Assistant fitness instructor Tim Hart has been featured in Your Docklands & City this Month.

The term weightlifting is familiar to all casual exercisers. Officially however, weightlifting has very little in common with the weights machines and bicep curls that form the average gym user’s workout routine. Here we take a closer look at both a physically and mentally demanding sport, capable of pushing athletes literally to breaking point. Weightlifting competitions are one of the oldest physical contests. Events date back thousands of years, with Greek coins depicting rock lifting competitions back in the 6th century BC. The modern Olympic weightlifting competition is made up of two exercises, the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. The aim is to lift as heavy as possible in both exercises, with the winner having the highest combined total of the two.

Often dismissed as solely a strength competition, weightlifting is more than as show of brute force. Propelling a heavy barbell upwards against gravity requires a massive output of power and speed. Recent research has shown that weightlifters are required to perform one of the fastest movements in sport when pulling the bar off the ground, to catching it in a “clean” position. Mental discipline and focus is also crucial in the sport. It has been recorded that seconds before a lift, an athlete’s brain waves measure no interference or disturbance.

It is these extremes of total concentration, violent force production and extreme weight that form the fine line between a successful and unsuccessful lift. Famously the Hungarian weightlifter Janos Baranyai suffered a dislocated elbow at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, while attempting to lift 148kg. For this reason weightlifting should only be learnt in the appropriate environment with trained coaches.

So where is the best place to learn? Local weightlifting gyms offer a cheap and easy way to learn the Olympic lifts. The British Weightlifting website can be used to search for a local club. The basics can be learnt in a few days and offer a great opportunity for individuals to advance their exercise and training goals. Indeed weightlifting is fast becoming the exercise of choice for most Olympic athletes. Paula Radcliff, Jennifer Enis and many professional sportsmen are now weightlifting regularly as a way of improving speed, power and muscular performance.

This year’s Olympic weightlifting competition will be held at the ExCel arena and will see 260 athletes competing for 15 available gold medals. Those interested can try for tickets when they are resold again in April.