September 3, 2025 • 21 mins
Get your free Progressive Overload Guide to apply these principles to improve your training: witsandweights.com/free
--
Ed Cohn, nicknamed the "Mozart of Strength," set 71 world records in powerlifting and became the lightest man to total over 2,400 pounds through his mastery of progressive overload and passion-driven consistency.
His approach contrasts sharply with today's overcomplicated fitness culture, proving that simplicity and fundamentals still build champions.
Ed is still considered the greatest powerlifter of all time, so what can we as modern lifters learn from his timeless approach to building strength?
Learn how Ed went from a bullied 155-pound teenager training in his basement to becoming the lightest man to total over 2,400 pounds, and why his simple, passion-driven methods still outperform today's complicated training programs.
Main Takeaways:
- Ed Coan set 71 world records using 3 simple principles
- His 1991 total of 2,402 pounds at 218 bodyweight represented a 14.5% improvement over previous world records
- Modern fitness culture has more information than ever but less wisdom
- Passion endures where motivation fails
- True champions elevate others instead of just dominating them
Previous Lifting Legend Episodes:
Timestamps:
0:00 - Why Ed Coan is still the GOAT of powerlifting
2:22 - From bullied kid to basement training legend
3:26 - The systematic approach that built a champion
5:17 - 71 world records and seemingly impossible strength-to-weight ratio
10:27 - Simple principles vs. complicated programming
13:05 - The human behind the machine
16:24 - Passion vs. motivation and overcoming setbacks
20:00 - Ed's legacy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:02):
If you're someone who loves to lift and respects
the legends who built this sportand you want to understand what
separates good lifters from thegreatest of all time, but
you've wondered what made theold school champions so dominant
when they had less technology,fewer resources and simpler
methods, this episode is for you.
Ed Cohn set 71 world recordsand became the lightest man to
(00:25):
total over 2,400 pounds.
At 218 pounds body weight, hemoved weights that seemed crazy.
His secret was not advancedprogramming.
It was something that builtchampions then and still builds
champions now, but most modernlifters never master it.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
(00:55):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Hape, andtoday we're going to talk about
the life and philosophy of EdCohn, arguably the greatest
powerlifter who ever lived.
Now you know that feeling whenyou're scrolling through your
fitness content, your Instagramfeed, your Facebook wall, and
you see another new trainingmethod or a secret technique
(01:18):
that promises to unlock yourstrength potential, and you've
never heard of this thing before.
Well, ed Cohn built hislegendary career on the opposite
approach.
While today's lifters chasecomplexity, cohn mastered
simplicity.
While influencers sell anglesand hacks, cohn relied on
progressive overload andpassion-driven consistency, but
(01:39):
with some nuances, someinteresting background that
we're gonna get into today.
Now, if you want to masterthese principles yourself the
fundamentals that buildlegendary strength like
progressive overload I have afree guide for you that breaks
down how to apply this conceptto your training.
You can grab it free atwitsandweightscom slash free or
(02:00):
click the link in the show notefor my progressive overload
guide.
It's a great blueprint forbuilding strength the Ed Cohn
way, systematically, sustainably.
It gives you details on thedifferent ways to progress in
your lifting sessions, veryexplicitly, one method after
another, and tells you how toapply it so that you can finally
make progress Again.
Click the link in the shownotes to download my progressive
(02:21):
overload guide.
All right, let's meet the Mozartof strength.
That was his nickname, ed Cohn,ed C-O-A-N.
If you've never heard of him,I'm gonna give you a little bit
of his background and then tiewhat he did to why this matters
today.
So his story starts in 1963.
It wasn't in some prestigiousgym, it wasn't some elite
coaching program or anythinglike that, but in a basement, as
(02:44):
all these programs start rightIn a basement.
He was a bullied kid and herefused to stay weak.
He was 155 pounds, he wasgetting picked on and he did
what millions of teenagers havedone in the past he decided to
get stronger.
Now I wish I did that back then.
I didn't, but he did.
And he did something a littlebit different, though he didn't
just hit the weights randomlylike a lot of us did at that age
(03:07):
Again, not me, but I, you know,I had a cousin, I knew some
friends who were just, you know,slam some weights in the garage
, really no rhyme or reason.
I see that today with youngkids, and you know it's.
It's one thing to have fun Ilove that.
It's another to continue inthat method into adulthood where
it doesn't actually benefit youbecause you are not progressing
.
Well, what did he do?
(03:27):
He studied Arnold's educationof bodybuilder education of a
bodybuilder, which is afantastic book and that's
different from his encyclopediaof bodybuilding.
So keep in mind, arnold wrote alot of great stuff over the
years.
He's a great writer, fantasticlife.
Go check out any of his stuff.
But this was education of abodybuilder.
And he bought an Olympicweightlifting set, he got some
(03:48):
isometric cords and he startedtraining in his basement.
You know, all alone.
He was determined, he wasfocused, kind of sounds like a
lot of the story of these folkswhen they were at that age who
ended up becoming greats.
And so over months he workedwith isometric cords, which are
effectively cable exercises thatrequire isometric holds, and,
you know, basic equipment.
(04:08):
And he built strength.
But he also understood theprinciple of progressive
overload that still a lot ofpeople today don't understand or
don't apply.
And you know he wasn't justthis kid messing around with
weights.
