"I realized that I didn't have to be pushing myself"- Aly Raisman opens up about challenges of slowing down after her retirement

Aly Raisman recently opened up about how her body struggled to slow down after retiring from gymnastics following her flourishing career. She stepped off the mat in January 2020.

Raisman has had an incredible career in gymnastics, with Olympic appearances and World Championships victories. She began competing as an elite gymnast in 2009, and ever since then, she has delivered several dominant performances, solidifying her legacy in the sport.

She currently works as a commentator for college gymnastics and is usually seen making appearances on podcasts and interviews. Most recently, she sat for a conversation with Pop Sugar, where she opened up about the struggles she faced slowing down after her retirement.

"I read something online that said, 'If you don't pick a day to rest, your body will pick it for you.' And I feel like there were many days my body picked it for me. After a really long time and a lot of therapy and support from people around me, I realized that I didn't have to be pushing myself to the limit," said Aly Raisman.

Opening up about how her body did not appreciate the break and how it turned out to be harder for her both mentally and physically, she added:

"After I finished competing, I was so tired and I felt so burnt out, so then for a really long time, I didn't work out. The harder I was on myself, it made it harder for me to work out. The moment I started to accept it, I started to be able to dip my toe into working out again."

Aly Raisman won six Olympic medals in her career, including three gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal. The 2016 Rio Games was the American's final Olympic appearance.

When Aly Raisman opened up about how OCD helped her succeed in gymnastics

Aly Raisman sat for a conversation with the NOCD YouTube Channel in October last year, where she made her feelings known about the role OCD has played in her career. She revealed how wanting to be perfect during her training sessions because of OCD helped her skills and left her with the feeling of wanting to do better.

"I think for me where it stands out is not wanting to leave the gym unless I felt like I did five routines as well as I could, and if I had done ten routines on beam and I fell on one of them, that's the one that I fixated on, which I think was very challenging because I was very hard on myself. I think it's this feeling of always striving to be better and better all the time," Aly Raisman said (42:00 onwards).

Aly Raisman recently expressed her feelings about collaborating with the International OCD Foundation and explained why the partnership was important to her.