Burgeon Athlete: Jennifer Irr
Burgeon Barbell Athlete, Jennifer Irr, Shamrock Showdown Recap
At the Shamrock Showdown, Jennifer had herself a 9/9 day, successfully hitting weights she had never touched in training!
During our 4-month meet prep together, squats were the most variable lift. Managing fatigue in a way that did not cause deadlift performance to tank and dealing with a back strain were some of the biggest challenges we worked through. Jennifer was an excellent communicator and highly in tune with her body, which allowed us to develop a plan that got her back to pain free squatting within a month. Some positives from her rehab process were developing a trusting coach-athlete relationship, giving bench a chance to shine, and stumbling upon some programming strategies that caused her sumo deadlift to really take off. Coming off a prep with 1 day per week barbell squat frequency and only a handful of heavy squat sessions, she smoked a lifetime PR of 308lbs which was almost 20lbs over her heaviest squat all prep!
In contrast to squats, bench press was the most consistent lift. A 3 times per week frequency and a shorter taper allowed bench to come in peaked for meet day. Her second attempt was 171lbs and something that she had hit in training multiple times. 176lbs however had eluded her until meet day when all attempts flew! One thing that stood out on all Jennifer’s lifts, but especially bench press, was her consistent pre-lift rituals, setup, and execution. Since technical mastery is a prerequisite for “reach” attempts on meet day, Jennifer’s technique means more exciting meets are in her future. Some variations that really helped dial in her technique for meet day were: 1) pin press (arch maintenance, soft touch, leg drive) and 2) long pause singles (takedown speed with control on the chest). This prep gave us a lot of data for bench that I plan to utilize again during the next peak.
As mentioned previously, we stumbled upon some programming strategies that caused strength and skill in the sumo deadlift to really take off during the last two blocks. During the first few weeks of her rehab, I had Jennifer performing high rep sets of sumo. Since she was able to perform sumo pain free we decided to increase sumo frequency to 2 times per week. She hit multiple rep PRs on sumo with this strategy, became consistent with her setup, and developed patience off the floor. This last skill was on full display with her third attempt deadlift on meet day: a 17lbs lifetime PR at 325lbs!
Squat: 140kg / 308lbs (5lbs PR)
Bench: 80kg / 176lbs (17lbs PR)
Deadlift: 147.5kg / 325lbs (17lbs PR)
Total: 367.5kg / 810lbs (39lbs PR)