He seemed to take it seriouslyand, you know, perhaps he
enjoyed it, perhaps he realizedhow much it benefited, perhaps
he had a genetic, you know,growth potential that he was
tapping into, but it's.
(04:29):
It's kind of a systematicthinking that I really
appreciate in someone.
And when he finally joined areal gym, this was in Chicago
and he was inspired by thelegendary Bill Kazmaier, who at
the time was a very dominant, astrong man, ed, I think the
story goes that he loaded up abarbell and squatted 500 pounds
right off the bat.
Now think about that for amoment.
(04:50):
Okay, most lifters spend yearstrying to squat, you know,
double their body weight or tryto build up to anything close to
that.
And he was hitting triple bodyweight squats as a teenager
who'd been training less than ayear all right at 155 pounds
body weight.
So this is going to be relevantbecause it's going to be
something that he repeats.
He continues to demonstratethis ratio of strength to weight
(05:14):
.
That's pretty incredible.
Now, again, most of us spendyears trying to improve our
squat, our deadlift.
All of this and you know I'm anolder guy that didn't get
started to my 40s.
Not using that as an excuse, Ijust wish I can go in a time
machine back to my 20s or myteenage years and see what would
have happened.
But Ed was hitting massiveweights as a teenager, not much
(05:35):
training, and his approachapparently was one of just get
the job done right.
No ego, not rushing it, justget in the basement, get the job
done.
And so that kind of approach,that kind of mindset, really
helps anyone who's trying toimprove anything right.
For me back then it was playingsaxophone.
Okay, I was a music nerd, butyou know what I practiced every
(05:57):
day.
I got really, really good, wasable to go to a nice arts high
school.
It was a great experience.
I was able to meet my wife at agig in my 20s.
Even though I was an engineer Iwas also being able to play.
It has nothing to do with EdCohn, my point is just being
systematic and focusing onsomething and improving it over
time is the bread and butter ofpersonal growth in any area.
(06:18):
Right?
So when we fast forward, thatwas the beginning.
Right Then, what Edaccomplished.
So if we look over the next twodecades of his life, he set 71
world records, which just soundsimpossible until you understand
the dominance that he broughtto different weight classes and
different federations andobliterated the standards at the
(06:41):
time.
So in 1991, he was 218 poundsand he totaled 2,402 pounds.
That was a 962 squat, a 545bench and a 901 deadlift.
Insane, all right.
This was a 14 and a halfpercent increase over the
previous world best.
So if, in in powerlifting terms, if we were to use an analogy
(07:02):
of a sprinter, that would belike knocking one and a half
seconds off the hundred meterworld record.
And you know when records arebroken, it's usually by tiny
amounts, right, a few poundshere, a few pounds there.
When it comes to lifting,sometimes we see these step
changes and Ed just shatteredthem, right, and so people were
questioning, they were skeptical.
They're like are the weightseven real.
(07:22):
You know, even to this day wequestion are they using foam
weights in that video?
And so his best IPF raw in 1994, his total was 2,282 pounds and
that was a world record and itbecame kind of the gold standard
for drug tested lifting.
And then in the 1998championships he pushed the
equipped total to 2,463.6 pounds.
(07:46):
He had a 1,003 squat, a 5.73bench and an 8.87 deadlift.
Now, if we look at otherlegends of that era, you've got
Kurt Kowalski, you've got DaveWaddington, you have Gary Frank.
They were also setting records,but they didn't match this
level of consistency acrossdifferent weight classes and
(08:07):
then this margin of victory thatEd Cohn was demonstrating, and
so he was quite the winner.
Let's just say he was quite thewinner.
You know, even I'm shocked, kindof learning, relearning about
his history, which I've heard indrips and drabs over the years
from powerlifters and from someof the guys I follow and listen
to on podcasts.
But I'm going to call myself ayoung guy.
I'm in my forties, I didn'tgrow up necessarily with this
(08:28):
culture, so I'm kind of figuringit out now and having fun
researching and sharing with youguys on the podcast.
Now, these are just numbers,these are just records.
I think what made Ed the goatright, the greatest of all time,
was how he achieved them, whyhis methods still work today,
and that's where I like to makethe connection from history to
modern times.
So what have we lost today infitness culture?
I think this is going to sound alot like my Ronnie Coleman
(08:51):
episode, but simplicity is isundervalued, right In terms of
principles.
We're talking progressiveoverload, we're talking
periodization and we're talkinghaving a passion for this.
And I want to include passionon the list because I'm starting
to see a theme that the guysand ladies who really excel
they've got to love what they'redoing.
(09:11):
I've been asked on a podcastbefore how do you go to the gym
and lift when you don't like it?
And I'm like I don't get thatbecause I like it.
The gym and lift when you don'tlike it, and I'm like I don't
get that because I like it.
Now I like it because it givesme something, it gives me a
result, but I actually like itfor the sake of it, and not
everybody does, I think althoughI think you can develop passion
for almost anything when youget good at it.
(09:32):
It's just a passion born ofhard work, as opposed to
hedonism or pleasure, right.
And so his training philosophyis build strength, muscle will
follow.
Don't overcomplicate the issue,right?
We see today a lot of noisearound range of motion and
different rep ranges andstrength versus hypertrophy, and
(09:52):
like crazy programming becauseeverybody's trying to come up
with something new.
