When I started back at the gym, I thought it would be fairly easy to pick things up again, after all - I had been a gym gerbil years ago and was relatively fit, wasn't I?
Big mistake.
I think the biggest difference was being 10 years older and that does take it's toll. What I have learnt is that perseverance pays off and I am now nearly as fit as I used to be.
However the one thing that seems to lacking is my abs (or abdos as the French call them).
Seriously, for the first few months at the gym I was convinced that I hadn't got any. That they had packed their bags and left when I wasn't looking.
I will admit that even at my skinniest I never had a 6 pack or even a 4 pack . This was despite Pilates and yoga as well as the occasional tums and bums class. However I knew they were there as I did a side plank with upper leg raised raised. I could feel the burn.
This time it really felt that they were not there at all. Not only did I struggle doing any form of ab work but I didn't feel them being worked at all. No pain, no nothing! Whereas I could see and feel improvements in all the other muscles of my body, the abs remained very quiet. I struggled to do mini planks, and if I was silly enough to attempt a plank on my toes - my back would start aching.
Fortunately 18 months later and a few tough stomach tracks later I can feel them kicking in. Despite the fact that my biceps make the occasional appearance and my legs are much more shapely, there is still no sign of a 6 pack emerging in the stomach area BUT they have definitely returned (even if I can't see them) as planks are now a lot easier and can do a full static plank and side rotations. Some of the more difficult moves and my back starts hurting (the strange moves we had in the last body balance for instance) but in the more familiar ones and I'm doing ok.
So although I still have a way to go before I really could be Jessica Ennis's stomach double, there is the chance it could happen one day....
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