Other than comparing totals, which is really hard to do with the different variables, keep in mind John is DOMINATING in a time where powerlifting is at least 500x more competitive than it was back then. The level of competition and popularity of powerlifting has skyrocketed especially in the last 10 years, making Johns absolute domination that much more impressive.
The lifts speak for themselves, regardless of the number of competitors. The fact that there are more competitors today compared to when Ed competed only illustrates that both Ed's and John's lifts are truly exceptional. It shows that even a generation later, only one competitor among thousands has emerged to rival Ed's greatness.
@@michaelayodele555 Okay, sure. I’m a natural competitor so I always like to point out the differences. However, John Haack had a 1700+ total in the 181 class as a tested competitor. He’s genetically superior than almost every other powerlifter in the world. And who gives a damn when it’s an even playing field.
i met ed coan a couple months ago, i shook his hand crazy grip strength and that same day it was my first time hitting 225 on bench while he was watching literally legendary moment.
I met Ed when I worked at Orland Square Mall back in the early 90s. I recognized him from that month's Muscle & Fitness where he was featured in an article. He came into FanFare where I worked, and I asked him if he was a powerlifter, and he humbly said yes. I said, no, are you a really really good power lifter, he smiled and said some people think so. I said you're Ed Coan, aren't you! He seemed genuinely shocked that I knew who he was (I was 17/18 and had only been lifting for a few years). I asked him if I could run down to GNC to by that month's Muscle & Fitness for him to sign. He graciously stuck around and signed the magazine. Such a nice man. I just wanted to share that story.
Was wondering what happened to this video before. It was in my watch later lol. I watch every video of John's. Love his work ethic and his strength. He's amazing!
I assume the average viewer doesn't know much about equipped lifting, let alone the type of equipment they had in the 80s, so I am going to throw this out there; The squat suits they had back then were pretty flimsy. I am not guessing at this, I actually know some of the old school guys who made these suits, and I have actually used them. The material, the construction style, the thickness, etc, were all pretty puny. All of it was a single ply of this flimsy stuff, too. It was essentially like a thick spandex version of a wrestling singlet... because the first squat suits were actually made by a Wrestling Singlet company, albeit out of slightly thicker material and higher cut legs. They technically gave you some rebound and thus added a little bit to the lift, but we are talking 25-50lbs depending on your squat syle. The knee wraps were, in many cases, just ace bandages. Again, good for warmth, but didn't offer a whole lot in the way of actual rebound. Maybe 10lbs. That's on a good day. Not throwing any shade at Haack. He's phenomenal. But Ed's squat was nearly 100lbs higher at 181 than John's was. I don't think Ed was able to squeeze that much out of his primitive suit and wraps. Especially when you see what he was doing totally raw, in the gym. This is also with Ed not having the advantage of specialty bars, having to do same day weigh-ins, and being much younger than Haack was. Not to mention, Ed very frequently had to do his lifts back to back with only a few minutes rest, since nobody else was lifting what he was lifting.
I competed in the early / mid 80s. The wraps were NOT ace bandages. Definitely good for 20 - 30 lbs. As for the suits, they were thick and tight enough to require help getting them on. Good for 50ish pounds, especially for someone like me with narrow hips. All that said, I got to watch Ed live at the Senior Nationals winning at 181, 198. He is the GOAT! Watching John evolve is also incredible. Records are made to be broken so we'll see.
Ed's squat suit and wraps were garbage by today's standards. I competed in the same years Ed did, back when all you had was equipped lifting. I remember very clearly I used to get 100 pounds out of my suit and wraps. An old Inzer suit with Inzer Z wraps. I did my first raw meet in 1997, way before it was popular, I only competed equipped one time after that in 1998, then only did raw lifting. Those suits and shirts were a massive pain in the ass. 😂
Just want to point out, yes there are different wraps and squat suits now. Back then, wraps were the crappy wraps and squat suits were a slightly tighter and thicker singlet. I could actually squat more in a tight pair of jeans than the wraps and squat suit.
For Coan's 1991 USPF Senior performance which was his best his squat actually turned out to be 3 pounds heavier than that 959 pounds (435KG + 3 pounds). That 901-pound deadlift was originally thought to be 898 pounds(407.5KG) but it too turned out to be 3 pounds heavier to Ed's total was more like 2409 pounds (If I remember the Powerlifting USA article on the meet Ed weighed in at 219 pounds) About Ed's raw squat, I remember in powefliting USA he said he did 815 without any suit, knee wraps or even a belt. WOW!!!
Coan's "suit" and "wraps" from the 80's and 90's were the equivalent of the "Raw singlets" and "sleeves" today..... the deadlift bar and 2 hour weigh ins are the big differences
Coan is superior in every way. Coan did it when contests were harder, no internet, not social media, better personality, has done more for the sport, and has been around for decades longer than hack has been alive. Hack has a longggggg way to go before hes put in the same category as coan.
It’s about the lifting not all that other crap. Haack has much harder competition he’s 100% raw John is out benching and deadlifting Ed. John is the better lifter.
He's the greatest of all time of not all time just the current time. Is that really what he said. Lol. Otherwise good video. Just teasing about the bad phrasing.
