Ed Coan Routine

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

CSEagles,plz halp?

Hello everybody, I wanted to run by the Ed Coan Training overview with others to get some insight.

From what I have gathered, the way he normally trains, and he also suggests people to train is on a 4 day plan.

To sum it up(Basically)…

1 day is Bench
1 day is Squat
1 day is Deadlift
1 day is Pressing (basically)

[lol similar to 5/3/1 lol]

Anyways I have a few concerns about how to set up the days on Monday,Wednesday,Friday,Saturday and also about the Pressing Day.

Due to an injury, I can not shoulder press. I have messed up my back pretty bad, and as weird as it sounds , I can train my back but I can not do Shoulder Presses.

QUESTIONS:
#1

I figure I can make shoulder day the same as Coan’s except use Incline Bench instead; would this inhibit recovery at all?

The Bench day has Flat Bench->Close Grip->Incline->Tricep Destruction follows.

#2

I’m a bit confused. He apparently did 3 days… the basic Bench day(Flat+CG+Incline), a Press Day(Shoulders only), then a Light Bench with Heavy Triceps.

But he says to do 2 days in the DVD’s and training videos!!! All I could gather was the Bench Day had the same idea of Flat->CG->Incline.

But do you do Heavy Triceps on the SAME day? Or on another day? What about the Shoulders then!? Is the shoulder day he does actually Delt/Tricep/Biceps or is it ONLY shoulders? O_o

Do you do the Bench Day + Triceps, then another day with Shoulders only and Triceps again? (ugh so confused?)

#3. Is this set up optimal for the 4 days?

Mon - Coan Deadlift [Back]
Wed - Coan Press(or in my case Incline Bench) [Shoulders+Triceps/Biceps]
Fri - Coan Squat [Legs]
Sat - Coan Bench [Chest/Triceps]

I will be following his exact periodization method.

The Bench is 12 weeks, Adding +30 pounds to your max then subtracting 10 pounds a week working from sets of 10 down to Singles. [ Correct ? ]

The Squat is 10 weeks, Adding +30 pounds to your max then subtracting 10 pounds a week working from sets of 8 down to singles [ Correct ? ]

The Deadlift is basically the same formula; or I will just make it the Coan/Phillipi routine.

The Press(or in my case Incline Bench) will have same periodization as bench, because Coan apparently did the same with his press.

Thoughts/input/help all appreciated!

2

In b4 5x5

3

Okay, okay, okay.

Question 1: The second bench day is just light bench (I take 80% of that week’s working weight and do it for 3 sets of ten) and hammer shoulders and a couple sets of biceps. That’s what he has personally told me. AFTER the light bench, you can throw in the press if you’d like and it can follow the same periodization as the bench.

Question 2: There are only two bench days. One is heavy (flat + close-grip + incline) where you destroy triceps, and then the light day where you destroy shoulders.

Question 3: We (meaning Ed and my self) have it set up so everything ends at the same time. Each training block lasts the same amount of time. Bench and squat should look exactly the same, but deadlift is different. Since I squat and deadlift on the same day, it might be a bit different for you. Here’s how the deadlift is set up:

Week 1 - 2 X 8
Week 2 - 2 X 5
Week 3 - 2 X 5
Week 4 - 2 X 5
Week 5 - 2 X 5
Week 6 - 2 X 5
Week 7 - 2 X 3
Week 8 - 2 X 3
Week 9 - 2 X 3
Week 10 - 2 X 2
Week 11 - 2 X 2
Week 12 - 2 X 1

The typical set up is Monday - squat, Wednesday - bench, Friday - deadlift, Saturday - Light bench. Hope this helps.

CS

4

What does Coan say about deloads? Is that program above ran for 3 months straight or is at least one of those weeks using a little lighter weight? That one is a big difference between stuff like westside/531 where you get every 4th week off.

5

CSEagles - Thank you so much. The only thing that I don’t like is doing Shoulder work the day after Deadlifting because my traps are usually so destroyed lol. I guess I will just deal with it.

Since the Bench & Squat are supposed to end at the same time, does that mean the Squat also starts out with 2x10 then 2x8 then 2x5 then 2x3 then 2x2 then 2x1? I didn’t know Coan did sets of 10 for Squats at the beginning of the cycle. Dis should be fun lolz. Also, is it just 2 sets like everything else? Or does he do 3 sets for the squatting?

Sufiandy - I’m pretty sure there are NO deloads in the 12 week periodization he plans out. You have to realize at the beginning, things are pretty light anyways, so you are gradually working up.

6

CS im disappointed you even bothered to answer, Its well proven that Ethan is a dbag troll

7

sad sad guy

8

5x5 is better it got my friend’s bench from 225-300 in 5 weeks.

9

From a old muscle and fitness article he did a second bench day with arms which was mainly triceps and then some preacher or standing barbell curls.Shoulder day was not much to it just behind the head pressing and side and front raises. So you could just do the second press day with wide grip bench then do some lateral and front raises like he did and then do triceps and biceps.

YOU can of course do some triceps on bench day to and if you want a biceps exercise. Do one each on bench day and two tri exercise and one bi exercise on the second press day. ON bench day you can do underhand chinups for the bis and pressdowns then on the second press day do lying tricep extension and barbell curls.

10

He did 2 sets for all his accesory work to except straight leg deadlift in which he mainly just did one set after the deads and I have heard him say he would go pretty much follow the same approach for them as he would the main lifts starting out with 2 sets of 10 and 8 then moveing to 5’s but I don’t think he went any heavier than 5’s on his accesory work so you could start over at 10 with those i would.

Also if you google ed coan calculator you can just put in your max and it figures your weights for the 12 week periodization program.