I mean, I'm accused of thatmyself.
I come up with trainingtemplates for my clients and for
Physique U and I'm like, okay,what can I do?
That's at least perceived as abit different, unique and
value-added, that's not alreadyout there.
And you know what I end updoing.
I end up coming down to thebasics of.
Well, guess what?
This program is actually kindof similar to this guy's over
(10:15):
here and this woman's programover here, but I've taken the
principles and put them togetherand that's almost the best you
can do today because we alreadyknow it works.
And when we look at Ed Cohn,what was he doing?
He was training with one or twosets per lift, not necessarily
three, four, five.
You know he was focused on form, like all those guys had to be,
of course, to be able to liftinto those numbers and do it
(10:36):
without injury.
And then he followedprogression cycles, like light
to heavy, for example, very muchlike base to peak.
When you're peaking for apowerlifting meet, you go from
high volume to high intensity.
For example, and my friend TonyP he's in the community, former
client lifting buddy of mine,he's in my barbell club as well.
We get on each other a lot overmessaging and he shared some
(11:00):
really good thoughts about theselegends of the past.
He knows a lot about them andone thing he mentioned is that
the information is not the sameas knowledge.
He said I think we lostsomething along the way that
they figured out so much theydid the hard lifting that it's
irrational for the currentfitness industry to ignore them.
And I think this is importanttoday more than ever, because we
(11:21):
have so much information butless wisdom.
I think we have moreinformation than ever, but less
wisdom.
Ed and his contemporaries, likeKurt Kowalski I mentioned him
they were doing what we now callpower building right, and I
know some people don't like thatterm or they use it as a
boogeyman in their social mediaposts.
It's just a combination ofstrength and hypertrophy and I
(11:42):
see this message repeated overand over again now with people I
respect.
Take my coach, andy Baker.
Right, he replied to somebody.
Somebody said hey, can I doyour power building program but
cut out all the accessory work,all the isolation work he's like
well, it kind of defeats thepurpose, because how do you get
stronger without getting bigger?
So the principle of doing bothhas been around for a long time.
(12:03):
Right, and they didn't call itpower building.
That's what we call it now.
That's kind of a buzzword, butthey prove that strength and
aesthetics are not mutuallyexclusive.
And that's important because Italk about this stuff all the
time.
People come to me to what wecall physique university and in
my mind, physique is really justa culmination of all the things
you're doing for your physicalfitness that make you stronger,
(12:23):
fitter, healthier and havelongevity.
And so when we talk aboutstrength training, the form of
training that combines a littlebit of high intensity with
volume and frequency right,well-roundedness maybe is a
better way to put it Powerbuilding is really a great,
efficient approach and there area lot of ways to progress.
(12:44):
And that's why I mentioned theguide earlier which you can grab
at whatsonweightscom slash freeor the link in the show notes.
It's a guide to progressiveoverload, because I find people
are very confused by this, andthat's going to show you how to
systematically increase yourlifts without worrying about,
you know, complicating it verymuch, like Ed Cohn and his ilk
have inspired us to do andinspired me to do as I'm looking
into their history.
(13:05):
So, ed Cohn, he wasn't just alifting machine.
You know we like to put thesepeople on pedestals as if
they're these robots that wewant to analyze, but apparently
he was very humble andthoughtful and you can go watch
videos of him.
And you know there's a lot ofego driven personalities that
dominate these sports, but Ithink the really a lot.
I think the majority of thegood guys who are at the top of
(13:26):
their sport tend to be humblebecause it almost requires it to
get where they are.
I know that sounds ironic.
Now, not always I mean, arnoldis is not very humble, but we
all love the guy too.
He I guess he has a differentform of humility, if you will.
You know he kind of jokes aboutit while he's being a cocky SOB
, right, but anyway, I Ed was onI think it was the Michael
(13:47):
Hearn show and he said rely lesson fleeting motivation and more
on passion, which is a deeper,more sustainable driver.
That's huge, because oftentimeswe contrast motivation with
process and taking action andbuilding momentum, blah, blah,
blah.
I like the fact that he'ssaying, no, you should rely on
passion.
Right, rely on passion likerely on being so into something
(14:10):
that it just drives you to do it, no matter what, for its own
sake, and that is verysustainable, isn't it?
Now that passion may come fromthe meaningful reason that you
do something.
It could be because you want toshow up for your family, for
your kids, you want to avoid,you know, health issues in old
age, and that could all be tiedinto the passion, for sure.
So that's kind of a philosophyof life in general and it
(14:31):
appeals to me because there's apositivity to it, right, by
definition, it is positive,positive meaning, not negative
meaning.
It drives you forward in addingthe things in that allow you to
pursue that passion right, andto get through setbacks.
And that's important becausethings don't go perfectly ever.
And Ed had some setbacks.
He also had some dopingviolations.
(14:53):
I just have to acknowledge that.
Right, good with the bad, okay,in the 80s, I think, 85, 89.
And then he was suspended in1996.
It led to a lifetime ban, right, and I mean these controversies
were part of that era ofpowerlifting and I think now
we're a lot more transparent,we're just like, yeah, okay,
these people take drugs, butback then we're talking.
You know, even before, say, thebaseball scandals, that became
(15:13):
a huge issue.
Obviously, enhanced versus notenhanced and whether it's
disclosed and whether it'stested is has been a huge
controversial part of the sport.
