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Gymnastics is the Perfect Cross Training Activity for Boys

Often times, people think gymnastics is a ?girls sport? but men?s artistic gymnastics has produced some of the greatest athletes in the world. There are many benefits of putting your son in gymnastics classes, including helping them to play other sports. According to playgymnastics.com, check out these reason why gymnastics helps boys play in other sports

Improved motor skills, coordination and balance

Gymnastics is the perfect cross training activity for boys. Why? Because all sports require a variety of movement skills and ?gymnastics helps children build a range of motor and coordination skills, and assists in developing a good sense of body awareness.?

Through gymnastics boys can improve these skills in a way that just practicing within their sport cannot. According to Olympic gold-medalist Kyle Shewfelt, ?every little boy should be put in gymnastics, regardless of size.?

He adds that ?it is the best place to teach kids what they need to exceed at other sports because they learn how their body works?.

Keep the passion for ?their sport?

Young athletes who participate in more than one sport may also have a greater passion training for their ?favorite? sport.

They are less likely to feel burnt out and will come to practice with greater enthusiasm and motivation.

?I think it?s good for kids to participate in all sports.? says hockey great Wayne Gretzky. He adds that ?too often, young hockey players can get burned out by the pressure and the time commitment.?

It?s important for young athletes to try new things and experience excitement about the start of soccer or hockey season.

Strength building

Gymnasts are known to have excellent strength-to-weight ratio. In fact when PLAY Gymnastics BC clubs challenge other sports such as junior hockey teams, the young gymnasts are often found to be stronger!

According to the International Gymnastics School, gymnasts get stronger through regular training, which aids in the development of lean, toned muscles, improved balance, and better posture.

According to active.com, here are some other reasons why gymnastics is a great activity choice for boys:

The benefits of gymnastics are both physical and social in nature. Granted, a lot of my personal experiences are anecdotal and unscientific; but there is hard evidence that men feel the positive effects of taking gymnastics as a youngster well into adulthood.

Parents might wonder why doing a backflip or cartwheel would benefit their child, and how that could possibly help him later in life. While the literal act of doing a backflip has no sway on success in life, it?s the skills required to perform such an amazing physical fete that will.

Such a task requires a great deal of strength, flexibility and coordination. All three of these skills assist a child in every physical or extracurricular activity he will perform through his adolescence and into adulthood.

This ability will breed confidence in your son, as he can physically compete in all activities. Another aspect of gymnastics that nurtures confidence is the conquering of fear. Doing a backflip is, in and of itself, scary. Could you launch into a backflip without a slight shake in the knees? Children who overcome this at a young age grow more assertive and self-assured.

Additional benefits include the encouragement of a healthy and active lifestyle, learning how to fall and land gracefully and the development of social skills. With so many positive takeaways, there?s little reason parents should not encourage young boys to pursue gymnastics. And, if they feel embarrassed by the leotards and stirrup pants, it?s pretty easy to convince someone that somersaults and splits are totally mind-blowing.

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A History of Gymnastics

Do you want to know more about the history of gymnastics and how it came to be one of the greatest sports around? Check out this article from encyclopedia.com. You are sure to learn some interesting facts that you never knew before?

Gymnastics is the practice of athletic exercises for the development of the body, especially those exercises performed with apparatus such as rings, pommel horse, bars, and balance beam. Although gymnastics was likely practised in ancient Egyptian and Chinese cultures, its roots for Western culture lie in ancient Greece, hence the derivation from the Greek word gymnazein, which literally means ?to train naked? (gymnos: naked).

 The early Greeks practised gymnastics in preparation for war, as jumping, running, discus throwing, wrestling, and boxing helped produce the strong, supple muscles necessary for hand-to-hand combat. Because military training was necessary for the production of Greek citizens, and because the Greeks viewed the training both of the body and the mind as inextricably linked, gymnastics became a central component of ancient education. Gymnasia, the buildings with open-air courts where such training took place, evolved into schools where youths learned gymnastics, rhetoric, music, and mathematics. Gymnastics also provided a way to train for the athletic festivals around Greece, the most famous of which was the Olympic Games, held every four years from 776 bce until 393 ce.

