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My name is Isaiah Rivera and I have the highest officially tested vertical on the planet at 50.5 inches and am the co-founder of THPstrength, a company that focuses on vertical jump training for athletes.
What makes me a little different from most athletes that jump high is that I started with a pretty low vertical and documented my entire journey on this channel. Here is my journey in a nutshell:
14: Started working out to jump higher for basketball
16: Hit my first dunk and shortly after found out about the world of pro dunking
17: Trained like a madman and hit my first between the legs dunk
18: Entered my first professional dunk contest
19: Knee pain almost made me quit dunking
20: Met my coach John Evans, who helped me get rid of knee pain
21: Won my first international dunk contest
22: Tested a 48 inch vertical and started coaching full time
24: Tested a world record 50.5 inch vertical
The reason I make so much free content about jumping higher now is because it’s a resource I wish I would’ve had when I was in high school that would’ve prevented a lot of unnecessary mistakes and injuries.
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0:00
What's up guys, I have an officially tested 50.5 inch vertical and this guy right here has written
0:07
the training that took me from 42 to 50.5 inches. That's really hard to do, to take an elite level
0:14
performance and make it even more elite. It is by a factor of a million way harder than it is to
0:23
make a beginner to jump higher and if we take those same principles and apply it to a beginner
0:28
super effective couldn't say it better myself because those words have come out of my mouth
0:33
several times yeah so john what was the workout split that got me that got me that split and when
0:39
you see that you mean like upper lower or like yeah like you know you know bodybuilders they
0:43
train arms on monday legs on tuesday so what is it what's the workout a traditional workout split
0:49
oh wait traditional real quick actually no let's keep going i can do the plug at the end
0:54
You do the plug in the air. Traditional workout split, probably not going to be the best thing for human performance
0:59
If you're trying to just gain muscle, it would be, like you just said, you'd be like push-pull on
1:05
or you'd do like one day of pushes, one day of pulls, one day of legs, or you'd have like bison back or chest and tris, which again is just push-pull, and then legs
1:14
Some people will go shoulders, arms, back, legs, whatever. I don't, however many ways to do it
1:21
I like your bodybuilding voice. Yeah. Duh! The thing about bodybuilding that's really interesting is we have a shit ton of research from people that just bodybuild regularly
1:32
So there's a lot that you can gain from just looking at everyday bodybuilders that are on a shit ton of gear
1:38
By gear, I mean steroids. You can gain a lot of knowledge from just looking at their training
1:42
There's decades and decades worth of evidence that we have just looking at them
1:46
even if we don't have research papers where guys are under very, you know
1:52
constraint, very intense constraints. They're just, we can look at these athletes and there's a shit ton of data
1:59
So if that's your only goal and you want to get as big as possible
2:04
then yeah, that's sure. Do that. Do, you know, something where you load every 48 to 72 hours
2:10
use loaded stretch as a doctor. what's the what's the one doctor that's like really popular yeah yeah i don't remember his name he has
2:19
rp strength or something yeah that's he's like renaissance periodization i think is that the guy
2:23
yeah but he's he's kind of i would say he's probably one of the utmost experts in the field
2:28
he's definitely kind of a bro which cracks me up because i'm kind of a bro but he's like a gearhead bro and i know he uh you know he's he's always kind of trolling people and
2:37
some people will be like this is the world's best stretch and he'll like review their workouts or
2:41
whatever and be like, what the makes this the world's best stretch? And I'm like, dude, this dude's literally just like, I don't know if he's fear mongering. He makes me feel like he's
2:47
going to beat me up. Um, so, you know, he talks a lot about it. And if you're again, bodybuilder
2:54
you can look at his stuff and he'll pretty much say sets per week, loaded stretch
2:58
give it 48 hours rest. Hyperge fee is pretty simple. If you were to look at human
3:02
performance in terms of like jumping or sprinting, they're, they're literally just repeating the same
3:06
mesocycle over and over and over and over and over again with some variety
3:11
There's no physical output though that they're actually measuring. It's not like athleticism where you have an outcome you're trying to achieve and you have
3:21
to meet that outcome by addressing a lot of physical capacities. Like size is not a, hypertrophy and size is not a physical capacity
3:30
It's not output based. It just what would you call it Anthropometry I guess Yeah Physiological you just making the muscle bigger Yeah it like having a tendon stiffer for no purpose whatsoever other than to be like
