Gymnastics

Gymnastics, sport and system of exercise designed to maintain and improve the physique. In ancient Greece, gymnastics—including track and field athletics and training for boxing and wrestling—were important in education. Competitive gymnastics are a series of exercises on set pieces of apparatus: parallel bars, horizontal bar, side and vaulting horses, beam, and asymmetric bars. The U.S. system, derived from the German, is designed to assist physical growth; the Swedish system aims at rectifying posture and weak muscles; and the Danish system seeks general fitness and endurance.