With the end of the Olympic Games, Greek-style gymnastics training declined, not to be revived until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Western Europe. With this revival came a concomitant revival of the corporeal values associated with gymnastics: upper body strength, musculature, elasticity, litheness, flexibility, poise, and equilibrium. Underpinning the re-emergence of gymnastic training is the same assumption held by the Greeks, that a healthy body and a healthy mind are intimately connected.

In the mid 1800s Friedrich Jahn did much to re-introduce gymnastics into German education and became known as the ?father of gymnastics?. Jahn introduced the horizontal bar, parallel bars, side horse with pommels, balance beam, ladder, and vaulting bucks. His gymnastics program was promoted in Turner societies, clubs established to develop self discipline and physical strength in the name of national unity. In Sweden, Pehr Henrik Ling followed closely behind Jahn, systematizing Swedish pedagogic gymnastics with a strong emphasis on the medical benefits.

In the early nineteenth century, educators in the US imported German and Swedish gymnastics training programs. With the American integration of gymnastics into the general education curriculum, its connections to nationalism and military training re-emerged stronger than ever.

By the early twentieth century, the armed services published drill manuals featuring all manner of gymnastic exercises, drills which, according to the US Army Manual of Physical Drill (1910), provided proper instruction for ?a body of young and active men? and were thus ?all important?. The US Navy?s Gymnastics and Tumbling, published in 1944, asserts that ?Gymnastics and tumbling contribute in large measure to the demands of a democracy at war.? Nonetheless, as military activity moved away from hand-to-hand combat and toward fighter planes and contemporary computer-controlled weapons, gymnastics training as the mind/body connection, so important for the Greek, German, and Swedish educational traditions, began to lose force. As a result, physical and intellectual training in schools are now almost completely separate; although in Germany the term ?gymnasium? still persists as the term for a place of secondary education, the gymnasium is more commonly cordoned off for physical training, while the privileged intellectual education takes place in traditional classrooms. The mind/body split is more pervasive than ever.

In the early nineteenth century, educators in the US imported German and Swedish gymnastics training programs. With the American integration of gymnastics into the general education curriculum, its connections to nationalism and military training re-emerged stronger than ever.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the powerful emergence of a strand of gymnastics, similar in form to gymnastic training for educational and military purposes, but practiced for different ends. The first Modern Olympic Games in 1896 featured competitive gymnastic events for men, which have been included in every Olympics since. Men?s gymnastics events are scored on an individual and team basis, and presently include the floor exercise, horizontal bar, parallel bars, rings, side horse (also called pommel horse), vaulting, and combined exercises (the all-around), which combines the scores of the other six events. Combined exercises for women were first held in 1928, and the 1952 Olympics featured the first full regime of events for women. Women?s gymnastics events include balance beam, uneven parallel bars, combined exercises, floor exercises, vaulting, and rhythmic sportive gymnastics. Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci, and Mary Lou Retton have helped popularize women?s competitive gymnastics, making it one of the most watched Olympic events as they performed difficult maneuvers on some of the very apparatus developed for bodily training by Friedrich Jahn in the eighteenth century.

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Benefits of Preschool Gymnastics

Do you have an active baby who loves to run, jump, and tumble all around the house?

Gymnastics classes for babies are the perfect way to use of all that energy for something fun and exciting. We here at LA School of Gymnastics offer Parent and Me Classes starting at 18 months and Mini Tots classes beginning at 3 years of age. Our coaches have a long history of working with pre-school aged children and we have seen so many active babies channel all of their energy into gymnastics.

Are you wondering what the long term benefits of putting your baby in gymnastics are? Well, according to KidSaversNetwork.com, here are 10 amazing benefits your toddler will get from gymnastics:

Preschool Gymnastics Develops Cognitive Skills

Learning and completing a gymnastic routine requires the use of the mind as well as the body. The left brain and right brain have to work in concert, so your toddler?s body awareness and spatial awareness will improve. This really helps them become aware of the world around them and adapt better to it.

It Develops Strong and Healthy Bones

Gymnastics is a weight-bearing activity which can develop strong and healthy bones. As we age, we experience a loss of bone density over the years. By building strong and healthy bones earlier, we can reduce the signs of osteoporosis later in life. Furthermore, it helps to prevent broken bones as your child grows older and becomes more active. A great bonus when on the playground and playing sports!

Preschool Gymnastics Aids in Strength Development

Along with the development of strong and healthy bones, your toddler will build up their total body strength as well. By performing the body strengthening exercises that gymnastics requires, your child will build up their upper body, lower body, and overall core strength.

