Final Five star Laurie Hernandez says it ‘sucked’ training for the Olympics after a 2-year gymnastics hiatus

• 2016 Rio star Laurie Hernandez is pursuing a spot on her second Team USA Olympic gymnastics squad.
• But getting back into Olympics shape after two years away from the gym "sucked," she told Insider.
• "It was really difficult and it was not fun, but I knew that going into it," Hernandez said.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Laurie Hernandez knows what it takes to make an Olympics gymnastics squad.

The American gymnastics sensation was a breakout star for the "Final Five" team that won all-around gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But after taking two years away from the gym to soak in the glory of her individual silver medal and team gold, Hernandez felt the itch to come back for another games.

"After 2016, there were just so many different opportunities that came up, and I was like, 'Cool beans!'" Hernandez told Insider while discussing her partnership with USOPC sponsor Lilly. "I was just taking every single one of them because it was experience that I wanted … I may have been taking a break from gymnastics, but I was not taking a break as a human."

"And then, of course, at some point, I was like, 'All right, I think I'm kinda missing it – I would like to come back,'" she added. "And everybody was like, 'Oh, that's, I don't know what we were expecting, but okay!' So here I am."

But her journey back to elite gymnastics shape was "really difficult," she said.

"Getting back into it was just - it sucked for lack of a better word," Hernandez said. "It was really difficult, and it was not fun, but I knew that going into it. So it wasn't like it caught me off guard. I knew it was going to be hard. Taking two years off and then trying to get onto an Olympic team, it's not going to be an easy thing."

Her return to the gym was physically and mentally grueling, and her progress was far from linear. She described one instance when she attempted a skill that she used to pull off with ease and wound up "just completely eating it and feeling so discouraged."

"I was like, 'Oh God, this is going to be rough,'" she recalled.

Slowly but surely, her skillset started to come back. As Hernandez began to fully embrace that her body was "taking in skills differently" and moving in a way she wasn't accustomed to, she adapted accordingly. Soon enough, things began to click.

"There was a lot of relearning I had to do there, but then I got stronger from it," Hernandez said. "And then I started to be able to do all my skills, and things started coming back. It was like, 'Oh my God, this is good! I know what this feeling is. This feels normal again.'"

Hernandez noted that her partnership with Lilly - a healthcare company that develops medications and seeks to make healthy living accessible to the masses - has helped her to prioritize her own physical and mental well-being throughout her Tokyo Olympics bid.

"Promoting being healthy and taking care of yourself actively is just an important thing," Hernandez said. "As an athlete heading into 2021, that allows us to reach our potential in that way."