Ed "King" Coan: The GOAT of Powerlifting

Ed "King" Coan: The Greatest Strength Athlete of All Time

For serious powerlifting students, Ed "King" Coan is not merely another champion in the record book. In Marty Gallagher’s view, Coan represents the highest expression of strength training intelligence, competitive dominance, technical precision and brutal barbell execution. This article preserves Marty’s firsthand account of Coan’s unmatched squat, bench press, and deadlift dominance, along with the coaching relationship and training conversations that shaped some of the greatest powerlifters of the era.

Bob Beamon's incredible leap was called "The greatest single human athletic feat in history." The whole thing took six seconds: his runway sprint was 19 strides before taking off and attaining a height of over 6 feet mid-flight. He could have cleared a 1968 VW Micro-Bus. Bob raised the record from 27 feet 4.25 inches to 29 feet 2.5 inches, representing a 6% increase. To equal Ed Coan's 15% powerlifting dominance, Beamon would have had to leap 32 feet.

Ed Coan and the 15% Powerlifting Standard

Ed "King" Coan is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the greatest strength athlete of the 20th Century. Who could rival him? In powerlifting, only 16-time world champion Lamar Gant, a man with a 688-pound deadlift at 132 pounds, could be mentioned in the same breath as Coan. In Olympic weightlifting the 20th century contenders would be John Davis, Paul Anderson, Tommy Kono, David Rigert and Vasily Alekseev. I would respectfully point out that none of these men, despite their awe-inspiring accomplishments, were ever as far ahead of their competitors as Ed Coan was ahead of his at one remarkable point in time.

At his mind-blowing peak Ed Coan was mathematically a full 15% better than the rest of the world. Ponder that fact: a 15% gap between one man and the rest of the world is unprecedented in all of sport. Most experts would point to Bob Beamon's 29-foot long jump at the 1968 Mexico Olympics as the greatest single athletic advancement over an existing record in history. Beamon's 29-foot leap exceeded Igor Ter-Ovanesyan’s world record of 27 feet 4.25 inches by a margin of 21¾ inches. By way of comparison, Beamon's leap represented a 6% increase over the world record. Beamon's broad jump world record stood for 23 years until it was broken in 1991. To equal Coan's dominance Beamon would have had to soar 32 feet.

To equal Coan's 15% advantage, a sprinter would need to slash Usain Bolt's 9.58 world record by 1.45 seconds and run an 8.15-second 100-meter dash. In the comparison as originally framed, the high jump would need to rise from 8 feet ¼ inch to 9 feet 2 inches, and the shot put would have to increase dramatically to equate to Coan's 15% superiority. The point is not track and field trivia. The point is perspective: Coan’s powerlifting separation from the rest of the world was not normal superiority; it was mathematical domination.

The 220-Pound Class and a 2,400-Pound Total

Weighing 219 pounds, Ed squatted 959 pounds below parallel, bench-pressed 550 without a bench shirt and deadlifted a historic 901 pounds. He remains, by far, the lightest man to deadlift 900. And note that this deadlift was not done in a deadlift-only competition: Ed pulled 900 after squatting 920, 940 and 959 and after having deadlifted 830, all before tackling 900. Talk about back and leg pre-fatigue.

What could he have done on that day in a deadlift-only competition? 930 to 940 pounds seems reasonable. In the run up to this historic competition Ed had actually doubled a 900-pound deadlift in training. The 900-pound barbell pull was done on his second attempt deadlift. Coan actually tried 920 on his third attempt, but after all the excitement and hoopla that exploded when he pulled the 900, it let some of the air out of his tires.

On that day Ed Coan generated a three-lift, squat, bench press and deadlift, aggregate total of 2,400-plus pounds. This total, made in the 220-pound class, exceeded the world total record in the 242 and 275-pound classes. At the time Coan was the fifth man to join the 2,400-pound total club. He was, by far, the lightest man to attain membership. The 2,400 club was exclusive, the Mount Everest of power achievements.