It Increases Coordination

Your toddler?s coordination will greatly improve. They will learn alignment skills that include standing, walking and jumping which will improve their coordination. This will make your child appear less clumsy and they will learn alignment skills that include standing, walking and jumping through a variety of fun exercises. Your child will be more agile for other future sports.

Improved Flexibility

Gymnastics is all about flexibility. When you increase your flexibility, you decrease your chances of injury. Being super-flexible as a child will often carry forward with them later into life. This can help support proper body posture as they age, which will deter back and spine problems as they get older.

It Helps them Meet Their Daily Exercise Needs

The American Heart Association says that it is important for a child to get at least 1 hour of physical activity every day. Participation in a gymnastics class will ensure that your child gets his or her exercise on class days. Furthermore, they will want to practice their gymnastic skills on off-days, so they can still meet their daily exercise needs then as well!

Improved Flexibility

Gymnastics is all about flexibility. When you increase your flexibility, you decrease your chances of injury. Being super-flexible as a child will often carry forward with them later into life. This can help support proper body posture as they age, which will deter back and spine problems as they get older.

It Helps them Meet Their Daily Exercise Needs

The American Heart Association says that it is important for a child to get at least 1 hour of physical activity every day. Participation in a gymnastics class will ensure that your child gets his or her exercise on class days. Furthermore, they will want to practice their gymnastic skills on off-days, so they can still meet their daily exercise needs then as well!

It Prevents Diseases

Sports like gymnastics aid in disease prevention by promoting and maintaining a strong and healthy body. This is the key to preventing diseases later in life such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, cancer ? among others.

By teaching your toddler healthy behaviors early in life, they will more likely keep these habits later in life.

Gymnastics Helps To Create Discipline

Gymnastic classes will help provide discipline and self-control for your toddler. Learning discipline and self-control are both valuable skills to take with you into life. When a child learns discipline and self-control at an early age, they learn to work with others, work by themselves, to stay on task and to accomplish tasks. Toddlers who learn these skills will use them in school, the workplace and in almost every social setting they will ever find themselves in.

Early Gymnastics Classes Increase Self-Esteem

Gymnastics is a sport of self-control and mastering self-control ultimately leads to improved self-esteem. Learning and successfully completing a gymnastics routine creates the sense of accomplishment, which in turn supports self-esteem. Your child will learn from an early age that hard work and practice pays off ? key life skills! It is also a sport of showing off your skills in front of a live audience. Starting early before a child has had a chance to develop ?stage fright? can help later in life with performing in front of people.

It?s Fun

Your toddler will really enjoy being part of a gymnastics class. They will improve their social skills by interacting with their class and coaches. And they will get some great exercise at the same time! Finding activities that are fun, hold our toddler?s attention and are healthy is a difficult task! Fortunately, a good gymnastic program can provide all this and more. And, just think? you never know ? you might just have an Olympic athlete on your hands!

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How to have the best Summer Ever!

Summer is coming up fast and it is time to start planning the best summer ever! We know being out of school gives kids a lot of free time and that time should be spent having a blast, learning new skills, exercising their mind, exercising their body, creating lasting memories, soaking in the sun and just being a kid.
Our gymnastics camp is the perfect opportunity for kids to participate in a structured sport environment where they will have the opportunity to learn new gymnastics tricks while also perfecting the skills they already know.

Our gymnastics camp is filled with amazing training from Olympic-affiliated coaches who will nurture your child?s ability to perform at advanced levels. Our gymnastics camp also includes visiting our local pool for recreational swimming because what is summer without soaking in the sun.

Our summer camp is also a great opportunity for your son or daughter to creating lasting friendships with other kids who enjoy gymnastics just as much as they do. We will also spend time doing arts and crafts, karate, dancing, and playing games. Our award-winning gymnastics camp is sure to be the highlight of your kid?s summer!

It will keep them highly active and motivated to stay healthy and fit. Summer 2017 is going to be awesome!

Gymnastics camp is a great opportunity for kids who love to run, jump, play, and be active. We encourage all parents to plan creative, outdoorsy, and fun activities that they will remember forever.

In addition to gymnastics camp, we want to provide you with some more awesome summer ideas and activities.

