Dimensions

• Height: 5ft 6in
• Weight: 220

Notable Lifts

• Squat – 1019 lbs (equipped)
• Bench press – 584 lbs (eqquipped)
• Deadlift – 901 lbs (raw) 
• Total: 2463.6 lbs (equppied) 

(Coan deadlifting in the 1990 IPF championships)

Biography

Ed Coan is the very definition of a big man in a small package. At only five feet six inches tall and weighing only 220 pounds, Coan was putting up numbers that not only shattered the records in the 220 pound weight class, but the all time world records at the time, outlifting men who outweighed him by over 100 pounds. Coan had started his career strong in 1984, winning the International Powerlifting Championships, which he then would continue to win for eleven straight years. Throughout his active career in international powerlifting competition Ed Coan has set over 71 world records in powerlifting. He became the lightest person to cross the 2,400 lb. barrier in the powerlifting total when he set an all-time powerlifting record total of 2,463 pounds.

(A young Ed Coan in his first international coemption meet, 1984)

Ed Coan was a sensation from the start. Coan had wandered out of gym in Chicago and had immediately started breaking world records, lifting numbers that seemed impossible, even by someone in a heavier weight class. Coan’s best result in a raw, drug tested international competition is 1,035 kg (2,282 lbs) in the 100 kg weight class at the 1994 IPF Senior World Championships. establishing a new world record at the time.

In December of 1998, Ed had shocked the world with a performance of the century when he set a record with a 2463 pound total, becoming the lightest man to total over 2400 pounds. His competition bests where a 1003 pound squat, 573 pound bench, and 901 pound deadlift. Even by todays standards, with more modern equipment and more compressive lifting gear, his record still stands in the 220 pound weight class. Over his career Coan earned world titles in four different weight classes and regularly outlifted men much bigger than himself.

(Coans squat accident during a competition, 2002)

In 2002, while preforming a 970lb squat in competition, Coan had torn his ACL while descending with the weight. He was flung from out under the bar and it was clear that something had went wrong. But Coan was more concerned with the other men competing that day: ” Move me out of the way so someone else can lift”. A normal person would have taken their time getting off the platform, or better yet, wait until paramedics arrived to take him off on a gurney. However Ed is no normal man. He cares about the sport of powerlifting so much that he would rather be dragged off the platform in a hurry so that another lifter may lift, rather than have everyone surround him worried about his well being.

(Andrey Meeting his idol, 2014)

Though Ed Coans Competitive career may have ended, his influence as lifter is still very real. Today Coan is still acknowledged and regarded as a legend in the world of powerlifting, considered by many to be the greatest of all time. Coan spends much of his time mentoring young lifters coming into the sport. Ed’s influence is felt all over the world, and by strength athletes at all levels. Andrey Malanichev is one of these lifter who admires Ed. Although Andrey holds the title of the heaviest total ever lifted by a man, he still refers to Ed as the greatest. “Superstar, You’re a Superstar!” Andrey says as he bows down to Coan. Acts such as this from other legends of a sport go to show how huge of an impact and inspiration that Ed Coan has had on the sport of Powerlifting.

Sources

“Ed Coan.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Coan.

HQ, Breaking Muscle. “Friday Flicks: Powerlifting Legend Ed Coan.” Breaking Muscle, 5 Sept. 2018, breakingmuscle.com/uk/fitness/friday-flicks-powerlifting-legend-ed-coan.

“Ed Coan.” Weight Lifting, Weight Training, Bench Press & Bodybuilding, www.criticalbench.com/Ed-Coan.htm.