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Most of the younger ones were gung ho and thought it was the neatest thing in the world to lift weights. Some of the older athletes, especially the female gymnasts, either had a fear that they were going to look like men if they weight trained or believed that weight training wasn t important. <br><br>Flipping for the Program<br><br>Once the new strength program was underway at Sandhills and the positive results rolled in, enthusiastic support replaced the former resistance. In his current program, Ayars introduces weight training to athletes as young as seven years old, having them do squats with a light bar, or even a broomstick, to teach the technique.  We start them with light weights they can handle easily so they can work on technique, and then we just slowly pyramid the weight up. <br>Ayars keeps the reps in the three-to-five range, increasing weight as long as the athlete s technique is good.  As we raise the weight, I expect their speed to slow down a little bit, but we will stop them if their technique worsens. On squats, Ayars allows them go as deep as desired as long as there is no bouncing. Despite the conservative nature of this method, Ayars has set a standard for the girls to power clean their bodyweight for three reps, and he already has five girls as young as 13 years old achieving it. He also wants them to squat their bodyweight, a goal that he says most of his athletes achieve quickly.<br>One key auxiliary exercise in Ayars program is the overhead squat, one of the BFS power balance exercises.  My experience has been that the overhead squat is one of the best all-around body exercises an athlete can do, says Ayars.  It works on flexibility, which of course the gymnasts need, and it s very good for working on balance. In gymnastics, having the arms overhead during the exercise transfers well to what they do on the balance beam, because during part of the routine they will have their arms overhead and their knees bent. <br>A Strong Future with Gymnastics<br><br>Although gymnastics is popular, especially at the Olympic level, the sport is not without controversy. A book entitled Little Girls in Pretty Boxes discusses some of the apparent abuses in gymnastics, especially in regard to promoting eating disorders.  The book painted the entire sport with a very broad brush, says Ayars.  Some of those abuses may take place at the elite level, which is what you see at the Olympics, but the same can be said for other sports at the elite level. Truthfully, the sport that I hear receiving the most criticism for pressuring girls about their weight is cheer-leading. <br> If you look at the gymnasts who compete at the junior Olympic level, continues Ayars,  the problems described in that book really don t take place with any greater frequency than they do in other sports. And if you look at college gymnastics, you re not going to see a bunch of emaciated little girls they re athletic, healthy-looking young women. Further, Ayars believes that all athletes can benefit from participating in the sport at some level.  It doesn t matter what sport somebody plays, gymnastic training will help them be a better all-around athlete. <br>The Sandhills Academy of Gymnastics offers a variety of gymnastic programs, holding classes for those as young as 16 months all the way up to competitive junior Olympic teams. They also have popular recreational and tumbling classes. Ayars says tha