A group of kids gather around a weightlifting platform, their eyes fixed on Paul Behar, who kneels beside an 11-year-old, guiding her through the mechanics of a snatch. She stands in front of a custom-designed barbell — one you won’t find at a typical gym.
Behar worked closely with multiple builders to create equipment tailored specifically for kids, ensuring they could learn proper technique with weights suited to their size and strength.
“Hips back, chest up,” he says, his voice patient yet firm. She takes a wide grip on the bar, takes a breath, and pulls. The weight soars overhead, and instantly, you can see her face glowing with pride. Around her, other kids erupt into yells and cheers.
Behar opened Team Omnia Gym in Pembroke Pines a little over a year ago with one primary mission: to get kids off the couch and into a sport that could change their lives. As a father and longtime fitness enthusiast, he was troubled by how few kids were lifting weights — an activity that had given him structure and purpose. He saw adults pushing themselves under the barbell but wondered why kids weren’t being given the same opportunity.
“After the pandemic, kids weren’t moving like they used to. They weren’t playing outside, weren’t involved in sports. I thought, ‘Why aren’t they weightlifting?’” he says. He wanted to show them that strength wasn’t just about muscles or aesthetics. It was about resilience, confidence, and believing in what they could accomplish.
Weightlifting is offered in group classes at Team Omnia, with memberships starting from $150 a month. The class starts with a full-body warmup before delving into a specific lift for every day, with 10 athletes supervised by Behar and his team of coaches.
The classes start from age 7 and go all the way up to 18 years of age before Behar adds them to adult training at night, separate from the kids.
“I want the kids to feel like this is their space,” says Behar of the separation. “This isn’t an adult gym that just so happens to coach kids, kids belong here. Making them feel empowered is so important in encouraging them to create a healthy relationship with fitness.”
Behar’s passion for weightlifting was born from personal struggle. As a young adult, he battled obesity, often feeling like he was trapped in his own body. He remembers waking up exhausted no matter how much he slept, winded after climbing a single flight of stairs. There was always the promise to start fresh on Monday, but the weeks slipped by, and nothing changed.
“I was working in accounting at the time, that’s what I received my bachelor’s degree in from FIU,” he says. “I figured that’s what would make me as much money as possible, but it definitely did not make me happy.”
When his daughter, Rose, was born, the reality hit hard — if he didn’t take control of his health, and his happiness, he wouldn’t be able to be the role model he wanted to be for her.
“I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the person staring back at me,” he says. “I knew I had to change.”
After watching friends start a new hobby, CrossFit, he was eager to join the community. The variety and volume suited his intensity for change, and he soon found himself feeling brand new. He quickly started to progress in the modality, even offering CrossFit kids classes at his local affiliate.
“It was just something I did on the side at first, I really just wanted to get my gym membership for free,” Behar laughs of his first kids fitness program. “I used to teach kids classes at a music school to get me through college so teaching kids came easy to me. They got really into it. I think if you are excited about what you do, you can make the people around you excited as well.”
CrossFit in itself involves a lot of different fitness movements, but it was Olympic weightlifting that truly captivated him.
“I fell in love with the science behind it,” he says. “The way progress was measurable, the way every lift was a battle against oneself — it was a sport where dedication always won. The bar doesn’t lie, there’s no getting ‘lucky’.”
Newly fit, shredded and in the middle of the 2020 pandemic, Behar moved all of his equipment to his backyard. He stayed fit through quarantine, and as businesses slowly opened back up, he decided to open his backyard to the public and pursue it full-time. He quit his accounting job and pursued his passion – coaching youth weightlifting.
“I met him at a different gym and as soon as I found out that he had a program for kids, I drove straight to his place,” recalls Linda Navarette, mother of 14-year-old Mattias. Her son is the longest member of Team Omnia with three years under his belt, and he is third place in the nation for his weight and age category.
“I didn’t think twice that it wasn’t at a professional facility. Paul is the kind of coach that loves what he does and can break down anything you want to know about in a way that’s easy to understand. That’s what I wanted my son to look up to.”
His coaching style shows that. He doesn’t just push his athletes physically — he teaches them patience, discipline, and how to deal with failure. When a young lifter struggles with a movement, he doesn’t just tell them to try again; he helps them understand why it didn’t work and how to fix it.
“That’s what makes weightlifting different,” he says. “It’s not just about strength. It’s about technique, problem-solving, about persistence. That’s what I want these kids to take with them beyond the gym.”
For Behar, one of the biggest challenges has been educating parents and breaking the myths surrounding youth weightlifting. He recalls seeing parents walk into the gym, take one look at the barbells, and turn right back around.
“The reality is, kids who lift are more coordinated, more injury-resistant, and they build strength in a controlled environment,” he explains. Research supports that weightlifting is not only safe but beneficial for children, improving bone density, motor skills, and overall physical confidence.
Behar places a big emphasis on proper technique before adding weight. Students learn the basics with a PVC pipe before moving on to barbells of different weights and sizes. He even goes as far as showing young athletes how to drop a bar behind or in front of them and “bail” on a lift that’s gone wrong.
“People are usually scared at the idea of their child weightlifting, but for me it’s a lack of understanding,” says Behar. “A kid’s backpack for school probably weighs somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds, they’re carrying it around for hours, and they don’t even flinch at that.”
Behar also keeps an updated record of the ‘max’ weights that athletes have done to make sure that they’re doing appropriate percentages. For instance, if an athlete’s best deadlift is 30kg, or 66 pounds, they might increase their barbell in increments of 1.5kg, or 5% of their best lift.
Amanda Andrews, the parent of 10-year-old Grayson, said her son had tried multiple sports but never found one that truly resonated with him until he picked up a barbell. From the moment he completed his first successful lift, he was hooked, excited to show up to class and improve week after week.
“I remember the day he hit his first lift. His whole face just lit up,” Andrews said. “Something changed in him. He was genuinely excited to show up, put in the work, and see how much stronger he could get.”
“We have kids competing at the national level in Colorado this summer,” Behar says, his voice filled with excitement as he envisions Team Omnia as a national powerhouse in youth weightlifting. It will be his biggest group yet, with 15 athletes competing that week and four of them defending podium spots from the previous year. The kids work tirelessly all year and compete at multiple sanctioned local competitions to receive a qualifying “total,” which is the sum of their best snatch and clean and jerks.
His goal? To build the most dominant youth weightlifting team in the country while continuing to grow the gym as a supportive community.
“I want to coach a sport that I love and continue to grow this community that I built,” Behar says. “And I really hope that it works out, because I definitely don’t want to go back to accounting.”