The guys that Ed Coan was ahead of in the 220-pound class were no bunch of sissies or under-achievers. They included future hall-of-fame powerlifters, iron icons in their own right, men like Joe "The Lad" Ladiner, Fred "Dr. Squat" Hatfield, a man with an 880-pound squat weighing 220, nine-time world champion Larry Pacifico with a 580-pound raw bench press, and Jim Cash, a man with an 837-pound deadlift. These amazing men finally broke the seemingly insurmountable 2,100-pound three-lift total barrier with great fanfare. Then came Coan.

From 198-Pound Destroyer to 220-Pound Nightmare

On hearing the news that Coan would be moving into his weight class, one nationally ranked 220-pound competitor solemnly responded, "Well that's bad f#@king news for the rest of us." He was then seen heading to a bar. Indeed this was bad news for his competitors. As a 198-pound lifter, Ed had crushed every record in sight. The 2,000-pound total was the international benchmark for the 198-pound class and when Coan totalled 2,200 at 198, he became 10% better than the rest of the world.

As a 198er, Coan squatted 859, bench-pressed 500 raw, and then deadlifted 859 on a second attempt, just missing 870 on a third. We began to think he was a space alien. For those in the know, Coan was a genuine strength superstar, the likes of which we had never seen before. Incredibly, he kept improving past any and all realistic expectations.

Becoming Ed Coan’s Competition Coach

Out of the blue, the greatest lifter in the history of the sport picked me to be his competition coach. I didn't even know I was being considered. The day before the national championships, in a chance encounter in the street, he informed me that he would like me to be his competition coach the next day. Oh, and there was no real need to get together beforehand and talk and bond and become BFFs; just show up at the meet site two hours before the lifting begins. Thus began my official and ongoing relationship with Ed Coan.

Like a strength Forest Gump, I somehow ended up as Ed Coan's competition coach. I coached him on the two times that he had his two greatest lifting performances. For a power aficionado like myself, this was literally a dream come true. Could there be a better ringside seat? I was Angelo Dundee for Ali and Sugar Ray; I was Cus D'Amato for Mike Tyson. In the white-hot heat of competition, when national and world titles were on the line, I became the best in the world's pit crew chief.

The Coan Training Conversations

For five years Ed and I talked extensively, two to three times weekly for at least an hour. He and I were both fascinated by the strength training, the nuts-and-bolts work done in the gym. We pondered together our mutual Rubik's Cube, "the eternal question": if the goal is to become as strong as possible in the three lifts, how best do we use our available training time? How best do we optimize lift performance? Coan and I talked strength philosophy at length. He was a thinker and a sophisticate. Too many passed him off as a genetic freak and that was not the case.

I came out of the Hugh Cassidy school of strength whereas Ed came out of the Ernie Frantz Midwestern school of strength. Hugh and Ernie had come to many of the same strength conclusions, independent of one another, and now, as Ed and I compared notes, the mid-Atlantic and Midwestern similarities far exceeded the differences.

Ed had developed a strong relationship with uber-athlete, rodeo star turned football star turned powerlifting superstar Doug Furnas. World champion Dennis Wright lived in Oklahoma rodeo country and mentored Doug. Dennis' southwestern conclusions, as told by Doug to Ed, echoed Ernie and Hugh's conclusions. An unarticulated strength consensus was emerging.

Coan's weight training template was an amalgamation: our mentors had laid the foundation and this was combined with empirical experience. We were the inheritors. The mentors, Dennis, Ernie and Hugh, had pointed the way. Ed, Doug and I shared ideas. The conversations I had with these men, and I would add to that list bench press God Ken Fantano, were directly responsible for "hatching" future hall-of-fame lifter Kirk Karwoski.

How Coan’s Ideas Helped Hatch Kirk Karwoski

I would talk to Ed weekly about "that kid with the big legs," as Ed called Kirk before he finally remembered his name. When I started applying Coan ideas to Kirk's training, Kirk exploded. He had a rock-solid foundation, having worked with 775-deadlifter Joe Povinale and Marshall "Doc" Peck. When we got Kirk on the "modified Ed" routine, Kirk’s body and his lifts exploded. Kirk had the mindset, the situation, a single bachelor with a good job, the drive and the genetics. Kirk ate up whatever Ed and I devised. Within five years Kirk was an indomitable world champion. His barbell squat records stand to this day.

