English Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Esperanto French German Hindi Latvian Luxembourgish Malayalam Maltese Norwegian Portuguese Russian Spanish Tajik

Westside Barbell

AJ Roberts
AJ Roberts is a professional powerlifter, and is currently ranked as one of the top 10 powerlifters in the world in the 308 lb weight class.
Print Share this

Is There Money In Powerlifting

Q. Is there any money in powerlifting? I mean, you never hear about large endorsement contracts being given to top guys like Donnie Thompson, David Hoff, or yourself. Why is this?

A. We’re starting to see more and more money being given away in the sport, but unfortunately, because of the ridiculous amount of federations, it’s pretty spread out right now. The SPF currently gives away the most money throughout the year, holding three or four money meets with the big one being the Powerstation Pro/Am that is held in August and put on by Mike Ferguson (who is UFC fighter Rich Franklin’s strength and conditioning coach). Typically, the prize pot is $20,000+, made up from a variety of sponsors such as MusclePharm, At Large Nutrition, and Westside Barbell.

As far as individual contracts go, typically the top lifters are given supplements and equipment, and if they’re lucky, they’ll have a sponsor that covers the meet expenses, but rarely is money ever given. I wish this wasn’t the case and would love to see it change, but honestly, I don’t think strength is respected enough in this country like it is in Russia, Iceland, and others.