And what I want to focus on isjust Ed himself, how he handled
the adversity.
You know he didn't make excuses.
I don't think he had any bitterrants, I think he just kept
focusing and lifting and helpingpeople.
And so I you know nuances,right, everybody's character is
(15:37):
a bit complex.
I'm not making any excuses foranyone, and it was a different
time.
It was a bit complex.
I'm not making any excuses foranyone, and it was a different
time.
It was a different time.
So back to the motivation,passion thing.
You know, motivation is one ofthose things, like willpower,
that is fleeting, but passion ispretty endurable, right, it's
pretty endurable.
It can take you through decades, which is what's going to be
required when it comes to yourfitness lifestyle, with your
training.
It's going to you're going tohave lots of setbacks oh my, I
(15:58):
mean, I know setbacks surgeriesand injuries and lots of things
that have happened.
He had two hip replacements,apparently right.
So any of you dealing withshoulder issues, hip issues,
back issues, it happens.
We got to find a way around it.
Understand our constraints,keep moving forward and passion
is going to take you through it,because you're going to say how
the heck do I get back to thegym?
How do I do it?
I need to, I need to, I need todo it.
(16:23):
I want to do it.
How do I do it?
In 2023, this is only a coupleof years ago he was 53 and he
had two artificial hips.
As we mentioned, he squatted585.
So he's still active, hittingcrazy weights, right.
Most people his age are worriedabout their knees creaking
going up the stairs.
He's still moving seriousweight because his passion never
dimmed his understanding thatyou can always progress or at
least maintain your strength,right.
(16:43):
Of course, with age, you'regoing to have lower and lower
capacity to hit those max, maxweights, but you can still
perform pretty incredibly as ahuman being, and this speaks to
something missing, I think, intoday's instant gratification
culture.
Real strength and I'm going totalk about strength here is
physical and mental is builtover time, over decades.
(17:05):
It's a form of wisdom, in myopinion.
It's a form of resilience, anda guy like Ed is a good guy to
look at because he had thisself-deprecating humor, he had a
genuine interest in helpingpeople, he had the passion.
And what that does, I think, isit spreads like a good virus.
I don't think a virus is agreat analogy, but it spreads to
(17:26):
others where you elevate them.
You lift them, especially ifyou're lifting with them, and
then it pushes them becauseyou're stronger than them or you
have more experience than them.
You lift them, especially ifyou're lifting with them, and
then it pushes them becauseyou're stronger than them or you
have more experience than them,and, rather than lording it
over someone, it's a source ofcuriosity on the other person's
part and helping them on yourpart.
And I'm talking from theperspective as a mentor, but I
(17:49):
also am a student, and so when Ican put myself around people
who are better than me,especially by a long shot, but
who also have a combination ofpassion, wisdom and positivity,
that's an amazing recipe.
Right there, marty Gallaghercalled Ed the Mozart of strength
.
I alluded to that nicknameearlier, and why is that?
Because he's a prodigy and hasa legacy that's gonna echo for a
(18:12):
long time to come.
He made a huge impact on peopleand his principles are timeless
, like Mozart's music I assumethat is where this nickname came
from.
And when we think of today,we're living in what I'll call
an attention economy.
It kind of drives me crazy whenI feel like eyeballs are on the
screen all day.
It's all about stories andposts and new content.
(18:35):
You got to grab eyeballs, yougot to go viral.
And when it comes to likestrength training, it's almost
starkly contrast when you justgo in and you move a piece of
metal, a foot, you know, andjust against gravity to try to
build your muscles.
There's something so visceraland primal about that that is
the opposite of all of this.
In the cloud, virtual livingthat we have, there's almost
(18:57):
like two different realities inexistence today.
Right, there's the social mediaonline world, and then there's
the real, physical world thatwe're almost forgetting exists.
And the barbell doesn't care,right?
It doesn't care about your IGfollowing or your feed.
Your muscles don't care abouthashtags, right?
I know I'm getting kind of sillyhere, but at the end of the day
, the principles are timeless.
So Ed's career is like a bridgebetween the old school and
(19:18):
modern training, proving thatyou don't have to reinvent the
wheel, that we know a lot ofwhat we already know that works.
Just dig into it, turn to itconsistently, but also be
passionate and I know you can'tforce that.
So find a way to make itpassionate and if it's not
passionate for you, there'sprobably a different method,
(19:38):
while still sticking to theprinciples.
So what is Ed doing today?
I think he continues coachingpeople.
He's coaching like younglifters.
He's passing on his techniquesbut, as well as the mindset, a
lot of these guys are reallygood at sharing the thinking
behind this and again,invaluable earned wisdom is what
we're getting at right, andthis is why I think studying the
(19:58):
lifting legends like thismatters.
I don't know how many I'm goingto do here of these.
Hit me up on IG.
Speaking of social media, sendme a message on Instagram at
Whitson Weights If you have anidea for someone else to cover.
I'm definitely gonna cover somewomen in the sport as well, and
some of the greats maybe insome other more overlooked areas
, not just for the inspirationof it, but the actual
preservation of principles atwork.
(20:19):
I will be curious when thesethe series is done at some point
when we're at 10 people or 20or whatever down the road, to
kind of put it all together in acompendium of you know what
helps us accomplish the mostwith our focus on the
fundamentals and our passion.
