Ed Coan

Coan started out as a skinny kid being picked on at school, and decided to take up bodybuilding in his basement using old iso-kinetic cord machines. He eventually moved on to an Olympic weightlifting set owned by a friend, guided by the exercise instructions in Arnold Schwarzenegger's book: Education of a Bodybuilder.

He got a membership at the Chicago Health Club and after seeing Bill Kazmaier, started powerlifting with a friend and within six months, squatted 500 lb (227 kg).^[7]

During 1991 Senior Nationals, he became the lightest person to cross the 2,400 lb (1,089 kg) barrier in the powerlifting total (a sum of three lifts: squat, bench, and deadlift). In 1998 World Championships, he set an all-time powerlifting record total at 2,463 lb (1,117 kg), in the 110 kg weight class.

Coan's best total in a drug tested international competition is 2,282 lb (1,035 kg) in the 100 kg weight class at the 1994 IPF Senior World Championships in South Africa,^[8] establishing a new world record at the time. Although serving a lifetime ban from the IPF for doping, Coan is among the people still acknowledged and regarded a legend in the world of powerlifting and spends much of his time mentoring young lifters coming into the sport.^[5]

110 kg weight class, in single-ply equipment^[9]

• Squat (w/wraps) – 1,019.6 lb (462.5 kg) (1999 Senior National Championships)
• Bench press – 573.2 lb (260.0 kg) (1998 World Championships, 1999 Senior National Championships, and 2000 Senior Nationals)

→ He has done 584.2 lb (265.0 kg) during training

• Deadlift – 887.3 lb (402.5 kg) (1998 World Championships)
• Total – 2,463.6 lb (1,117.5 kg) (1,003.1 + 573.2 + 887.3 lb (455.0 + 260.0 + 402.5 kg)) (1998 World Championships)

100 kg weight class, in single-ply equipment^[9]

• Squat (w/wraps) – 964.5 lb (437.5 kg) (1987 World Championships)
• Bench press – 562.1 lb (255.0 kg) (1992 Senior National Championships)
• Deadlift – 901.0 lb (408.7 kg)^[10] (1991 Senior Nationals)
• Total – 2,405.6 lb (1,091.2 kg) (959.0 + 545.6 + 901.0 lb (435.0 + 247.5 + 408.7 kg)) (1991 Senior Nationals)

Coan has failed drug testing through the IPF three times. He was temporarily suspended in 1985 for the use of Deca-Durabolin, an anabolic steroid.^[11]

In 1989, he was suspended due to a positive drug test.^[11]

In 1996, at the IPF Men's Open World Championships in Salzburg, Austria, he tested positive again and was issued a lifetime ban from the IPF.^[12] Because this positive drug test occurred in a competition in which he placed first, his name and results have been retroactively removed from the 1996 results. Coan is now suspended from IPF for life.^[13]

In 2016, the IPF declared that due to Coan's suspension participating in his training seminars is a violation of WADA regulations and thus prohibited.^[14]

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