MONA Pretorius can pick up almost any man. Literally.

The weightlifter, who is looking to bag a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow from July 23 to August 3, competes in the under-63kg category.

But the 25-year-old can lift more than 170% of her own body weight.

Pretorius can snatch (lifting the bar directly above the head) a best of 88kg, and in the clean and jerk (lifting the bar to shoulder height before pushing it above the head) she has managed 108kg.

"I want to achieve a personal best in Glasgow," Pretorius said at Team SA's farewell banquet in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

"My goal is to make the podium," added the lifter, who competed at the past two Commonwealth Games, finishing fifth aged just 17 in 2006, and bailing out with a torn calf muscle early in the competition four years ago.

Pretorius, described by friends as a "girly-girl", took up weightlifting in the 1990s to aid her karate, where she holds a third-dan black belt and has won six age-group world championships. Still single, Pretorius laughs at the suggestion that men are intimidated by her sporting talents.

"Maybe," she replies with a friendly smile, adding: "It has been a while since my last date."

Not that she has much time for leisure; the two CrossFit gyms she owns in Port Elizabeth, as well as her training demands, keep her busy.

With female weightlifters reaching their peaks around 28, Pretorius is building up to what she hopes will be her Olympic debut at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.