JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================q" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?ǒD'Y#l_Z]U uEϕ8 ͕NG(15F/ ;cl$U=w K#MdDX,aX9ɩVY nUKH9~U,Lݍ92C&psEge@~%ƭ}BHF̌5B\,Sb2X ΣhO#iݛ2)95f-f .[,FA8W/-8 B.V.;2hb3QNݣ$HX$}*4NNМ#;V,WBlsڲsZmfV.3eg##yˍBٔùXɝF܎KvEGc\mͦ =떔y[bb#;p#'*9Ua[YA, `~[6[HЂ12z+#fVv Ģg pڮr*Ԣ ʰ ĕ=sOkgX[۲}rzUk&vBJ-:P}FV҇q!PNOL~5|cdQ?M<:lqn%Ppq[Gk~R+7eqG(#UB9 }qPU zRrh#I$s7*vGLV}ڬeA=*ٓ 3} >HBn,J׸\[KkP5ik&406ܞz9 w^aP"$g<";c$0P Sq]Gnk-5.a*,i:|wqZy4 泓N p 7$+R)dD k;R PsJH|ɒ\xU$[9ˏ^7_P3E/jic˳ @P1ԓ58vZ϶fl9'52Z {Ys{ i&qplssֹ륖kƕ`Ԝ=}kQ{)>J2wHSCMRQNy \}>%`&5u,]ב05;+$9K{8!@:u%̺TnH`x&:+<j*@-Գ 9<Й㴍-Vb O 8[Q'x\$qPRj^ytV], =>Er̀ >⧉AMB0W$=D$;eTK.Qך>$5O.YK&L^@^:5 ")Gl+|'i5D7yb>iS +ۡ{nOc X Ow~eXکhа;>ݪmG_'f$En:\Ky!T5NЅCܻ.xBraQOϭz~kk4VFA|'4Fљ.pv^/ٷ6Nm)EFegcn/f3,pERx)&kg m$7Pq~gk3lOnKcsw֝I苧O]cOPW,?um;#$9&\11ӥe36ZP\vy~(KE>&: Ku@?w۬EoG$8`!;{(5^Q+)]!aĚ2ԕ>?|vCiC܃r+Ogc%I߀֘_Ղ _ \q 2]|FU{}2q A^yW.M"P @}ḺS1M6*X\>TG_U[ɸ Ѽ}+o%e,$N* hqͫMȞd`@V͡9{(nC+].~Ɔ8ePA滏sťrJޭjlҝP]rh6 V-KMW8J^] 3lq۴*OdVd.P̬5c5ZD<sڱ.TG)rdᛷYEуMX/ƣ>rd^&r)B3 ,iG yY%OB*kmZĂSG*O}*}-%ixفcW\kzO )B ßp:^5, d`ڼSm>XUDF0rX+ =̌rJ+GGy//$Ef?.8rgb̑Wb\lHKx.O]Md.Op>\:EniẸ *#FUa޸~D@3KLOnaNg#ZXϞ[vM&-GyR}Rƪ}xJ$Iabwr*IgX>TݞJcJϩIghV$8)D(|0A#ScKtQPmӤ9=]PiA2{'{6X0 i"R6qzW$ުX4u,0FĈ# Pd~I4˘bv GoFG/c(]H9?ch3UfpdrHP9![H\1OT[+B:$SZ4rq12x#[=iy0qOEt*kNW:Er#ؖƍok"OEr",?(Kflv5 g_NO'+:C+EMQHJEPŇ _jJ(=F<pQE;)(t, and we had another small group that was certain we were going to cripple their kids. Ayars recalls that despite offering a notebook of medical journal abstracts which concluded that weight training was safe, one parent insisted that her 11-year-old daughter not lift weights.  The parent said she talked to her kid s PE teacher and a trainer at Gold s Gym, and they told her that her daughter shouldn t lift weights until she was 18. The parent pulled her daughter from the program and signed her up for soccer, and the girl injured her knee! <br>Although there is some perception that gymnastics is associated with a high risk of injury, Ayars says,  When you consider the number of participating hours we have, the injury rate in gymnastics is surprisingly low. The most common injury, and it s not so much an injury as it is just an ache or a pain, may be to the ankles or wrists, and that s usually for athletes who are just starting out who lack good conditioning. In the six years we ve owned this gym there have only been three times when kids were hurt badly enough so they had to go to a doctor. One of those three happened during an open-gym situation in which a friend pushed a boy off something and he fell and broke his arm, and the other two were broken arms from just falling and landing badly. <br>Upon enlisting the support of most of the parents for his new strength program, Ayars had to sell the athletes on the weights.  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, Ayar