Coan: The Man, the Myth, the Method

As an outgrowth of our extended conversations on and about training, and as a result of being the pit crew chief for Ed Coan in big league competitions, I wrote a book on Ed and his exploits called Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method. The title pretty much says it all. I chronicled Ed. I profiled him as a person, I portrayed a feel for the environment that spawned him, I documented his competitive career on a competition-by-competition basis, and we went into great depth and detail on the specifics of his training.

Ed was a thinking man's lifter, a sophisticate, but a brutal and harsh sophisticate. Properly implemented, Coan's protocols always get results. Check them out.

Equipment Notes for Coan-Style Powerlifting Training

Ed Coan’s greatness was not created by equipment alone; it was created by technique, planning, violent intent, training intelligence and the ability to show up on the platform when it counted. Still, serious powerlifting demands serious tools. Lifters building a home gym, commercial strength room, school weight room, first responder facility or military fitness room around the squat, bench press and deadlift need a dependable bar, plates, collars, lifting surface and support gear matched to hard training.

For barbell work, powerlifters can compare the Iron Cowboy Powerlifting Bar and the Iron Grip OB-7 Industrial Chrome Olympic Weightlifting Bar. For loading, options such as urethane Olympic plates with grips, IRON COMPANY premium rubber bumper plates and urethane bumper plates can support different strength training environments. Lock-Jaw Sport barbell collars help keep plate changes controlled and repeatable.

For deadlift-focused spaces, heavy-duty deadlifting mats can help define the pulling area. Lifters who use support gear can compare an all-leather lever powerlifting belt, a Schiek 2006 wide weightlifting belt, Schiek power lifting straps, Schiek padded gym gloves, and IRON COMPANY urethane dumbbells for assistance work where dumbbells fit the program.

Ed Coan Powerlifting FAQ

Why does Marty Gallagher call Ed Coan the greatest powerlifter of all time?

Marty’s case is based on Coan’s unmatched dominance across weight classes, his historic squat, bench press and deadlift totals, and the claim that at one peak moment Coan was mathematically 15% ahead of the rest of the world.

What were Ed Coan’s major lifts at 219 pounds?

In this article, Marty cites Coan weighing 219 pounds while squatting 959 pounds below parallel, bench pressing 550 without a bench shirt, and deadlifting a historic 901 pounds in full powerlifting competition.

Why was Ed Coan’s 901-pound deadlift so important?

Coan’s 901-pound deadlift was not performed fresh in a deadlift-only event. Marty emphasizes that Coan pulled it after multiple heavy squats, a raw bench press, and an 830-pound deadlift attempt, making the lift even more extraordinary.

Was Ed Coan just a genetic freak?

Marty rejects that oversimplification. He describes Coan as a thinking man’s lifter who studied strength training, compared methods, discussed programming in depth, and developed a sophisticated but brutally effective template.

How did Ed Coan influence Kirk Karwoski’s training?

Marty writes that he applied Coan’s ideas to Kirk Karwoski’s training after discussing strength strategy with Coan. The modified approach helped Kirk’s body and lifts explode on the way to becoming an indomitable world champion.

What equipment supports powerlifting-style training?

A practical powerlifting setup starts with a strong barbell, Olympic plates, secure collars, a stable pulling or lifting surface, a belt if the lifter uses one, and assistance tools such as straps or dumbbells where they fit the program.

About the Author

As an athlete Marty Gallagher is a national and world champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was a world champion team coach in 1991 and coached Black's Gym to five national team titles. He's also coached some of the strongest men on the planet including Kirk Karwoski when he completed his world record 1,003 lb. squat. Today he teaches the US Secret Service and Tier 1 Spec Ops on how to maximize their strength in minimal time. As a writer since 1978 he’s written for Powerlifting USA, Milo, Flex Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Prime Fitness, Washington Post, Dragon Door and now IRON COMPANY. He’s also the author of numerous books including Purposeful Primitive, Strong Medicine, Ed Coan’s book “Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method" and numerous others. Read the Marty Gallagher biography here.