Muscle Driver is hosting a series dubbed as The Muscle Driver Grand Prix Series. In a time where people complain about USAW and how the sport of Olympic weightlifting needs to grow, MD is making an effort to generalize Olympic weightlifting, make it accessible, and most importantly, make it fun.
Specifically this means MD is hosting meets around the country and awarding cash prizes for the top Sinclair formula finishers. The inaugural meet is on November 5th in Charllotte, NC.
So many people have given their two cents on how to build the sport of weightlifting, and this is the first major non-USAW event to do so. Next year MD wants to give away at least $50,000 in prize money! There are even negotiations to get the final event televised on ESPN. This would be a huge boost for the sport as it hasn’t a) been popularized in culture and b) hasn’t ever compensated athletes monetarily.
The whole series is extremely accessible, but especially this first meet; anyone at any age can enter. More so, many top tier American lifters won’t be competing at this event because they are prepping for the American Open or the Olympic trials early next year. This means that anyone can walk away with prize money, ranging from $400 to $2,000. This opens the door for new or inexperienced lifters to end up on the podium and awarded some cash. I can’t say this definitively, but there aren’t many Americans (if any) that can say they won some dough by doing well at a weightlifting meet.
I’ve seen some resonating skepticism on the internet about the meet being “too big for my first meet” or “too big of an event, I’m not good enough yet”. This is the same weak behavior that everyone shows when faced with the “daunting task” of actually competing. Look: my first meet was in a barn in Texas and was basically a structured practice session. I had a great time, but it would have been a lot of fun to go to a very nice venue with top of the line equipment in the warm-up room. Not to mention some of the top coaches in the US will be there to specifically help beginners. This is the perfect opportunity to receive help from experienced coaches. When I went to Nationals in 2010, Paul Doherty lent a helping hand despite the fact that I was competing with one of his lifters (Ben Claridad). There will be more of the same at this MD meet.
Lastly, I have it on good authority that Glenn Pendlay will be racing Brad Hess in a C2 rowing competition. I’m almost positive he’ll puke.
Bottom Line:
If you’re on the fence about doing your first meet, commit to this MD Inaugural meet and you’ll have a great time. It’s a nice venue with nice equipment and nice people. You’ll walk away a better lifter for sure.
34 thoughts on “MD Grand Prix”
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looks cool – way to close to my next PL competition though. Good luck to all competitors.
How close? Are they giving out thousands of dollars at your powerlifting meet too?
–Justin
This is fantastic! I actually typed a comment on here last week lamenting how hard it is to find out about powerlifting meets and how that barrier has got to be a big reason that the sport is so unpopular. But then I didn’t want to sound like a whiner so I didn’t click submit. I won’t enter this one but once I’m strong enough next year or so to have a shot at winning something I’ll definitely enter one of these. Well actually I’d enter this one instead of the Raw and USAPL meets I’m looking at if it were closer to me. $2000 is awesome!
This is a weightlifting meet. Powerlifting uses the Wilks formula.
–Justin
I signed up to compete at the USAPL GA state meet last week, pumped!
This is a sweet deal for WL, if I were not going to a techno concert that day, I would defintely make an effort to go.
Anyone here follow elite fts at all? They have a new stock of all sorts of olympic stuff and are selling the pendlay bars for $50 less than the md usa site. I am really on the fence and I am pretty sure that I am not going to buy one because funds are a bit tight now, but its a really good deal and I was wondering how the hell they are selling them so cheap or if pendlay is coming out with a new bar line soon. Almost seems too good to be true.
Also I said before that I had issues with my york powerbar and I actually took that bad boy appart over the weekend, put some 3 in 1 oil on it and she spins pretty well now.
Question for the olympic crew: I sprained my left ankle in April playing bball when I was at college (with friends, not for my school) and now when I clean heavy and snatch weights at around 95% and above to my max, my left foot has a tendency to come forward in the catch and for my foot to externally rotate like a mother. One lighter weights I do not have this problem. Anyone with experience with this?
1. You don’t need to take your bar apart to oil it. Just drop it in the opening of the sleeve.
2. You should regularly do some exercises with a band for the ankle and hit various mobility stretches for the ankle, knee, and hip. It’s possible that you changed your gate as a result of the sprain and developed tightness from limping or something. Or your ankle mobility is causing it.
–Justin
I hope someone from WFAC wins.
Ahh..reading comprehension is important. The more you know…
Justin,
You made a comment yesterday on FB about the Stuff You Should Know podcast… Well I am listening to the how breathalyzers work episode right now, and they were talking about a study that tries to generalize about how much the average man could drink before getting drunk. They explain that the study states the avg man weighs 180 lbs… Chucks immediate response to this was; “180 pound man? come on. show me an 180 man. you gotta get above 2 bills if you’re a dude… well I need to have a shirt that says ‘real men weigh 200 lbs'”
So, have you sent them a shirt yet?
Yeah, I already sent it. I said that on the Facebook page (after you looked at it, I judge). I thought it was pretty cool that he said that.
–Justin
Justin-
The USAPL Virginia State Championship is Saturday, October 29. I have been training for it for several months. My goal is to set 2 more state records there this year, and I am pretty sure my CNS will be shot for a few weeks afterward.
Nope – no cash prizes in USAPL, but I competitive there, and I am not competitive enough in my Oly lifts to be near a cash prize.
I was just fuckin’ with you anyway. I’m the only crazy asshole who would do consecutive meets in a row like that (I’ve been debating doing this).
–Justin
Brent would do it. He gives no fucks.
-Tsypkin
let pendlay him enroll in the crash b’s
http://www.crash-b.org/
2k or nothing, imo
Side note: who is limon? the macro from yesterday was amazing, and I would like to make him a sammich.
