With competitions that test the limits of human strength, weightlifting and powerlifting will bring the world's strongest athletes to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. These muscle-bursting sports are the focus of this month's special series on rio2016.com.

Although practised in ancient times, weightlifting became a formal sport in the 19th century and was contested in the first modern Olympic Games, in Athens in 1896. While men's weightlifting has been a regular fixture since the Antwerp 1920 Games, women started pumping iron on the Olympic stage at Sydney 2000. Powerlifting was first included in the Paralympic Games at the Tokyo 1964 edition, when it was still called Paralympic weightlifting.

In this series, you can learn about the history, techniques and leading athletes in the sports, find out who Iranian legend Hossein Reza Zadeh is tipping for Rio 2016, hear about the training and dietary regimes of the world's leading lifters and read about the hopes of Amalia Perez, who will fight for her fifth Paralympic medal in Rio.

Schedule of articles:

Tuesday (24/6) –  Find out about the history, rules and leading nations in weightlifting and powerlifting

Wednesday (25/6) – 'The strongest man in the world' gives his tips for the Rio 2016 Games

Thursday (26/6) – How the athletes are preparing to test their limits at Rio 2016

Friday (27/6) – At 40 years old, Mexican Amalia Perez is dreaming of a fifth Paralympic medal in Rio