In an odd semantic quirk, it turns out that lifting weights—the thing you dutifully do a few times a week in order to, if we’re being honest, look good in a tank top—is very different from weightlifting, which is the thing you watch in awe when you're up late and scrolling through sports channels you didn't even know were part of your cable package. English is a weird language sometimes.

But while a berth at the 2020 Games may not be in your future, the sport needn't be as scary or intimidating as the facial expressions often made by its participants. To that end, we asked Matt Kite, a certified weightlifting coach and master coach at D1 Training, for tips on how to make weightlifting a more prominent part of your regular-person fitness regimen. Singlets optional.

Knowledge is power

The most important difference between lifting weights and weightlifting, explains Kite, is the goal of each discipline: The former is designed to build muscle strength and endurance, while the latter is specifically aimed at building power—the ability to generate force quickly. Slow-motion clips of the experts at work can be downright hypnotic. Here is Aleksey Torokhtiy, who won a gold medal in his division at the 2012 London Games, demonstrating the snatch. (My favorite part is that he actually gets air in the middle of the movement.)

The reason athletes in other sports borrow from Olympic weightlifting is because it helps them develop explosive strength in a way that, say, three sets of ten reps on the leg press can’t replicate. And for true gym rats, weightlifting increases the capacity to improve performance in conventional staples of the weight room. The speed at which each movement is performed trains the central nervous system to react more quickly, which in turn allows athletes to lift heavier loads than they would otherwise—snatch and bench press alike.

Discretion is the better part of a debilitating back injury

This is not a space in which you should mistake raw enthusiasm for innate ability. And because Olympic lifts are complex, technical movements that involve a lot of fragile body parts, it isn't prudent here to rely solely on YouTube tutorials, either. Marvel at what our man Aleksey does, but do not try it at home just yet. Kite recommends that interested parties first pay a visit to a weightlifting gym in your area—many reputable CrossFit gyms have trainers and members who train together—and observe a workout to see if you're interested in giving it a shot.

Also, remember that you should consult with your doctor before attempting any new fitness regimen, and that this is especially true of one that has its own subgenre of horrifying accident clips on YouTube, which you can search for yourself, if you're so inclined.

Clean up nice

Start your weightlifting adventure with the clean and its variations, says Kite, which entail the greatest array of benefits while posing the lowest risk of injury. The clean is a total-body lift that is relatively easy to learn, and it serves as the foundation of its more complicated brethren. As an added bonus, for those of you planning a move anytime soon, the clean makes lifting heavy, bulky objects to chest height a lot easier.

Once you've mastered the clean, move on to developing overhead strength with the clean and press, and then its speedier cousin, the clean and jerk. If a fully equipped Olympic gym is outside your daily commute and/or your price range, note that you can practice modified versions of these movements with kettlebells, dumbbells, medicine balls, and even sandbags—but again, only after you’ve learned the basics of each lift first.

Know the limits

Olympic lifting isn’t meant to replace your entire workout routine. Its movement patterns are relatively narrow, and since it uses a barbell and takes place on two equally burdened legs, it isn't nearly as versatile as recreational lifting, which employs a broader array of tools and includes single-leg and single-arm exercises, too. So if weightlifting intrigues you but the idea of giving up concentration curls does not, rest easy. It's okay to do both.

Jay Willis is a staff writer at GQ covering news, law, and politics. Previously, he was an associate at law firms in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, where his practice focused on consumer financial services and environmental cleanup litigation. He studied social welfare at Berkeley and graduated from Harvard Law School... Read more