The Bench Press Wisdom of Ed Coan

Decades Later and Still Using This Bench Press Template

Gorilla-stance sumo deadlift: Ed Coan, shown in the featured image, at the exact instant of launching a heavy deadlift. Note the slight upward bend in the bar. Ed’s shoulders are over the barbell as he breaks the weight from the floor with his powerhouse legs. His techniques were the result of studied practice and slavish attention to detail.

Ed Coan and the Three Types of Strength

In my humble opinion, the greatest strength training strategist on the planet is Ed Coan. When I say “strength strategist,” a finer point needs to be put on the definition of strength. Strength has three generalized types. Absolute strength, best exemplified by powerlifting, is maximum payloads pushed or pulled for short distances with no regard for velocity. Explosive strength, best exemplified by Olympic weightlifting, uses moderate payloads that are pulled or pushed for long distance using maximum velocity. Sustained strength, best exemplified by mixed martial arts drills or an extended kettlebell session, uses light payloads that are moved varying distances for extended durations.

Ed Coan is the Grand Maestro of powerlifting and should be considered the final word on absolute strength. His training is simplistic sophistication and, when used as intended and intelligently scaled, has produced astonishing results. Lessons from Ed? Firstly, Ed turned lifting technique into an art form. Even though the squat, bench press, and deadlift are simple mechanical movements compared to the technical complexities of learning a full squat snatch or the clean and jerk, Coan established strict technical archetypes in each powerlift and sought to adhere to, replicate and refine these signature techniques in every training session.

Ultra-Raw Off-Season Strength

Another Ed lesson: Ed worked hard as hell in the “off-season,” defined as any time other than the 12 to 16 weeks leading up to a national or world championship. The better the off-season, he rightly reasoned, the better the in-season. Coan taught us to improve in the off-season, not go on vacation and get lazy and fat. Coan’s off-season philosophy was to get as strong as possible in a wide variety of exercises without any supportive gear whatsoever, “not even a weight belt.”

He used the off-season to push his “ultra-raw” strength upward to new levels. Ultra-raw means no lifting gear: no belt, no bench shirt, no squat suit, no wraps. Then, when the competitive training cycle began, Ed would slowly and incrementally add back gear. First came the powerlifting belt, then knee wraps, then his squat suit with straps down. Ed saved “straps up” for the competition. This way, adding back a piece of lifting gear meant something when reintroduced.

Young Kirk Karwoski adopted this strategy. In 1994, Kirk worked his “no gear, not-even-a-belt” squat up to 750 x 5. The following week he put on his lifting belt and squatted 800 x 5 weighing 265. Over the next twelve weeks, Kirk added knee wraps and a squat suit. He exploded 1,000 x 2 in training. He broke his own world record in the squat and total at the national championships two weeks after doubling 1,000. Ed taught Kirk to be an off-season ultra-raw advocate.

Powerbuilding Before It Had a Name

While Ed Coan’s training mostly centered around the core lifts — squat, bench press, deadlift and press-behind-the-neck — he routinely performed a wide array of assistance exercises. Ed would take his time working through a long list of exercises in every training session. He practiced what I called powerbuilding. He handled the Core Four lifts in classic powerlifter fashion, working up to a lone, periodized top set in the squat, bench press, deadlift and overhead press. He would then proceed to add a wide range of bodybuilding movements done with higher reps and greater “feel.”

His training template and frequency had a lot in common with the way six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates trained during his mass-building off-season. In a Muscle & Fitness article I called Yates’ Blood & Guts video the greatest bodybuilding training video of all time and described Yates’ training as “powerlifting with forced reps.” How cool that during the same timeframe the world’s strongest man and the world’s best-built man were using training templates that were, in spirit, astonishingly similar.

Ed Coan’s Legendary Assistance Work

Ed Coan’s assistance-work feats are legendary. He would rep 845 in the no-belt stiff-leg deadlift. He would rep rows with 500 pounds. He would rep pullups with 200 pounds strapped on. Ed had to have two training partners stand on each of his feet to keep him from launching off the ground as he repped the entire stack in the triceps pushdown. He bench-pressed 550 for a touch-and-go shirtless double. All the feats mentioned were done when Ed weighed 225 or less. He did a press-behind-the-neck with 400 x 1 and 350 x 5.