So if this exploration of EdCohn's principles resonated with
(20:40):
you, go check out the lastLifting Legends episode.
I did.
It was the first one, it wasLifting Legends number one.
It was about Ronnie Coleman,and you'll see some of the
differences, some of thesimilarities, right, Because
Ronnie was a bodybuilder, ed's apower lifter.
But I think both of theirsuccesses hinge on the
fundamental principles wediscussed today.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
(21:02):
those weights and remember thatyour strongest, healthiest,
fittest physique and body it'snot built overnight, it's not
built on fads.
It's engineered one rep, oneset, one training session at a
time, just like Ed showed us.
This is Philip Pape and you'vebeen listening Wits and Weights.
I'll talk to you next time.
If you're someone who loves to lift and respects
the legends who built this sportand you want to understand what
separates good lifters from thegreatest of all time, but
you've wondered what made theold school champions so dominant
when they had less technology,fewer resources and simpler
methods, this episode is for you.
Ed Cohn set 71 world recordsand became the lightest man to
(00:25):
total over 2,400 pounds.
At 218 pounds body weight, hemoved weights that seemed crazy.
His secret was not advancedprogramming.
It was something that builtchampions then and still builds
champions now, but most modernlifters never master it.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
(00:55):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Hape, andtoday we're going to talk about
the life and philosophy of EdCohn, arguably the greatest
powerlifter who ever lived.
Now you know that feeling whenyou're scrolling through your
fitness content, your Instagramfeed, your Facebook wall, and
you see another new trainingmethod or a secret technique
(01:18):
that promises to unlock yourstrength potential, and you've
never heard of this thing before.
Well, ed Cohn built hislegendary career on the opposite
approach.
While today's lifters chasecomplexity, cohn mastered
simplicity.
While influencers sell anglesand hacks, cohn relied on
progressive overload andpassion-driven consistency, but
(01:39):
with some nuances, someinteresting background that
we're gonna get into today.
Now, if you want to masterthese principles yourself the
fundamentals that buildlegendary strength like
progressive overload I have afree guide for you that breaks
down how to apply this conceptto your training.
You can grab it free atwitsandweightscom slash free or
(02:00):
click the link in the show notefor my progressive overload
guide.
It's a great blueprint forbuilding strength the Ed Cohn
way, systematically, sustainably.
It gives you details on thedifferent ways to progress in
your lifting sessions, veryexplicitly, one method after
another, and tells you how toapply it so that you can finally
make progress Again.
Click the link in the shownotes to download my progressive
(02:21):
overload guide.
All right, let's meet the Mozartof strength.
That was his nickname, ed Cohn,ed C-O-A-N.
If you've never heard of him,I'm gonna give you a little bit
of his background and then tiewhat he did to why this matters
today.
So his story starts in 1963.
It wasn't in some prestigiousgym, it wasn't some elite
coaching program or anythinglike that, but in a basement, as
(02:44):
all these programs start rightIn a basement.
He was a bullied kid and herefused to stay weak.
He was 155 pounds, he wasgetting picked on and he did
what millions of teenagers havedone in the past he decided to
get stronger.
Now I wish I did that back then.
I didn't, but he did.
And he did something a littlebit different, though he didn't
just hit the weights randomlylike a lot of us did at that age
(03:07):
Again, not me, but I, you know,I had a cousin, I knew some
friends who were just, you know,slam some weights in the garage
, really no rhyme or reason.
I see that today with youngkids, and you know it's.
It's one thing to have fun Ilove that.
It's another to continue inthat method into adulthood where
it doesn't actually benefit youbecause you are not progressing
.
Well, what did he do?
(03:27):
He studied Arnold's educationof bodybuilder education of a
bodybuilder, which is afantastic book and that's
different from his encyclopediaof bodybuilding.
So keep in mind, arnold wrote alot of great stuff over the
years.
He's a great writer, fantasticlife.
Go check out any of his stuff.
But this was education of abodybuilder.
And he bought an Olympicweightlifting set, he got some
(03:48):
isometric cords and he startedtraining in his basement.
You know, all alone.
He was determined, he wasfocused, kind of sounds like a
lot of the story of these folkswhen they were at that age who
ended up becoming greats.
And so over months he workedwith isometric cords, which are
effectively cable exercises thatrequire isometric holds, and,
you know, basic equipment.
(04:08):
And he built strength.
But he also understood theprinciple of progressive
overload that still a lot ofpeople today don't understand or
don't apply.
And you know he wasn't justthis kid messing around with
weights.
He seemed to take it seriouslyand, you know, perhaps he
enjoyed it, perhaps he realizedhow much it benefited, perhaps
he had a genetic, you know,growth potential that he was
tapping into, but it's.
(04:29):
It's kind of a systematicthinking that I really
appreciate in someone.
And when he finally joined areal gym, this was in Chicago
and he was inspired by thelegendary Bill Kazmaier, who at
the time was a very dominant, astrong man, ed, I think the
story goes that he loaded up abarbell and squatted 500 pounds
right off the bat.
Now think about that for amoment.
(04:50):
Okay, most lifters spend yearstrying to squat, you know,
double their body weight or tryto build up to anything close to
that.
And he was hitting triple bodyweight squats as a teenager
who'd been training less than ayear all right at 155 pounds
body weight.
