Jen Harrington

Unlike a lot of coaches, I wasn’t always sporty or interested in health and fitness. I was that girl in school that stood still in PE class while everyone played basketball around me. I wanted to be fit and strong, but I couldn’t kick or catch a ball to save my life. Looking back, it didn’t matter how good or bad I was in PE, that isn’t what stopped me from trying to participate. I lacked confidence in myself. I hated my body and how it looked and wanted to make a change.

I started doing some home workout DVDs and running a couple of times a week (which I hated every minute of). During this time, a few friends of mine were going to the gym and I asked them if they’d show me around. I’ll never forget that first day in the gym. I was anxious, scared of what people would think of me, what if I did something wrong, what if people laughed at me.

After a few weeks of lifting, I found the number going up on the barbell to be much more satisfying than the number going down on the scales. As I got stronger and stronger I felt like I was finally good at something. So I decided to bite the bullet and compete in a powerlifting competition. I loved every minute of it and was invited to compete at the Irish junior national championship. When I received that invite, I knew it was time to take my lifting seriously and join a powerlifting club. And It wasn’t going to be any old club, it had to be the best in country, ABS powerlifting. Since joining ABS my lifting career exploded. I have represented Ireland at the world championships in Sweden 2019, I hold multiple junior records, became the 3rd female junior in Ireland to break 400 dots points and was the national u21 and u23 runner up in 2018 and 2019 respectively.