As almost everyone knows, the Olympics were started by the ancient Greeks almost 3000 years ago. Of course, they haven’t continued uninterrupted since that time. They were restarted in the late 1800s, and today’s Olympics are the direct descendant of those games. One sport that weathered the thousands of years between Olympiads is weightlifting. Very possibly, the only contest that comes more naturally than competing to lift the heaviest weight is competing to find out who can run or ride the fastest.

One Arm Lifts?

In the first few decades of the new Olympic games, weightlifting was an irregular contest. It was part of the track and field contest and it was sometimes included, sometimes not. They were no weight classes. In 1920, weightlifting became a permanent part of the games and weight classes were introduced. However, the way the sport was organised wasn’t at all like it is today. Most of the three to five lifts that were performed were one handed! In the 1920s, health and safety and our understanding of physiology weren’t what they are today, but you can imagine that those one handed lifts must have been risky. They were taken out of the program in 1928. build-perfect-body Until 1978, the Olympic lifts were the clean and press, the snatch and the clean and jerk. Then, due to issues with form, the clean and press was taken out, too.

Men Only For the First 100 Years

In the first 100 years of modern Olympic weightlifting, the sport was men-only. In the year 2000, women’s events were opened up in a variety of weight classes, so now everyone can compete in weight lifting.

A Functional Sport

The interesting thing about weight lifting when compared to body building is that it is focused on performance rather than aesthetics. Correct form is a big part of success in weight lifting, and of course it’s incredibly important to safety, too. However, it has never been necessary to have lean, defined muscles in order to lift heavy things. The weight lifters in the top weight classes, who invariably are the strongest, are not particularly lean. This is especially noticeable on the women’s side of the sport, where it’s obvious that more total weight equals more muscle mass and that the percentage of fat vs. lean tissue matters very little. In a way, weight lifting is refreshingly fair. It doesn’t matter what you look like; it only matters how strong you are. However, that isn’t to say that champion weight lifters don’t look fantastic. It’s simply a different aesthetic. At Wear it Out, we’ve got plenty of singlets that are perfect for weightlifting. Try out our red Timoteo Singlet, our blue N2N Bodywear Ultra Skin Singlet or our grey N2N Bodywear PX Singlet if you’re not afraid to show off. They’re all available in small to extra large.