So this is going to be relevantbecause it's going to be
something that he repeats.
He continues to demonstratethis ratio of strength to weight
(05:14):
.
That's pretty incredible.
Now, again, most of us spendyears trying to improve our
squat, our deadlift.
All of this and you know I'm anolder guy that didn't get
started to my 40s.
Not using that as an excuse, Ijust wish I can go in a time
machine back to my 20s or myteenage years and see what would
have happened.
But Ed was hitting massiveweights as a teenager, not much
(05:35):
training, and his approachapparently was one of just get
the job done right.
No ego, not rushing it, justget in the basement, get the job
done.
And so that kind of approach,that kind of mindset, really
helps anyone who's trying toimprove anything right.
For me back then it was playingsaxophone.
Okay, I was a music nerd, butyou know what I practiced every
(05:57):
day.
I got really, really good, wasable to go to a nice arts high
school.
It was a great experience.
I was able to meet my wife at agig in my 20s.
Even though I was an engineer Iwas also being able to play.
It has nothing to do with EdCohn, my point is just being
systematic and focusing onsomething and improving it over
time is the bread and butter ofpersonal growth in any area.
(06:18):
Right?
So when we fast forward, thatwas the beginning.
Right Then, what Edaccomplished.
So if we look over the next twodecades of his life, he set 71
world records, which just soundsimpossible until you understand
the dominance that he broughtto different weight classes and
different federations andobliterated the standards at the
(06:41):
time.
So in 1991, he was 218 poundsand he totaled 2,402 pounds.
That was a 962 squat, a 545bench and a 901 deadlift.
Insane, all right.
This was a 14 and a halfpercent increase over the
previous world best.
So if, in in powerlifting terms, if we were to use an analogy
(07:02):
of a sprinter, that would belike knocking one and a half
seconds off the hundred meterworld record.
And you know when records arebroken, it's usually by tiny
amounts, right, a few poundshere, a few pounds there.
When it comes to lifting,sometimes we see these step
changes and Ed just shatteredthem, right, and so people were
questioning, they were skeptical.
They're like are the weightseven real.
(07:22):
You know, even to this day wequestion are they using foam
weights in that video?
And so his best IPF raw in 1994, his total was 2,282 pounds and
that was a world record and itbecame kind of the gold standard
for drug tested lifting.
And then in the 1998championships he pushed the
equipped total to 2,463.6 pounds.
(07:46):
He had a 1,003 squat, a 5.73bench and an 8.87 deadlift.
Now, if we look at otherlegends of that era, you've got
Kurt Kowalski, you've got DaveWaddington, you have Gary Frank.
They were also setting records,but they didn't match this
level of consistency acrossdifferent weight classes and
(08:07):
then this margin of victory thatEd Cohn was demonstrating, and
so he was quite the winner.
Let's just say he was quite thewinner.
You know, even I'm shocked, kindof learning, relearning about
his history, which I've heard indrips and drabs over the years
from powerlifters and from someof the guys I follow and listen
to on podcasts.
But I'm going to call myself ayoung guy.
I'm in my forties, I didn'tgrow up necessarily with this
(08:28):
culture, so I'm kind of figuringit out now and having fun
researching and sharing with youguys on the podcast.
Now, these are just numbers,these are just records.
I think what made Ed the goatright, the greatest of all time,
was how he achieved them, whyhis methods still work today,
and that's where I like to makethe connection from history to
modern times.
So what have we lost today infitness culture?
I think this is going to sound alot like my Ronnie Coleman
(08:51):
episode, but simplicity is isundervalued, right In terms of
principles.
We're talking progressiveoverload, we're talking
periodization and we're talkinghaving a passion for this.
And I want to include passionon the list because I'm starting
to see a theme that the guysand ladies who really excel
they've got to love what they'redoing.
(09:11):
I've been asked on a podcastbefore how do you go to the gym
and lift when you don't like it?
And I'm like I don't get thatbecause I like it.
The gym and lift when you don'tlike it, and I'm like I don't
get that because I like it.
Now I like it because it givesme something, it gives me a
result, but I actually like itfor the sake of it, and not
everybody does, I think althoughI think you can develop passion
for almost anything when youget good at it.
(09:32):
It's just a passion born ofhard work, as opposed to
hedonism or pleasure, right.
And so his training philosophyis build strength, muscle will
follow.
Don't overcomplicate the issue,right?
We see today a lot of noisearound range of motion and
different rep ranges andstrength versus hypertrophy, and
(09:52):
like crazy programming becauseeverybody's trying to come up
with something new.
I mean, I'm accused of thatmyself.
I come up with trainingtemplates for my clients and for
Physique U and I'm like, okay,what can I do?
That's at least perceived as abit different, unique and
value-added, that's not alreadyout there.
And you know what I end updoing.
I end up coming down to thebasics of.
Well, guess what?
This program is actually kindof similar to this guy's over
(10:15):
here and this woman's programover here, but I've taken the
principles and put them togetherand that's almost the best you
can do today because we alreadyknow it works.
And when we look at Ed Cohn,what was he doing?
He was training with one or twosets per lift, not necessarily
three, four, five.
You know he was focused on form, like all those guys had to be,
of course, to be able to liftinto those numbers and do it
(10:36):
without injury.