Summer is all about cold treats and delicious recipes.

Try to find a great recipe that you and your kids can make together.

It is always fun to take yummy fruits like watermelon and pineapples and make frozen treats such as Popsicle, slushies, and sorbets.

Your kids will enjoy helping you in the kitchen and they will also enjoy eating their creations.

Nutella cool whip popsicles, slushy strawberry lemonade, raspberry lemonade Slurpee, and homemade snow cones are all treats that you and your family are sure to enjoy.

If you can?t find any recipes that fit your taste buds, then make your own recipes and be sure to write them down so you can remember the awesome creations you and your kids cooked up!

Bring out all the flavors and foods you love and encourage your kids to make whatever their hearts? desire.

Help them create a book of their own recipes so they can remember all the amazing things they created. Encourage them to give their creations silly names!

Another way to make this summer the best summer ever is to create family fun nights. Family fun night can consist of game night, movie night, out on the town night, camping, barbecues, or adventure night.

Family fun night can be anything creative and adventurous that you and your kids love to do. Another great idea is to create themes for your family fun night. For example, backyard movie night is a great way to spruce up classic movie nights.

Get a projector and turn movie night into something you?ve never done before.

Pack your favorite treats, blankets, pillows and pick a movie that everyone will enjoy and this will be a movie night to remember.

Make some ?smores and tell the kids to invite their friends, this will be a memory that they will never forget.

Have your child choose 2-3 books that they are interested in reading over the Summer!

Make sure they stick with it and don?t give up on reading! Ask them about the books they chose and engage in what they are interested in! 

If they choose a book about Outer Space, then plan a trip to the California Science Center or to see a real rocket ship.

Engage with them and ask them questions about the book so that they will stay interested.

Make a Summer Bucket List so that you can make sure that you pack in loads of fun and do everything you planned to make Summer 2017 great!

For more awesome summer ideas, check out our Pinterest board. We packed it with loads of bucket list ideas, recipes, activities, experiments, reading lists, crafts, and much much more!

Happy Summer Planning.

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Academy Meet and Expo: Benefits of Participating in a non-competitive format

Our Academy Meet and Expo is coming up soon! We are excited to present this awesome event where children can perform to the best of their ability in this non-competitive format.

While gymnastics is a competitive sport, recreational gymnastics is also an extracurricular activity where kids can learn exciting new skills and obtain personal growth in strength, endurance, stretching, and other beneficial attributes. While healthy competition can be a great way for children to learn fundamental qualities of life, such as good sportsmanship, it got us thinking about the benefits of participating in non-competitive sports and activities.

Participating in non-competitive sports and activities teaches a lasting set of life skills which are more likely to influence children later in life.

Recreational gymnastics is a great, non-competitive sport that improves general health, motor skills, coordination, balance, and strength. Recreational gymnastics also teaches commitment, discipline, social skills, and improves self-esteem. Some other benefits of participating in non-competitive sports, such as recreational gymnastics, is self-growth.

When children are participating in activities where they are focused on developing their individual skill, they are learning ways to improve themselves without the need to be better than someone else. In essence, they are competing to be better than the person they were yesterday. Children get a chance to test themselves against their best performance.

Recreational gymnastics, as well as other non-competitive sports, promote sustainable habits of movement and fitness that will last a lifetime. Maintaining health and weight, while also learning a new skill, does not have to be achieved through competitive victory. Sustaining health, while also having fun, is best achieved through diversity, pleasure, and a joyful experience. Childhood physical activity should get kids to enjoy movement and enjoy developing their skill. Recreational gymnastics is a great way to get children exciting about being active, learning awesome tricks, and using those skills for the rest of their lives. In addition to recreational gymnastics, some general lifelong activities also include biking, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, archery, karate, running, walking, in-line skating, paintball, fishing, horseback riding, and youth camps. Regardless of the activity, research shows that active children are more likely to be active adults; therefore, getting kids active early in life is imperative.

Our Academy Meet and Expo is a momentous event where children of all levels and ages can display everything they have learned in their gymnastics classes. Although not competitive, children will be proud to show their family and friends all that they have learned in their gymnastics class.

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Laurie Hernandez returns to LASG

Olympic Champion and Dancing with the Stars Winner, Laurie Hernandez returns to LA School of Gymnastics and says this is her favorite school in LA!

