Dumbbell Weights: Should You Go Light Or Heavy?

Weightlifting is for everyone because it is ultimately about self-development and challenging your own limits and preconceptions. 

Whilst competitive weightlifting, the twisting barbells and the Olympic-grade rubber bumper plates are all an essential part of creating an equal playing field, the key record that every weightlifter is looking at is their own personal best.

Lifting weights and strength training have existed in a recognisable form since Hellenistic Greece, but it took until the 1890s for structured competitions to be expanded.

The first-ever world champion is not who anyone expected, and proved more than anything else that weightlifting is for everybody, regardless of profession or age.

Why Did The First Ever Weightlifting World Championship Take Place?

For as long as people have been lifting heavy objects, there have been competitions to perform the most impressive feat of strength, with countless men and women throughout history claiming to be the world’s strongest person.

For the most part, these contests were solved through matching feats of strength. Most famously, Katie “The Great Sandwina” Brumbach defeated Eugen Sandow in a weightlifting contest, taking on his stage moniker as a symbol of victory.

These contests created a lot of the famous unusual weights and odd lifts that continue to fascinate, such as Apollon’s Wheels and the famous Dinnie Stones, but none of these events were necessarily standardised.

This led to constant allegations of foul play, poor technique, dubious judging and tampering with the weights, consistent with weightlifting’s connection to the strongman tradition of vaudeville entertainment.

That changed by 1890, when the Austrian Athletic Federation (Österreichischer Athleten Bund) became the first officially recognised national governing body for weightlifting.

This led to national competitions in Britain by February 1891 and a world competition starting just a month later.

Key Takeaways

• Feats of strength and weightlifting have existed for thousands of years.

• Strongman competitions were highly popular in the 19th century but struggled for legitimacy.

• Standardisation, consistent rules and an even playing field were established on a national level in 1890.

• The first world championship was held in 1891, with the first day of the meet.

How Did The First Weightlifting World Championship Differ From Today?

Taking place from the 28th up until the 30th March 1891, the first ever recognised weightlifting World Championship took place at London’s Cafe Monico, with an open competition between existing amateur champions.

Alongside the champion of Great Britain, champions from Hamburg, Vienna, Rome, Berlin and Brussels competed in a rather unusual weightlifting contest.

Despite trying to move away from the strongman sideshow element of weightlifting, the contest itself resembled modern World’s Strongest contests, with a range of events that tested not only strength but also form, repetition and consistency. There were seven dumbbell exercises and one barbell exercise during the event.

The weights varied in size, with dumbbells weighing between 25kg and 38kg, but even the weight used for the two-handed continental press event was only 81kg. This was less than the gold medal snatch lift in the women’s 48kg category of the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships.

The weights of the competitors varied as well, with an open format meaning there were no weight classes.

It also predated the organisation that would become the International Weightlifting Federation by over a decade, and would only be recognised as an official edition of their World Championships nearly a century later.

Key Takeaways

• The first world championships had just seven athletes from six nations.

• There were no weight classes.

• It took place over three days and consisted of multiple disciplines.

• The maximum weight was 81kg.

• It was only officially recognised as part of the IWF World Championships nearly a century later.

Who Was The First British And World Weightlifting Champion?

The first British world weightlifting champion, Edward Lawrence Levy, was born in London in 1851 but was predominantly based in Birmingham.

A teacher and choir-master by trade, Mr Levy was 39 years old at the time he competed in the first weightlifting contest in Great Britain, and his win qualified him for the World Championship just a month later.

After dominating the dumbbell events on the first day, he declined to take part in the barbell event. Despite this, he won handily, which led in no small part to the rule that every lifter has to successfully complete each exercise discipline.

By the time of the first Olympic Games in 1896, Mr Levy retired, having broken 14 world records during his career. He would take part as a journalist and a judge of the first generation of Olympic weightlifters.

Key Takeaways

• Edward Levy was 39 years old when he became weightlifting’s first world champion.

• He formed part of the jury of the first-ever Olympic weightlifting event.

• He broke 14 world records in his short three-year competitive career.

• He founded the Amateur Gymnastics Federation and wrote several historical accounts as well as an autobiography.