WEIGHTLIFTING for the average teenager? Surely such exercise belongs only to giants! But no, a gold medal winner at last year's Olympic Games was ''pocket-size'' Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov, who is 1.53 metres tall and weighs only 52 kilograms.
Lifting weights is also a gateway to success in other sports because it helps develop body strength.
An indoor sport for males and females, it involves lifting a variably weighted barbell, a steel rod handle to which removable cast-iron disks, or weights, are attached.
If you find the dumbells too heavy, you can always drop them.
In international contests, one wins by hauling the highest total weight of the two s tyles of lifting: the ''snatch'' (one lift up) and the ''clean and jerk'' (lift to the chest and then overhead) within 30 seconds.
To encourage the sport, the Hongkong Amateur Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association offers free training (ideally to people between 15 to 25 years old) at the Hongkong Sports Institute, Sha Tin.