Surviving meet data list one of Ed’s greatest competition days at the 1991 Senior Nationals: roughly 220 bodyweight, a 959-pound squat, 545.6-pound bench press, 901-pound deadlift and 2,405.6 total. That is not gym folklore. That is a surviving meet line that still looks like science fiction.

The Cassidy Connection

Ed was a training innovator. His approach to bench pressing is still ahead of its time. My mentor, Hugh “Huge” Cassidy, first noted, “The best assistance exercise for any exercise is the assistance exercise that most closely resembles the target exercise.” Ergo, the best assistance exercise for the flat bench press is more flat bench presses using different grip widths.

I mentored under Hugh for five years. We worked up to a big top set using our “power grip,” touch-and-go style, and then performed two paused back-off sets with a reduced static poundage. Shoulder pressing and arms, biceps and triceps, were always trained in the Cassidy approach.

I had a feeling of déjà vu all over again when I became exposed to Coan’s approach. The way Ed trained, and, as I learned later, the way Dennis Wright and Doug Furnas trained, were remarkably like how Cassidy acolytes trained. Our power tribes had far more similarities than differences: the strength truths discovered were the same when discovered in rodeo-country Oklahoma, the south side of Chicago or rural Maryland. All of us went where results led, and results led all of us to the same absolute-strength destinations.

Ed developed a friendship with then-rising powerlifting superstar Doug Furnas. Doug mentored under multi-time world champion Dennis Wright. The strength training truisms that Doug had learned from Dennis mostly matched those Coan had arrived at on his own. The two men exchanged training ideas. When I was introduced to the Coan / Furnas approach, I was struck by the similarities with Hugh’s system. The major discrepancy was volume: Cassidy did all the lifts twice a week, whereas Coan limited each exercise to once weekly. Ed would do some light, for him, benches later in the week.

Coan’s Two-Day Bench Press Template

Over the years — decades, actually — our bench press template has morphed slightly from Ed’s original design because of equipment differences and available time constraints. Still, we feel we have stayed true to the strategies that characterize the Coan template. His approach consisted of bench pressing, assistance exercises, and arm work, spread over two training days set at opposite ends of the training week. Our interpretation of the Coan template has some elasticity.

Rep out means push until velocity slows. Grinding reps are saved for the final four weeks of a 12-week training cycle. If, by way of example, a lifter was repping out 205 in the narrow-grip bench press, the athlete would terminate the rep-out when bar speed slowed.

Why the Three Grip Widths Work

For me, the essence of the Coan approach is the use of three grip widths. Each has a slightly different purpose, muscular impact and end result.

• Touch-and-go power grip: this is an overload strategy. Ed worked up to a touch-and-go top set using his strongest grip width. He would hit whatever reps and poundage his periodized schedule called for. Touch-and-go style, using his strongest grip, enabled the use of the heaviest bench press poundage.
• Touch-and-go bench pressing: this allows the athlete to bench more in training than in competition, where reps must be paused. Doing more than needed acclimatizes the lifter to the weight and dispels fear.
• Wide-grip paused bench press: Ed would drop the poundage and, using a slightly wider grip width, pause for the same number of reps used on the touch-and-go benches. The wide-grip paused bench press stresses the pectorals and builds start power off the chest.
• Wide-grip paused reps: these are dead-stopped on the chest and heavily target the pecs. Mastery builds start power. The wide-grip paused rep creates launch power off the chest.
• Narrow-grip touch-and-go: after touch-and-go power grip and pause benches, Ed reduced the weight again and finished with a set or two of close-grip bench presses using a shoulder-width grip. The narrow-grip bench press stresses the triceps and builds lockout power. Exaggerate the lockout to amplify results.
• Narrow-grip finish power: narrow-grip touch-and-go bench presses build finish power, lockout power, and triceps strength. Off the chest is easy. The results lie in attaining a hard lockout on every narrow-grip rep.

Pressing, Arms, and the Once-a-Week Version

Two to three days later, Ed would train the seated press-behind-the-neck. He would periodize this lift and felt that by pushing up his PBN, his bench press improved. Kirk Karwoski was unable to perform the PBN without discomfort. We substituted the heavy 45-degree barbell incline press for the PBN. Kirk eventually worked his paused incline bench press up to 455 x 5. His bench press at the time was just under 600 pounds.