3:44
look how stiff my tendon is. Yeah. Like, there's no purpose behind it. It's just, oh, it's cool. It looks cool
3:49
Yeah. So... Which there's nothing wrong with it if you're into that. There's nothing wrong with it, yeah. If you're into making your tendon bigger, yeah
3:56
No, there's nothing wrong with bodybuilding, but it's just that. It's relatively simple
4:00
in my opinion, compared to human performance. It's kind of funny. a quick anecdote we had a bodybuilder that used to work with us a lot not a bodybuilder but he was
4:07
like a very into bodybuilding he studied it a lot looked at Israelty that's his name Mike Israelty
4:13
yeah looked at a lot of his research looked at a lot of uh you know evidence peer-reviewed evidence
4:18
and and kind of came to the conclusion he's like wow this is so complex like you can work the
4:23
you know this part of the bicep or tricep or whatever with this rotation or whatever else and
4:29
I think that stuff's kind of interesting and sometimes it's, you know, it can be a little bit insightful if you're using that for human performance purposes
4:37
But he had talked to us and he started researching jumping higher and sprinting faster and all this different stuff
4:43
And I recommended a couple of books and he was like, holy shit, this is so much more complex
4:49
What books? Yeah. Science of Practice and Strength Training was the life one I'm reading
4:53
Do you remember this? I think I do remember. It was Hunter
4:57
uh r.i.p so he uh yeah he just started researching it and learning and he was like wow this is like
5:06
there's so many more layers to this and it is because yeah and this is all to say
5:11
a training split is not the answer to jumping higher that's not how I would view it I think
5:18
if you were to word it that way I would view it in terms of intensities and alternating intensities
5:22
so I would say day one is a high intensity day day two is a low intensity day and you alternate
5:26
between that split, but you're going to load your legs every day, or you should be. I like to address
5:32
all five physical capacities every single day. So if I have five physical capacities, coordination
5:36
mobility, endurance, speed, and strength, I will in some form or another address each of those five
5:42
capacities every single day. And technically you can make an argument that, you know, just by going
5:47
on a walk, you're addressing all five of those, but I will try to make a meaningful, I'll try to
5:51
address them in a meaningful way where I'm improving all five physical capacities. And
5:55
if you view it that way, then I would say my training split would be Monday, Wednesday
6:01
Friday, I would address speed, strength, coordination, primarily. Endurance would be in the form of like power endurance or something like that, or strength endurance. And then
6:10
the mobility is going to get addressed through dynamic flexibility. And then on the days
6:16
Tuesday, Thursday, I would address mobility. Oh, did you see that? That car whipped in. I got nervous
6:24
If you look at those, I would address endurance and mobility more and general strength
6:30
on Tuesday, Thursday. I'm still addressing speed. Maybe I'm doing tempo work
6:36
or I'm doing a jump circuit or something like that. My allergies are really bad right now
6:45
That would be the split I would do. And what that then, or the benefit of doing that is that you're allowing qualities to
6:52
recover or come up and systems to repair themselves. So hypothetically or not hypothetically, um
6:57
theoretically, if let's say I load max strength, right? My nervous system is technically ed
7:02
from doing all of the high type two motor recruitment activity. I'm letting that recover
7:08
while I doing extensive tempo or a lunge circuit or slow pushups or or slow squats right So I still addressing strength by doing that but I allowing my nervous system to recover
7:21
I'm allowing my type 2 fibers to recover. I'm still getting a cardiorespiratory stimulus
7:27
if I'm a little bit out of breath after doing 20 pushups
7:31
or some pistol squats down to a bench or something like that
7:35
So I address endurance. Now that's fatigued. Now that recovers on Wednesday
7:40
and now I'm again back to loading my type 2 fibers, my nervous system, my alpha motor units
7:46
the pathways of your nervous system that are involved in jumping higher
7:51
So that's the specific training. So it's more of specificity and intensity
7:56
You're loading Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then general days on the off days. I would say that's the training split I would do
8:01
What do you think of that about what I just said? I like that. By the way, we have a free week of training
8:08
I put it in the bio every single video. or the description of every single video
8:12
Is it a week or three weeks? It's just a week, one week of training. What if I just repeat that over and over and over again
8:19
It's going to get stale. You're going to stop improving. You're going to turn into like an old cracker