And then he followedprogression cycles, like light
to heavy, for example, very muchlike base to peak.
When you're peaking for apowerlifting meet, you go from
high volume to high intensity.
For example, and my friend TonyP he's in the community, former
client lifting buddy of mine,he's in my barbell club as well.
We get on each other a lot overmessaging and he shared some
(11:00):
really good thoughts about theselegends of the past.
He knows a lot about them andone thing he mentioned is that
the information is not the sameas knowledge.
He said I think we lostsomething along the way that
they figured out so much theydid the hard lifting that it's
irrational for the currentfitness industry to ignore them.
And I think this is importanttoday more than ever, because we
(11:21):
have so much information butless wisdom.
I think we have moreinformation than ever, but less
wisdom.
Ed and his contemporaries, likeKurt Kowalski I mentioned him
they were doing what we now callpower building right, and I
know some people don't like thatterm or they use it as a
boogeyman in their social mediaposts.
It's just a combination ofstrength and hypertrophy and I
(11:42):
see this message repeated overand over again now with people I
respect.
Take my coach, andy Baker.
Right, he replied to somebody.
Somebody said hey, can I doyour power building program but
cut out all the accessory work,all the isolation work he's like
well, it kind of defeats thepurpose, because how do you get
stronger without getting bigger?
So the principle of doing bothhas been around for a long time.
(12:03):
Right, and they didn't call itpower building.
That's what we call it now.
That's kind of a buzzword, butthey prove that strength and
aesthetics are not mutuallyexclusive.
And that's important because Italk about this stuff all the
time.
People come to me to what wecall physique university and in
my mind, physique is really justa culmination of all the things
you're doing for your physicalfitness that make you stronger,
(12:23):
fitter, healthier and havelongevity.
And so when we talk aboutstrength training, the form of
training that combines a littlebit of high intensity with
volume and frequency right,well-roundedness maybe is a
better way to put it Powerbuilding is really a great,
efficient approach and there area lot of ways to progress.
(12:44):
And that's why I mentioned theguide earlier which you can grab
at whatsonweightscom slash freeor the link in the show notes.
It's a guide to progressiveoverload, because I find people
are very confused by this, andthat's going to show you how to
systematically increase yourlifts without worrying about,
you know, complicating it verymuch, like Ed Cohn and his ilk
have inspired us to do andinspired me to do as I'm looking
into their history.
(13:05):
So, ed Cohn, he wasn't just alifting machine.
You know we like to put thesepeople on pedestals as if
they're these robots that wewant to analyze, but apparently
he was very humble andthoughtful and you can go watch
videos of him.
And you know there's a lot ofego driven personalities that
dominate these sports, but Ithink the really a lot.
I think the majority of thegood guys who are at the top of
(13:26):
their sport tend to be humblebecause it almost requires it to
get where they are.
I know that sounds ironic.
Now, not always I mean, arnoldis is not very humble, but we
all love the guy too.
He I guess he has a differentform of humility, if you will.
You know he kind of jokes aboutit while he's being a cocky SOB
, right, but anyway, I Ed was onI think it was the Michael
(13:47):
Hearn show and he said rely lesson fleeting motivation and more
on passion, which is a deeper,more sustainable driver.
That's huge, because oftentimeswe contrast motivation with
process and taking action andbuilding momentum, blah, blah,
blah.
I like the fact that he'ssaying, no, you should rely on
passion.
Right, rely on passion likerely on being so into something
(14:10):
that it just drives you to do it, no matter what, for its own
sake, and that is verysustainable, isn't it?
Now that passion may come fromthe meaningful reason that you
do something.
It could be because you want toshow up for your family, for
your kids, you want to avoid,you know, health issues in old
age, and that could all be tiedinto the passion, for sure.
So that's kind of a philosophyof life in general and it
(14:31):
appeals to me because there's apositivity to it, right, by
definition, it is positive,positive meaning, not negative
meaning.
It drives you forward in addingthe things in that allow you to
pursue that passion right, andto get through setbacks.
And that's important becausethings don't go perfectly ever.
And Ed had some setbacks.
He also had some dopingviolations.
(14:53):
I just have to acknowledge that.
Right, good with the bad, okay,in the 80s, I think, 85, 89.
And then he was suspended in1996.
It led to a lifetime ban, right, and I mean these controversies
were part of that era ofpowerlifting and I think now
we're a lot more transparent,we're just like, yeah, okay,
these people take drugs, butback then we're talking.
You know, even before, say, thebaseball scandals, that became
(15:13):
a huge issue.
Obviously, enhanced versus notenhanced and whether it's
disclosed and whether it'stested is has been a huge
controversial part of the sport.
And what I want to focus on isjust Ed himself, how he handled
the adversity.
You know he didn't make excuses.
I don't think he had any bitterrants, I think he just kept
focusing and lifting and helpingpeople.
And so I you know nuances,right, everybody's character is
(15:37):
a bit complex.
I'm not making any excuses foranyone, and it was a different
time.
It was a bit complex.
I'm not making any excuses foranyone, and it was a different
time.
It was a different time.
So back to the motivation,passion thing.
You know, motivation is one ofthose things, like willpower,
that is fleeting, but passion ispretty endurable, right, it's
pretty endurable.
It can take you through decades, which is what's going to be
required when it comes to yourfitness lifestyle, with your
training.