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Congratulations Coach Stephan and his Level 5 Team

Congratulations to Coach Stephan and his level 5 team for winning 3rd place at the 2016 All Conference 1st Prelim. Keep up the great work! We are so proud of our students who get out there and do their best in competitions. We are also proud of all of our coaches who dedicate their time to teaching children the art of gymnastics. Coach Stephan has been at the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics for 10 years now and his dedication to the school and his students is unparalleled. As a former member of the USSR Junior and Armenian National Team, Coach Stepan knows a thing or two about competitions! We love that Coach Stepan is able to pass down his passion and knowledge of gymnastics to future generations.

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Holiday Treats and Recipes

On October 19 2014, Los Angeles School of Gymnastics? coach headed down to the Rustic Canyon Recreation Center in Santa Monica California, to take part of the Fundraising event benefiting the Canyon Charter School.

Everyone knows that food, holidays, and family go great together. The perfect activity for you and your kids this holiday season is cooking!

Getting your kids in the kitchen is the perfect way to bring the family together during the holidays.

Kids love to create things so why not use their creativity to see what holiday fun you can think up together.

Decorating cookies and cupcakes are always a great way to show your creativity while also making some yummy treats.

Another great ideas is making some yummy holiday kabobs with your children. Let their imagination run wild and see where it can take them.

Gather a bunch of different fun ingredients and see what fun holiday characters you can create with yummy snacks like bananas, donuts, marshmallows, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, chocolate and anything else you can dream up? the sky?s the limit!

Search the internet, or watch the Food Network, for different recipes and ideas that will get your creative juices flowing. 

Oreo Cookie Hat Recipe

  •  1 Lb Strawberries, Tops Removed
  • 12 Oreo Cookies (I used the Winter ones)
  • ? Cup Butter, Softened
  • 1 Tablespoon Whole Milk
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
  1. Wash strawberries and remove the hulls. Place on paper towels to dry.
  2. Freeze strawberries for 30 minutes or until firm.
  3. In a medium bowl, cream butter. Stir in milk. Gradually add powdered sugar a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
  4. Pipe frosting into a circle on the top of the Oreo to make the strawberry sticky and to resemble the fur ring.
  5. Press strawberry into piped frosting large end down.
  6. Pipe a dot on top of the strawberry to resemble the hat?s fluff ball.

Pinterest is a great resource for giving you great ideas in the kitchen. Your kids will love helping you clean the fruit, gather the materials, and measure the ingredients. Measuring and counting ingredients is a great way to kelp your child learn while also having fun. It?s time to put down the electronics and spend some quality time together as a family. Take lots of pictures of your creations and cherish the moments!

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Olympic Bronze Medalist Anna Riziditnova will compete at LA Lights 2017

We are thrilled and honored to announce that Olympic Bronze Medalist (Team Ukraine) and global rhythmic gymnastics mega star Anna Riziditnova is confirmed to participate in our upcoming LA Lights Tournament. Anna is a highly accomplished, 23 year old professional gymnast. Anna began her gymnastics training in Simferopol and was coached by her mother Oksana Rizatdinova. She won the silver all-around medal at the 2008 Kiev Junior World Cup at the age of 15. Anna is a great gymnast and at such a young age she has accomplished so much already. She won the 2016 Olympic bronze medal in Rio this past summer in the all-around event. She is also a two-time world medalist, having won the silver in 2013 and bronze in 2014. Anna is also a two-time European bronze medalist, having won in 2014 and 2016. Anna?s first competition in 2015 was at the L.A. Lights Tournament where she won the all-around gold medal. It will be such a joy to watch Anna compete again at the 2017 LA Lights Tournament.

Anna will be one of many professional gymnasts to partake in the 2017 LA Lights Tournament of Champions. The Los Angeles School of Gymnastics is excited to present the annual LA Lights Tournament of Champions in January. LA Lights is one of the most important rhythmic gymnastics competitions in the world. 

At LA Lights is a celebration of the greatest female rhythmic gymnasts in the world. Led by Alla Svirsky, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics, and championed by Tanya Berenson, General Manager, the event will highlight world-class gymnasts. The Los Angeles School of Gymnastics has been preparing for this annual event all year long and we are certain it will be another epic turnout. Get ready to see so many beautiful artists display their raw talent and undeniable athleticism.

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