The Olympic silver medalist on Vault, Mykayla Skinner bid goodbye to the sport back in 2021. Stating that she would want to focus on her personal life, the gymnast built a beautiful family over the next few years. Parenting, family, and content creation took up Skinner’s time for the most part of her life shared on social media. However, amidst all the orderliness, gymnastics seemed to still pull the gymnast’s heartstrings.
Skinner recently found herself back on the mats of her training center trying out a couple of moves. A couple of successes and a few forgone habits yielded an encouraging response from the spectators.
Mykayla Skinner takes to the mats
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In her recent social media update, Skinner that the family had made their way to her old gym in Arizona. The place happened to be Skinner’s Desert Lights Gymnastics, a place embracing countless hours of Mykayla’s work. “Since we are here, we thought that I would just do a little bit of gymnastics,” Skinner said in the video opening. Though Mykayla held no surety of the outcome, she could not help but try out a little to her limits.
The Olympian started with a little stretching and an almost-successful handstand. However, as she proceeded further, the process only proved to be more difficult. A chin-up on the bars, a backhand spring, a cartwheel, and a turn on the beam nonetheless proved to find their way back to the gymnast after much effort. But that was the stretch of it for Mykayla. The gymnast revealed that she had hardly ever worked out postpartum and did not want to push too hard. Skinner’s decision and performance in the video brought a resonating response from the online community.
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The gymnast finds encouragement
Getting back in shape after a hiatus can prove to be a difficult task more so postpartum. For Mykayla Skinner and many others online, the stance stood proven by their experience. “I know that feeling! When I returned to leading group exercise instruction after 3 years off from doing anything I was so discouraged. But several months later, I was back on track,” a comment read. “Coming back to gymnastics after abdominal surgery is SCARY! I’ve done it before- you should be so proud of yourself!” another encouraged.
Also Read: Gymnast MyKayla Skinner Still Awestruck by Motherhood, Despite Teasing About Having Another Baby
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More encouragement poured in as one read, “I wasn’t an elite recently, just a coach, but I did get my press handstand back at 5 months postpartum! I was pretty proud of that.” Another exclaimed, “Girl! You did a back handspring 3 mos post pardum! That’s big!” Amidst all the cheering, some also wished to see the gymnast back on the international stage. “Hope you make a return!! I would LOVE to see you back out there!! Sending love.”
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