Stores Near You   KM:   Miles:From taking home gold at the 2012 Games to being made a CBE, Jessica Ennis-Hill has become a poster girl for sport.However, her coach has set Ennis-Hill, who gave birth to her first child in 2014, a new training target; something he dubs a 'post-pregnancy personal best.'Speakingto the Radio Times, Toni Minichiello, who has coached 30-year-old Ennis-Hill since she was 13, said: 'This is an athlete who's older, she's now 30 and not 26 as she was in London, and she's now a mum and both of those factors have to be taken into consideration.'Jessica Ennis-Hill will be competing in the heptathlon on Friday but her coach says she'll aim for a 'post-pregnancy personal best' following giving birth two years agoHe went on to explain that Ennis-Hill, who set a new British record of 6,995 points in 2012, has done a little less training because of her age and childcare responsibilities.Elaborating further on the 'post-pregnancy personal best', he said: 'I'm not trying to go back and look at Jess in her prime, training 30 hours a week, most days twice a day.

'We just can't do that any more, so to draw a parallel between that person and the person now, I think is unfair.'Likewise, speaking to the Mail On Sunday last month, he said: 'I always tell Jess to compare her distances, times or scores with what happened after she came back from having Reggie because that is where she is now.'Butas adults we all look at what we used to be able to do and it can be frustrating for her.'Having said that, a lot of her season’s bests are in a similar ballpark to her lifetime bests.'Toni Minichiello, left, who has coached 30-year-old Ennis-Hill since she was 13, says she'll aim for a 'post-pregnancy personal best' this time around He went on to explain that Ennis-Hill, who set a new British record of 6,995 points in 2012, left, has done a little less training because of her age and childcare responsibilities (right: when she was pregnant in 2014) Athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill celebrates after winning the Women's Heptathlon 800 metres and the overall Heptathlon gold during day two of the 15th IAAF World Athletics Championships Beijing 2015Ross Panton, personal trainer at i-motion, agrees with Toni, saying: 'It’s not patronising to say she’s not on a level playing field to her pre-pregnancy body as she has had to re-sculpt her body and work with the changes that pregnancy and birth created.'The

overriding theme that has emerged from working with clients who’ve given birth is that having a baby has drastically reduced their core strength.e cigarette galveston'Core strength is obviously a massive part of life, it is important for posture while running, sitting jumping and throwing.e cigarette fog lane'All of these things are a part of what Ennis-Hill does in the heptathlon.e cigarette have nicotineSo I agree with her coach in creating these PPPBs as her body is almost a different one.Jessica, with her husband Andy Hill, has become a poster girl for sport'A number of postural changes often occur during pregnancy.Some will develop lordosis, which is the arching of the lower back so it may be that they had to complete some postural corrections initially, also they would have had to work hard to increase her core strength again having carried a baby for nine months.'But

this is Jess Ennis-Hill we are talking about, so rest assured she will be doing everything she needs to do to retain her title, and keep smashing those post pregnancy PBs!'  Sarah Vrancken, Qualified Pre-natal and Post-natal instructor and Pilates Expert, agrees, adding: 'Jessica’s coach is telling the truth when he says that having a child affects your training schedule.'Notbecause having a child makes your body weaker (not with the right training anyway), but because when you take up the role of mum, you have responsibilities you cannot avoid and of course, don’t want to avoid because that’s what makes motherhood so special, from putting your children to bed and creative play time to watching their school plays.'Many fit mums will agree it was much easier to get to the gym before they had kids and understandably, Jessica is also not able to commit to the same punishing training schedule as she did before she had kids.'He is, of course, also right to say that the four years between London 2012 and Rio 2016 has made her an older athlete and that this may also affect her performance.

'However, it may just be that Minichiello is trying to manage expectations to give Jessica the space to compete without feeling the pressure of the whole country on her shoulders.'Jessica Ennis-Hill's father Vinny holds her son Reggie as she competes in the javelin during the Loughborough International at the Paula Radcliffe StadiumDaniel Herman, who has trained athletes, however, doesn't agree.He said: 'Over the last 19 years I have worked with athletes, both professional and amateur, ranging from endurance to fitness modelling and have not found that having a child has affected their performance.'Ifanything, from the experience of my wife - who completed her first marathon and 100km after having two children - the pain of childbirth gave her the mental strength and focus to achieve new levels in her performance.'In fact, I have not found any scientific studies to support post-pregnancy reduction in fitness and with more women exercising during pregnancy I find it highly unlikely that Jessica Ennis-Hill or any other athlete should give up on gold.'

Only two women in history have given birth and retained their titles in the same Olympic cycle.Jessica Ennis-Hill will be the third if she wins heptathlon gold in Rio.Shirley Strickland, who won 80m hurdles gold in 1952 and 1956, had a boy in 1953.In 2006 Francoise Mbango Etone, who won triple jump gold in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 also had a boy, Niels.Jessica has admitted that the struggle to be a hands-on mother and an Olympic athlete almost got the better of her.‘There were lots of hard moments, particularly when Reggie wasn’t sleeping through the night,’ she told Weekend magazine.‘I’d think, “Why am I doing this to myself?Why don’t I just finish it here?” I’ve never thought about giving up before, but it was so hard to train after nights of broken sleep.'I also had lots of injuries; my body wasn’t the same.I wondered if I’d ever be as good as I was.But I took a lot of strength from my family, especially my mum, who helped me to believe I could do it.’Vindication came when she won gold at the World Championships in Beijing last August, 13 months after giving birth.