Like Ed, Kirk also worked his arms once weekly. I cannot finish an article on Ed Coan without mentioning his reverence for the 5-rep set. Fives were the predominant rep range, in-season or out-of-season. Ed felt the 5 was the best combination between low-rep power and strength peaking, and higher-rep hypertrophy. Not coincidentally, the 5-rep set was favored by Cassidy and Dennis Wright. Kirk turned 5-rep sets into a religion. Great minds think alike.

How does the Coan approach mesh with our ultra-minimalistic low-volume approach? Lacking the seated PBN device, our once-a-week strength trainer will commence the workout with the standing overhead front press. We use the same grip width as on our overhead press, working up to a top set. The poundage and reps are guided by the periodized template. Our once-a-week trainers then strip 20 to 30 pounds off the barbell and rep out in the standing PBN. On to squats with warmed-up shoulders and our lightest lift out of the way.

After squats, the lifters bench press, working up to the periodized top set, touch-and-go style. They cut 20 to 30 pounds off the bar and, using the same grip width, rep out, this time pausing every rep. Cut another 20 to 30 pounds and rep out in the narrow-grip bench press. After finishing with deadlifts, our once-a-week lifters hit 3 to 4 sets of biceps alternated with triceps. We routinely finish the entire workout in 90 minutes. Done for the week.

One Final Thought on Coan’s Bench Press Potential

One final thought: few folks are aware that at the start of Ed’s career, he was bench pressing 500 pounds weighing 180 pounds. At the time the world record was 540. Ed tore what strength lore describes as a “quarter-size” hole in one pectoral that zapped his strength, insofar as benching. This injury prevented Ed from ever realizing his full bench press potential.

Put differently, I remain convinced that had Ed Coan not torn that gaping hole in his chest, in addition to owning an over-1,000-pound squat and a 901-pound competition deadlift, he would have posted a 625-pound raw bench press weighing roughly 219. That is my opinion, based on what I saw and what I know of the man. Coan is the undisputed King of absolute strength.

Equipment Notes for Coan-Style Bench Press Work

Ed Coan’s bench press wisdom was not created by equipment alone. It was created by technique, planning, progressive loading, patience, effort, recovery, and intelligent assistance work. Still, serious bench pressing requires reliable tools.

For free-weight bench work, lifters and facilities can compare weight benches, weight plates, dumbbells, and weight plate trees. These support the bench press, incline press, dumbbell assistance work, and organized plate changes.

A basic Coan-style training setup might include a bar such as the CAP Barbell Beast Olympic lifting bar, loading such as Troy Barbell interlocking rubber bumper plates, dumbbells such as American Barbell Series I urethane dumbbells and plate storage such as the Body-Solid horizontal bumper plate rack, when those tools match the lifter, room, budget, loading, and intended use.

The equipment does not create the wisdom. The lifter, the template, the restraint, and the long game create the wisdom.

Safety Note for Advanced Bench Press Training

Ed Coan’s template is not an invitation for beginners to copy elite poundages, press-behind-the-neck work, near-limit rep-out sets, heavy inclines, or advanced assistance work without coaching, technical mastery, and recovery capacity.

Bench pressing with multiple grip widths should be pain-free and technically sound. Wide-grip paused benching can stress the shoulders. Narrow-grip pressing can stress the wrists and elbows. Press-behind-the-neck is optional and should be used only by lifters with sufficient shoulder and thoracic mobility; incline pressing or dumbbell pressing is a reasonable substitute when PBN causes discomfort.

Heavy bench pressing requires competent spotters, properly set rack safeties, secure collars, conservative warm-up jumps, accurate loading, and honest assessment. Stop or scale back for sharp pain, pec strain, shoulder pain, numbness, loss of position, repeated technical breakdown, dizziness, or any symptom that changes normal movement.

This article preserves Marty Gallagher’s RAW historical and coaching perspective on Ed Coan’s bench press wisdom. It is not individualized medical, rehabilitation, or programming advice.

Related Bench Press Reading

For more bench press work from Marty Gallagher, read Bench Press Mistakes and Fixes and Bench Press Strength Masters.

RAW with Marty Gallagher, J.P. Brice, and Jim Steel Podcast.

About the Author: Marty Gallagher

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 multiple 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.