Olympic weightlifting is defined by only two moves: the snatch and the clean and jerk. But behind what seems like a simple contest to see who can lift the most is a sport built on technique, speed, strategy, and psychology.
We speak to Matthew Tung, a competitive weightlifter who represents Hong Kong internationally, who breaks down how the lifts work, the strategy behind athletes changing their declared weights mid-competition, and how a lifter can miss four of their six attempts and still bring home gold.
In this video, we explore what it really takes to compete in Olympic weightlifting and what the rest of us can learn from athletes who have pushed strength training to the extreme. Read more about professional weightlifting:
- Weightlifting in Olympics: Everything you need to know
- A Guide to Competitive Weightlifting
- “Hong Kong’s first pro weightlifter in 12 years had to compete in tracksuit borrowed from footballer, learned to lift from YouTube”
- This Northeastern grad taught himself weightlifting and is now competing internationally
- Unique aspects of competitive weightlifting: performance, training and physiology
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