MAX Whitlock won't stand still in search of solidifying his Olympic legacy, insisting he was more than willing to take a tumble on the Gold Coast to ensure nothing can go wrong on the Tokyo mats. 

The 25-year-old began these Commonwealth Games in somewhat routine fashion by helping England secure team gold but things didn't go exactly to plan for the double Olympic champion on the two pieces he looked so glorious on in Rio. 

Northern Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan was the surprise gold medallist on the pommel horse with Whitlock second, while an error-strewn floor routine was only enough for sixth place.

But having made drastic changes to some of his routines, Whitlock insists rolling the dice in Australia will only help improve his execution in future. 

"I had a plan so I'm sticking with the plan," he said.

"This competition is not a negative, it's not a hiccup in the plan, it's part of it, it's the process and that's what happens.

"It's basically putting all the risk in now. I said at the start of the year my routine's are risky. 

"There's new structure, there's new skills and the risk of falling off is higher that's just the way it is. It's not nice to fall off but I need to do that now, put all the risk in to make sure that I consolidate it in two years time.

"I can look at a lot of positives from it. The gold medal for the team is a massive positive. To go that clean as at team with no falls at all is quite impressive.

"My individual finals didn't exactly go to plan, didn't go as well as I'd have liked them to but that is competition, that is sport and that is gymnastics. 

"I enjoy being out there and competing and it's not going to go right every time. I feel so fired up, so motivated from this. I'm looking at it as a blessing in disguise because it's given me that fire I really needed to push me even harder and to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Born out of a necessity to avoid stagnation in the sport, Whitlock was all too aware his changes brought with them a great deal of risk.

But he insists such change was an inevitability if he wanted to produce performances good enough to help him add to his Olympic haul in two years time. 

"You do have to be patient with it and a tiny, tiny change is very, very tough," he added. "My floor routine's changed completely. 

"I have to keep moving, keep upgrading and keep improving to give myself a challenge. 

"And also if I stand still, people will catch me so that's why I've made these changes because I don't want that to happen." 

npower is the Official Partner of Team England and is giving our athletes the power of support by recording a brand new version of their anthem, Jerusalem. To listen to the track visit npower.com/teamengland

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