

I'm happy enough with two feet on the floor. Although I'm not beyond laying down, arms stretched out and rolling down hills.

[SusanTheGentle]

Children are smaller and can move differently...

I don't know the physics of it, but this is also why female artistic gymnasts are often pretty small, too - and apparently they also often have quite short limbs for their height. (I was an average but ok gymnast and had this stature until height then Surprise!Tits happened - for some reason also frowned upon ).

Interesting article about it here: www.livestrong.com/article/546292-what-is-the-advantage-of-a-gymnast-being-short-in-stature/ - basically, smaller height means lower centre of gravity, and it's easier to do rotating things.

[fairyofallthings]

I used to roller skate down a 10% gradient hill - I must have been completely and utterly mad. The broken wrist was worth it though

[Thegiantofillinois]

I have never been able to do a cartwheel.
I was an.incredibly clumsy kid. Was about 20 before I stopped having skinned knees.
Could do backdrops I.to a swimming pool though. Wouldn't even know where to start now.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Little lights I used to bounce high on a trampoline but then I had 3 babies and now if I did I'd probably wet myself.

I could do handstands and cartwheels, but never with no hands.

I was a curiously shy and self conscious child, and occasionally would do something amazingly brave but very rarely. I was always far too self conscious.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

My DD did gymnastics for years, when DD and her mates were in a park or similar, they'd all run and perform cartwheel after cartwheel, flips and splits.

Now they get their iPhones out [sigh]

[KitNCaboodle]

I have similar thoughts. When do you stop running your hand or sticks down fences? I miss that shizzle