She's back!!

So, after an extended holiday over the summer because of a hamstring injury, I'm finally back in the gym!  I'd been testing my hamstring out now and then when I've been coaching to see how it's going, and it finally feels better :)  Not 100% fixed, but getting there!  I can do a handstand without wincing now!

And to prove it, look what I can do again after months and months of not being able to....

Yippee!  (although critics will notice my back leg still isn't straight!)  I'm also managing to get much further down into a Japana (straddle sit leaning forwards) now too - not all the way but my face is about two inches off the floor!

The other big news (well, in my gymnastic life!) is that I can now do a forward roll properly (eg standing up at the end).  Not a big deal for most people, but I think mainly because of my size (and lack of stomach muscles!) I've not been able to stand up from the roll before now!  (Steve has taken a video of me that I may or may not put up at a later date!).

We think the reason I can do it now is that we've introduced a new warm-up in the gym (for the development and squad groups) and I've been trying to do it along with them sometimes!  It's specifically for stomach and core conditioning and it involves a lot of sit-ups and V-sits amongst other things!

So, I'm going to keep doing that (have downloaded the track so I can do it at home too!) and hope that it continues to make a difference to my gymnastics!