The clip of the lifter at 3:04 Deadlifting is NOT a good DL, the rules say your knees must lock out and your shoulders must must be straight or rolled back a bit. I saw many a lifter get Red lights for not locking out the knees at the Mark Chaillet's world Championships at York, Pa. Plates contribute in the lift also, most of Ed's comp lifting used 100lb plates.For me it feels different when you pile on 45lb plates and the 100lb plates keeps the weight more toward the center of the bar instead of spreading it out evenly.
i think it's so simple, Ed is a better squatter than John but... Haack is much better at Bench and deadlift ( even with extra points for the conventional)
Great video. King Coan was the nickname. Any other old people here, remember Mike Bridges, Larry Pacifico, Jon Kuc… Ace bandage knee wraps, chalking up taking squat bar off Jack stands… I think it’s cool Haack has a normal body frame
Haack is juiced up beyond human capabilities, while Coan, did juice, but he also had to shut it down near competitions. I think Coan is still the better lifter.
Hey Nick - you mentioned the algorithm suppressing the last video that you deleted and reuoloaded (I think the bench vid). I'm sure this was uploaded a few days ago - got a notification, saved to watch later, went to watch. This upload? I didn't get a notification. Might want to be cognisant of that if you need to delete and reupload, cause many of us rely on upload notifications.
John does conventional and Ed done sumo that is a massive difference. John also squats very high bar with a narrowish stance and Ed has pretty wide stance. IMO John is the greatest powerlifter to date
Yeah no one likes to talk about technique differences and that’s fine. But you gotta use physics here. Haack simply has more ROM in all 3 lifts not even acknowledging technique making his lifts harder by default. Now the fact Haack is using a deadlift bar and Ed used a Stiff bar on deadlift kinda cancels out a sumo argument Imo. BUT the reason Ed squats so much more is due to less ROM and equipped. Extremely Impressive nonetheless but should be acknowledged.
@@truthhurtts John also has 20+ years of supplement and training advantages compared to Ed, and let’s be honest his “Sumo” isn’t exactly the leverage advantaged lift that you see happening todsyb
IMO to be fair we need to look at a sport with a Mt Rushmore approach, best of their era. The rules, equipment, competition (which pushes you) are not consistent across the two eras. Very fair comparison in this video.
I think Lamar Gant is the greatest powerlifter of all time(or maybe Jarosław Olech or taylor atwood) Also Coan's last 2300+ total was at age 41(still damn impressive even if it wasn't in the mid 40's)
What people love about John haack is that he’s the best in the world without “cheating” He doesn’t do a crazy squat where the bar sit halfway down his back, he doesn’t have an exorcism arch and a grip so wide he’s touching the collars when benching, he pulls conventional and it’s all raw. Everything people don’t like about powerlifting is what John haack doesn’t do and he’s the best in the world proving you can just simply be the strongest and you don’t need to change the lift in any way which is so rare these days
Pretty sure he said that he would do all those things if it were to make it easier for him. He said he found sumo to be weird for him and a low bar squat to be harder. He's still the goat though.
@@dantethunderstone2118 Purist in what way? Haack is great but he is admittedly on roids, often competes off a monolift for squats and a DL bar or Kabuki bar for DL's. Not sure what is purist here. Beast on bench for sure.
@@Efilnikufesin76 you think Jesus olivares is natty? Hell no He also still walk out the squats he does on a monolift and there’s nothing wrong with a deadlift bar unless it’s a kabuki bar that sumo pullers abuse
They're both deadlifts, they are going to lift for their leverages. Bigger guys tend to do better which closer stances while smaller goes widers. Techniques and strength stay the same between relatively.
Powerlifting needs you Nick. Love this type of content from you, from someone who doesn't powerlift anymore, you get me to care and watch again. Also maybe an old school vlog for a throwback????
Wasn't Coan using also a bench shirt, even though quite primitive at the time? I think he had shoulder issues through his lifting career, so his bench just wasnť that crazy.
John hack is an amazing lifter. The only thing that annoys me more than anything else is taking two fantastic lifters and arbitrarily comparing them. It doesn’t do either one of them any good, but I guess it makes for a good video.
I didn’t think it was arbitrary, and I think part of what makes sports exciting is to think about this kind of discussion and wonder “who is the best?”, especially if it’s done in a sensitive way, as this video does, which ultimately leaves you knowing more about both athletes and with greater admiration for both
Ed was about as raw as you could be. Old single ply suit was basically equivalent to modern Titan singlets. Ace bandage knee wraps. He benched raw and deadlifted raw. Learn your facts, son.
Whatever 😂 As a matter of fact, John did say that the he feel strongger deadlifting conventional The same shit goes for his high bar style He has been training like that for so long that his body apapted to it.
@@Ksnydes12I don’t think so, I think it’s just easier on his elbows and he is a such a monstrous bencher that it’s not worth losing lbs on his bench to gain it on the squat
@@mossoconnor4417 could be but he also has squatted high bar ever since he began PL back when he was an 83kg lifter in the USAPL and wasn’t benching anywhere near what he does now
Who the hell taught you that? High bar they barely go to parallel/past and is highly quad dominate. Lowbar 99% of people go beyond parallel if not ATG, using WAY more posterior chain in total.
Ed actually told me over the phone that that one was in fact done in a shirt. It was one of those super old shirts that you could put on yourself so not as assistive as today's.
