Why was Ed Coan such a great power lifter? Some of it was talent, some of it was persistence, and some of it was a long term perspective that promoted intelligent training.
A Head Start With A 400 Pound Deadlift
The truth is that Ed was pretty strong before he ever started training. Some people are just naturally strong and Ed is one of those people. Even though he was naturally strong, he was not naturally big, however, this didn’t seem to matter as he deadlifted over 400 pounds in his first deadlift workout while weighing only 130 pounds. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Ed was way ahead of the rest of the pack before he ever started to lift weights. Even if he had started out as a huge lifter, a 400 pound deadlift would be pretty good, but a 400 pound deadlift for a 130 pound beginner is absurd.
The 500 Pound Squat
Ed says one of his initial goals in powerlifting was to gain enough strength to do a 500 pound squat. With good genetics on his side, he made fast progress and was able to achieve this in a little less than a year. His training strategy at the time was simply to max out twice per week until he made it to 500 pounds. At that point, he knew it was time to change his training strategy, and he began to use a 12 to 14 week training cycle. The cycle started with a weight that would allow him to perform ten reps. Weight was then added each week throughout the cycle until he reached a heavy single rep.
Ed understood that no one makes rapid gains forever. Adding weight to your max every week is possible for a while, but not indefinitely. With this in mind, Ed made an effort to plan his training according to a reasonable goal, the goal being to gain five pounds of strength by the end of each training cycle. After doing some simple math, he could see that his strength would increase by 20 pounds every year and that he would be 100 pounds stronger for all his lifts in five years. In the minds of many people, Ed’s strategy may not have seemed like it was accomplishing much at the end of three months, but he knew it would add up to a lot within five years if everything worked as planned, which it did.
Ed Didn’t Max Out
When Ed planned his training cycles, he picked poundages that did not require him to max out on reps or weight at any point in the cycle. He trained hard enough to gain strength, but not so hard that it led to overtraining.
The End Of The Cycle
Everything about Ed’s plan was based on getting stronger by the end of each cycle. He could have pushed himself to break a personal record during the middle of the cycle, but he reasoned that doing so would hinder his performance at the end of the cycle. He always made a plan and stuck with it instead of thinking to himself, “I feel really strong today, I think I should ignore my plan and put an extra fifteen pounds on the bar. I am going to max out on reps to see if I can set a personal record.” Ed believed that lifters who did this would pay for it at the end of the cycle with a smaller end result.
It’s Hard To Progress From A Peak
Many lifters get bored and impatient with slow progress. When they intensify their workouts, they suddenly get stronger. They believe that this proves that harder training is superior, but what they are really doing is hitting a peak. Pushing yourself harder than normal can lead to short term peak performance, but it can also prevent future progress. It is hard to keep making consistent progress while in a peak because you must use up your reserve of recovery power to get there. If you back off and leave a little in reserve, you can keep gaining. You may not gain as fast, but in the end, you avoid plateaus and end up gaining more.
In Ed’s case, he knew that if his five rep max for the squat was 800 pounds, that maxing out on reps with 800 pounds would be too severe and would take away his progress in future workouts. Ed understood that he didn’t have to use 800 pounds to gain strength, he could start with 700 pounds for five reps and add 20 pounds per week until he hit 780 pounds. This strategy provided enough training stimulus to make him stronger. By using this method, Ed was able to make progress without ever missing a lift. This simply means that he was always able to lift the amount weight for the amount of reps that he had scheduled ahead of time.
Good Form Is A Huge Key To Successful Powerlifting
When Ed was asked how he was able to succeed at never missing a scheduled lift, he said it came down picking his numbers right in terms of using the right amount of weight and reps throughout each cycle, and having a feel for doing each exercise correctly. Ed paid very close attention to every detail of how each lift was executed and how it felt. In powerlifting, there is a mindset among many successful lifters that form is king when considering the key factors that lead to consistent progress and strength development. The lesson that we can all learn from Ed and other successful lifters is to strive to use perfect form. Do not sacrifice good form by cheating to lift heavier weights as it will slow your progress down in the end. Ed only added weight to his lifts within the context of maintaining perfect form, and it helped him to become one of the greatest powerlifters ever.
The main lessons that we can learn as to why Ed Coan was such a great lifter are stated below:
- Ed had a head start with a huge amount of built in strength before he began lifting.
- He pushed himself to make rapid gains as long as he could.
- When Ed could no longer make rapid gains, he understood how to alter his training in order to keep making slow but consistent progress for many years.
- Ed didn’t try to progress from a peak, he progressed towards a peak. He avoided maxing out on weight and reps to avoid overtraining. At the same time, he lifted hard enough to gain strength.
- Ed paid close attention to the details of correct lifting technique and practiced his lifts with perform form.
For examples of how Ed set up his workout cycles, please refer to the links and book listed below. Best of training to you.
The Man, The Myth, The Method (book)
reference source 1: The Jugglife: Ed Coan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIVoRy7zPbg
reference source 2: 7:42 to 7:52 Mark Rippetoe Interview with Ed Coan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPADDBiY1qw
Squat technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93rXsKqAX3w
Short Snippets of Ed Coan on Lifting Technique