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Latest Weightlifting News

  • China’s Weightlifting Team’s Core Training Floats Weights on Their Upper Back

    China’s Weightlifting Team’s Core Training Floats Weights on Their Upper Back

    The Chinese weightlifting team has dominated the global stage, with five of their six athletes clinching gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Their remarkable performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics saw eight Chinese weightlifters acquire seven golds and one silver.  In mid-April 2025, Shenzhen Weightlifting, a training association for elite weightlifters, shared the Chinese weightlifting team’s updated…

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  • IPF Bans Stiff Knee Sleeves

    IPF Bans Stiff Knee Sleeves

  • World Record Weightlifter Karlos Nasar Trains Like a Bodybuilder

    World Record Weightlifter Karlos Nasar Trains Like a Bodybuilder

  • Invictus Launches New Total Strength Program Created by Games Podium Athletes Sam Dancer and Holden Rethwill

    Invictus Launches New Total Strength Program Created by Games Podium Athletes Sam Dancer and Holden Rethwill

Top Weightlifters

  • World Record Weightlifter Karlos Nasar Trains Like a Bodybuilder

    World Record Weightlifter Karlos Nasar Trains Like a Bodybuilder

  • Won Ju Ri (67KG) Scores Clean & Jerk Record at 2024 IWF World Championships

    Won Ju Ri (67KG) Scores Clean & Jerk Record at 2024 IWF World Championships

  • Yan Li (+87KG) Demolished The Previous Snatch World Record at 2024 IWF World Championships

    Yan Li (+87KG) Demolished The Previous Snatch World Record at 2024 IWF World Championships

  • Il Gyong Kim (59KG) Achieves Clean & Jerk and Total Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

    Il Gyong Kim (59KG) Achieves Clean & Jerk and Total Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

Weightlifting Guides

  • Getting a Grip on Deadlift Strength Standards, With Insight From a Competitive Weightlifter

    Getting a Grip on Deadlift Strength Standards, With Insight From a Competitive Weightlifter

    We love the deadlift, and you should, too. Pulling weight from the floor strengthens your posterior chain (hips, glutes, hamstrings, and back), increases bone density, and reinforces one of the most fundamental movement patterns we engage in daily — the hip hinge. (1) Get your mitts around one of the best barbells and read on…

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  • The Differences Between Hip Contact vs. Thigh Contact in Weightlifting

    The Differences Between Hip Contact vs. Thigh Contact in Weightlifting

  • Weightlifting Blocks vs. the Hang: The Differences & When to Use Each

    Weightlifting Blocks vs. the Hang: The Differences & When to Use Each

  • What Are the Differences Between Powerlifting vs. Weightlifting?

    What Are the Differences Between Powerlifting vs. Weightlifting?

  • What Are Hang Lifts in Weightlifting? Plus, How to Use Them for More Strength

    What Are Hang Lifts in Weightlifting? Plus, How to Use Them for More Strength

  • Here’s Every American Weightlifter Who Has Won an Olympic Medal

    Here’s Every American Weightlifter Who Has Won an Olympic Medal

  • 8 Quick Tips to Help You Nail Your First Weightlifting Workout

    8 Quick Tips to Help You Nail Your First Weightlifting Workout

Weightlifting Basics

What Is Weightlifting?

Weightlifting is a weight-classed strength sport and Olympic Games event. In weightlifting competitions, athletes perform two barbell-only exercises; the snatch and the clean & jerk.

Both events entail moving a loaded barbell from the floor to being held overhead at arm’s length. Athletes who compete in weightlifting are ranked on the sum of their heaviest successful snatch and clean & jerk, which is called a Total. Out of all major strength sports, weightlifting is widely considered to be the most intricate to learn, due to the complex techniques of its two movements.

More in Weightlifting

  • Suk Ri (64KG) Scores Two World Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

    Suk Ri (64KG) Scores Two World Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

    The 2024 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Manama, Bahrain, from Dec. 6-15, 2024, has continued to blaze new pages in the record books before new weight categories become the norm in June 2025. Ruk Si of North Korea, competing in the Women’s 64KG class, was among those who forged into new territory that…

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  • Zhao Jinhong (45KG) Achieves Two Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

    Zhao Jinhong (45KG) Achieves Two Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

  • Karlos Nasar (89KG) Sets Snatch and Total World Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

    Karlos Nasar (89KG) Sets Snatch and Total World Records at 2024 IWF World Championships

  • IWF Approves New Weightlifting Categories Starting June 2025

    IWF Approves New Weightlifting Categories Starting June 2025

  • Karlos Nasar Smashes 3 Unofficial Records Ahead of 2024 World Weightlifting Championships

    Karlos Nasar Smashes 3 Unofficial Records Ahead of 2024 World Weightlifting Championships

  • Who Is the Next Lasha Talakhadze? 

    Who Is the Next Lasha Talakhadze? 

  • “Exactly What We Need”: USA Weightlifting’s National Team Program Makes Big Promises for American Athletes

    “Exactly What We Need”: USA Weightlifting’s National Team Program Makes Big Promises for American Athletes

More in Weightlifting
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