What macro? Was he using hot keys? SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER MY APM.
–Justin
@ el diablo, which weight class are you?
Now that I have actually read the article today…
This is pretty awesome. I don’t really need any incentive to do a WL meet, but I would like to get better at the lifts before I do one as I have just recently felt comfortable enough to start working on them again. Speaking of that, does anyone know of a good coach in the Houston area?
To enter a meet like this, what are some standards that I should meet? I’m sure there’s a standard, like you should probably be able to bench 250 and clean at least 135. Just curious.
There aren’t any standards brah. There are no requirements to compete in Olympic weightlifting (or powerlifting for that matter). This is just a fun meet that has more to offer than a normal, small local meet.
–Justin
@Justin- this bar was pretty crapped out and would not spin at all, but after i took it apart which was pretty easy, it spins real smooth
Roger that. For others: oil the bar before it gets that bad!
–Justin
@ Maslow – 181# masters (40-44). Will you be there?
@ el diablo. I just learned of the event. I think I’ll skip it this time but I’m probably going to do Richmond Open and maybe 100% Raw Potomac Open (Open Division, 198#)
Don’t bother signing up, everyone. I won’t be there.
@ el diablo and Maslow
Where in VA are you guys located? I’m just outside DC in Arlington, I’d be curious to know where you guys train if you are nearbye.
@bodhi–I’m also in Arlington. I train at Gold’s Capitol Hill and sometimes Gold’s South Arlington on the weekend.
Awesome, if there’s a NW one I would love to show up and just do the power variations of the 2 lifts. Need to learn to jerk though.
maybe it’s because i’m “too competitive”, but i’ve never understood the point behind competing in a meet when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have no chance of even placing….
it’s not like other sports where anything can happen and you might somehow suck out… either you know you’re close to the winning lift range or you’re not
@stonerider
If you haven’t competed then go compete and get a competition PR. Then next time go out and beat it. I guess this comes from my running background. I knew I wasn’t good enough to run fast enough for first place. Some high school cross country guys run a 5k in like 14 minutes. But if in the race I ran 10-20 seconds faster than before or if I had a goal to beat a specific person than it would be a victory.
How do I stop the bar from flicking my dick on the way up when doing barbell shrugs?
I agree with @yosh, though I wouldn’t compete in a WL competition any time soon. But when I run a 5k, i don’t care that i can only run it in 24 minutes (i am genetically slow) as long as each time I have a better “recorded” time than the last.
@tanningandusingmachines:
why would you want to stop that, i thought that was the best part of shrugs.
I laughed at the last sentence.
–Justin
I used to race BMX. At my local track the only guys in my ‘class’ were two former pros that were 12 years older than me. I never won a race against those guys, but every race I wouldn’t be as far behind as the last time. That was a major victory for me and it took nothing away from my experience.
@ Maslow and bohdi-
I train at Outlaw on Route 1 in Alexandria.
@el diablo, bodhi, Maslow
Right on, didn’t know there were NOVA guys here.
I train at Trident CrossFit, also on Route 1 in Alexandria. I’ll be at the USAPL state meet just spectating (never been to a PL meet before) but I’m planning on competing in a few months at the Potomac Open.
@yosh why not just keep working to set PRs in my gym, where it is free and takes less time?
@el diablo, bodhi, Maslow
I train in my basement in Courthouse and make the trek up to Silver Spring and Bethesda multiple times per week to train with my club, Capital Barbell Club. Im heading to this meet actually if one of you guys wants to tag along to compete or just spectate.
@stonerider
Isn’t that a bit like saying, why play high school basketball when you can just work out and practice and then go play college ball?
So, what happens if you train for 3 years and now you think you have what it takes and your first meet you come out, and you miss your snatch opener, and you and your coach don’t know what to do because you haven’t been in a competition before and you don’t know how to deal? Maybe you missed simply because lifting on a stage with 3 judges and a clock on you surprised you and took you out of your zone.
IMO, going to a meet is training. You are practicing making weight, you practice your taper (if you do one), you practice your warm up (timing it with the meet so you can hit your last warmup 2 min before your name is called), and you practice being able to lift in front of judges and spectators where the attempts are limited.
Also, I think its fun to lift in front of people and you can often get better results than if you were just training in your normal gym that day.
@ gumbo-
Be sure to introduce yourself when you’re there. I’ll undoubtedly be wearing some Outlaw gear. This will be my 3rd USAPL event as a competitor.
@ crkilgo-
looks like you are an Oly guy – do you do PL too? PS: I agree with your assessment/advice re stonerider.
@ el diablo, maslow, crkilgo, and gumbo
It’s awesome that there is a 70sbig contingent in the NOVA area. I’ve been looking around trying to find a gym more power lifting orientated. I’m not a great lifter by any means but I think I’ve gotten to a point where being around stronger lifters would be beneficial.
@ el diablo, good luck at the meet, i’ll be out of town otherwise I’d love to make out there.
@ gumbo the Potomac open is a well run meet, i’ll be there as well, that’s where I made my competition debut last year, you’ll enjoy it
@stonerider
crkilgo nailed it. I don’t need to say anything more.
@ el diablo – I’ll definitely say keep an eye out.
@bohdi – Thanks for the recommendation about the Potomac Meet. I’ve heard the Powerhouse gym has a great reputation.
As for gyms in our area, have you checked out the Gold’s Gym in South Arlington? I only visited a few times, but one of the trainers (Jason, an Adult Male)started doing powerlifting & said they have a crew of guys who powerlift. It’s still a globo gym, but there’s three squat racks, plenty of open space for deadlifts, & a generally understanding staff.
And I think everyone benefits from a good environment regardless of your training level. I’m a very novice lifter & still 90’s small, but seeing the strong dudes lift at my gym helps a lot with my motivation.