It's going to you're going tohave lots of setbacks oh my, I
(15:58):
mean, I know setbacks surgeriesand injuries and lots of things
that have happened.
He had two hip replacements,apparently right.
So any of you dealing withshoulder issues, hip issues,
back issues, it happens.
We got to find a way around it.
Understand our constraints,keep moving forward and passion
is going to take you through it,because you're going to say how
the heck do I get back to thegym?
How do I do it?
I need to, I need to, I need todo it.
(16:23):
I want to do it.
How do I do it?
In 2023, this is only a coupleof years ago he was 53 and he
had two artificial hips.
As we mentioned, he squatted585.
So he's still active, hittingcrazy weights, right.
Most people his age are worriedabout their knees creaking
going up the stairs.
He's still moving seriousweight because his passion never
dimmed his understanding thatyou can always progress or at
least maintain your strength,right.
(16:43):
Of course, with age, you'regoing to have lower and lower
capacity to hit those max, maxweights, but you can still
perform pretty incredibly as ahuman being, and this speaks to
something missing, I think, intoday's instant gratification
culture.
Real strength and I'm going totalk about strength here is
physical and mental is builtover time, over decades.
(17:05):
It's a form of wisdom, in myopinion.
It's a form of resilience, anda guy like Ed is a good guy to
look at because he had thisself-deprecating humor, he had a
genuine interest in helpingpeople, he had the passion.
And what that does, I think, isit spreads like a good virus.
I don't think a virus is agreat analogy, but it spreads to
(17:26):
others where you elevate them.
You lift them, especially ifyou're lifting with them, and
then it pushes them becauseyou're stronger than them or you
have more experience than them.
You lift them, especially ifyou're lifting with them, and
then it pushes them becauseyou're stronger than them or you
have more experience than them,and, rather than lording it
over someone, it's a source ofcuriosity on the other person's
part and helping them on yourpart.
And I'm talking from theperspective as a mentor, but I
(17:49):
also am a student, and so when Ican put myself around people
who are better than me,especially by a long shot, but
who also have a combination ofpassion, wisdom and positivity,
that's an amazing recipe.
Right there, marty Gallaghercalled Ed the Mozart of strength
.
I alluded to that nicknameearlier, and why is that?
Because he's a prodigy and hasa legacy that's gonna echo for a
(18:12):
long time to come.
He made a huge impact on peopleand his principles are timeless
, like Mozart's music I assumethat is where this nickname came
from.
And when we think of today,we're living in what I'll call
an attention economy.
It kind of drives me crazy whenI feel like eyeballs are on the
screen all day.
It's all about stories andposts and new content.
(18:35):
You got to grab eyeballs, yougot to go viral.
And when it comes to likestrength training, it's almost
starkly contrast when you justgo in and you move a piece of
metal, a foot, you know, andjust against gravity to try to
build your muscles.
There's something so visceraland primal about that that is
the opposite of all of this.
In the cloud, virtual livingthat we have, there's almost
(18:57):
like two different realities inexistence today.
Right, there's the social mediaonline world, and then there's
the real, physical world thatwe're almost forgetting exists.
And the barbell doesn't care,right?
It doesn't care about your IGfollowing or your feed.
Your muscles don't care abouthashtags, right?
I know I'm getting kind of sillyhere, but at the end of the day
, the principles are timeless.
So Ed's career is like a bridgebetween the old school and
(19:18):
modern training, proving thatyou don't have to reinvent the
wheel, that we know a lot ofwhat we already know that works.
Just dig into it, turn to itconsistently, but also be
passionate and I know you can'tforce that.
So find a way to make itpassionate and if it's not
passionate for you, there'sprobably a different method,
(19:38):
while still sticking to theprinciples.
So what is Ed doing today?
I think he continues coachingpeople.
He's coaching like younglifters.
He's passing on his techniquesbut, as well as the mindset, a
lot of these guys are reallygood at sharing the thinking
behind this and again,invaluable earned wisdom is what
we're getting at right, andthis is why I think studying the
(19:58):
lifting legends like thismatters.
I don't know how many I'm goingto do here of these.
Hit me up on IG.
Speaking of social media, sendme a message on Instagram at
Whitson Weights If you have anidea for someone else to cover.
I'm definitely gonna cover somewomen in the sport as well, and
some of the greats maybe insome other more overlooked areas
, not just for the inspirationof it, but the actual
preservation of principles atwork.
(20:19):
I will be curious when thesethe series is done at some point
when we're at 10 people or 20or whatever down the road, to
kind of put it all together in acompendium of you know what
helps us accomplish the mostwith our focus on the
fundamentals and our passion.
So if this exploration of EdCohn's principles resonated with
(20:40):
you, go check out the lastLifting Legends episode.
I did.
It was the first one, it wasLifting Legends number one.
It was about Ronnie Coleman,and you'll see some of the
differences, some of thesimilarities, right, Because
Ronnie was a bodybuilder, ed's apower lifter.
But I think both of theirsuccesses hinge on the
fundamental principles wediscussed today.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
(21:02):
those weights and remember thatyour strongest, healthiest,
fittest physique and body it'snot built overnight, it's not
built on fads.
It's engineered one rep, oneset, one training session at a
time, just like Ed showed us.
This is Philip Pape and you'vebeen listening Wits and Weights.
I'll talk to you next time.
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