Hey...help a brother out....Ed Coan Squat routine

[SteelReserve]

Alright, my work picked up hardcore so I'm going to a one DL/SQ day a week to cut down on the possibility of overtraining and allow me to work more efficiently. So, because of this I need help. I've never done this kinda thing before, most of the time I squat twice a week and when I do Smolov it's even more. But those times are done for now and saved for the off season. So, what I need is someone to explain the whole Ed Coan squat routine.

Coan Squat Routine

Current FS: 345
Goal: 405


Any help is appreciated.

 

[Donut62]

I did this routine to take my squat from 385 to 425. It worked well, seeing as how I suceeded. I actually ended up shortening it to 8 weeks because some shit came up and I still hit a 40 pound PR. Basically start by picking the weight you want to hit at the end. 20-40 pounds more than your current max is recomended, exactly how you pick is up to you and will depend on your experience level. That weight will be your single in week 10. You get the weight you use for every other week by sucessively subtracting 20 pounds each week. So, say your current max is 345, you shoot for 30 pounds, your weeks would look like:

Week 10: 2x8x195
Week 9: 2x8x215
Week 8: 3x5x235
Week 7: 3x5x255
Week 6: 3x5x275
Week 5: 2x3x295
Week 4: 2x3x315
Week 3: 2x2x335
Week 2: 1x2x355
Week 1: 1x1x375

Do it twice and you get 405.

These are the top sets you work up to everyday, obviously go through a full warm up and work up to the weight. I would follow the assistance work exactly as written. Don't kill yourself on any of it but make it challenging. Since Ed wrote this I assume it is made to fit into a squat/push/pull split, with this being the squat day (obviously). That is how I used it.

 

[Oblivian]

I'd go to this site (Powerlifting Heads-Up Ec Coan Peaking Cycle Calculator) and plug in 365 lbs for your current. The 1RM you end off with will end up being 406 lbs. I'd skip weeks 1 and 2 (reps of 10) and begin at week 3. I'd also skip week 13 as well. Donut pretty much explained everything else.
I used this cycle for bench, deadlift, power cleans, SOHP, and front squat somewhat recently. I think my front squat, power clean, and SOHP went up by around 10-12%. My deadlift shot up around 20% (more noob gains than anything else). It didn't work at all for bench for me. I was doing a lot of conditioning and other things as well though.
I do know the first weeks felt pointless to me. It was a good change of pace to do sets of 8, but the weight felt really light. Overall, I wouldn't do it again but others have had better success than I.

Fuck - I realized your starting is 345 and not 365. Disregard that.

 

[Donut62]

The Joe Skopec Ed Coan peaking cycle is not the same as the Coan Squat Routine.

 

[Oblivian]

The Joe Skopec Ed Coan peaking cycle is not the same as the Coan Squat Routine.

It doesn't seem much different than what you posted to me. I just realized I screwed up and his 1RM is 345, not 365. But if he plugs in 345, his routine would be:

245 lbs x 8 Week 1 70%
255 lbs x 8 Week 2 74%
270 lbs x 5 Week 3 78%
280 lbs x 5 Week 4 81%
295 lbs x 5 Week 5 85.5%
305 lbs x 5 Week 6 88%
320 lbs x 3 Week 7 93%
335 lbs x 3 Week 8 97%
345 lbs x 2 Week 9 100%
360 lbs x 2 Week 10 104%
385 lbs x 1 Week 11 111.5%

It's virtually the same routine as what you posted, except each week you are doing slightly a bit more weight. I think your percentages were about 10% less at the start but ended up being close to the same at the middle. The only set differences are one less week of 5 reps and one more week of 3 reps. My biggest gripe when I followed the one I posted was that the weight felt light at the beginning.
My main reason for posting what I did was so he had a calculator. I know it's not identical to the Squat routine, but it's pretty dang close depending on what weight you choose for the Squat routine.

 

[Donut62]

Actually I completely read that wrong and thought he posted his front squat as 345 and back squat as 405. Let me revise...

 

[Fedorable]

is this a drug free program?

 

[SteelReserve]

Are the assistance exercises that important?


EDIT: Thanks a lot guys.

 

[DEVILsSON]

This is linear periodization program that works decent for beginners/intermediate lifters but for experienced lifters it wont do much....undulated or conjugated periodization work best....

yes coan was known to juice considerably so all his programs were skewed because of that....

 

[Donut62]

This is linear periodization program that works decent for beginners/intermediate lifters but for experienced lifters it wont do much....undulated or conjugated periodization work best....

yes coan was known to juice considerably so all his programs were skewed because of that....

There is nothing wrong with progressive overload for powerlifting. The whole "undulating/conjugate periodization is necessary for high level/intermediate level athletes" comes from texts referencing the training of athletes with multiple abilities to develop. In powerlifting there is only one main ability to train, maximal strength. I'm not saying linear is all you need, because I don't even train that way, but countless world champions and big motherfuckers have done it their whole careers. Ed Coan, Kirk Karwoksi, Brad Gillingham (lifetime drug free), Andy Bolton are all proof that very simple periodization will go a very long way in powerlifting. In short, people try to get to complex too fast, and it's all about what works for you.

And if we are going to be throwing ideas aside as being skewed due to drug use, nobody ever mention Westside or any lifting based on Soviet/Russian texts.