8:24
It's not going to progress. Like a Ritz cracker that's left on the counter for several weeks
8:31
Like day one it's good, but day two it's just a little old? It's there so that you can try it, and if you like it, you sign up
8:36
It's not there for you to repeat over and over and over and over again. Will it work if I repeat it over and over and over again
8:41
If your training age is really low. Like how many times can I repeat it do you think and it would work
8:46
If it was a complete noob? Yeah. Like I'm 13. Are you keeping the same weights
8:55
I'm a noob. I don't know. So, yeah, I guess I'll go up a little bit. I think it would work for a long time, but you're shooting yourself in the foot because you could have progressed more quickly
9:07
so if you were smart enough i guess to under i don't know yeah but you probably
9:13
i think you'd quickly run into diminishing returns yeah which i think if you're smart
9:18
enough you could figure out how to progress and if you watch the podcast maybe look at the at the
9:23
end of the day we give you guys the secrets but if you want us to do the implementation for you
9:29
then that's when you sign up you want the secret sauce i got it in a bowl yeah it's right up here
9:36
baby. And if you crack this vault open, which by the way, you're just going to find brain matter
9:39
If you want the secret sauce, go to THPstrength.com and use the code THP for 10% off your
9:44
first month. What are we at right here? 11 minutes? 10 minutes
9:48
We probably have nine minutes of you. Oh, shit. I'm fine with cutting it off here. I mean, we answered the training split
9:54
Look, my training split is legs. Legs Monday, legs Tuesday. Legs hard Monday, legs
10:02
hard easy Tuesday, legs hard Wednesday. Legs easy Thursday. Legs hard Friday, legs hard Saturday
10:08
Actually, legs medium Saturday. Legs medium Saturday. Upper body Tuesday, Thursday. And then sometimes you'll get it Monday, Wednesday, Friday
10:16
Which really just means... Legs Sunday, because I do ISOs. Exactly. So it's legs seven days a week
10:20
And if you're on my hardest training, then you'll also get upper arms and upper body on Monday
10:26
And then upper on Tuesday, and then upper on Wednesday, but harder on Wednesday. And then easier on Thursday, and harder on Friday
10:32
Yeah. There we go. That's the training split. And then sometimes if you're on a different training, you'll get legs on Monday really hard, slightly less hard on Tuesday
10:41
But still hard. But still hard. And then easier on Wednesday and then hard again on Thursday
10:46
It's like what I've been doing every day. Yeah. So this is why you should probably Or if you have condomalacia You just get legs hard every day as well No it legs really hard off Legs really hard off
11:00
Yeah, and then. No, technically it's legs really hard every day. Just not every leg muscle
11:07
Oh, yeah. It's quads really hard. Off. Every other day. Yeah, exactly
11:15
You guys are like, what the did he just explain? THP
11:19
Sign up for THP. And you'll get all the cheat codes that we could possibly give you
11:24
Thanks for watching, guys. We'll see you tomorrow. I hope that you have a great weekend. And Isaiah, what are you doing today
11:32
Oh, I'm lifting. Ow, I just scratched the hell out of my tattoo. I thought you got bit by the assassin bug
11:37
By the shotgun bug. Talk about the assassin bug. There is a bug that we found out
11:43
We found in front of my house. And it feels like a gunshot when you get bit by it
11:47
And it liquefies your flesh. and drinks it yeah it's disgusting florida stuff yeah oh florida man but today lifting lifting
11:54
hard you are isaiah's back to lifting hard we had a conversation maybe i might not survive no you're
11:59
gonna be fine i think we're at the crossover point now where he touched 11 4 11 5 yesterday he's very
12:04
fatigued he's his knee doesn't really there's no consequence to him jumping yesterday feels good
12:09
so what that tells me you know i jumped like 40 ish times yeah i know we counted yeah kind of crazy
12:14
That's good. But they were really easy. What that means is he's back to the point where he can start training again
12:21
and we've crossed over into that. I will say when we start pushing intensity in the weight room
12:27
we typically have to back off the jump volume. So if he does have issues because he's power cleaning 315
12:33
we can't afford to kill him in jumping. And if you've been watching me, you've noticed I've also not been jumping a lot
12:38
because I'm training so hard. If you think about it, going to one session a week
12:43
I'm potentially going from 80 to 120 elastic contacts per week to 40 to 50 per week. Exactly
12:51
But then we can use that in the weight room. The volume in other ways
12:55
Yeah. No, we just do plyos. Everyone knows that. We're just big plyo guys. Plyometrics every day
13:00
We've really moved away from it. We also do plyometrics every day. Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you that
13:03
We forgot about the plyometrics split. It's every day. In some form
13:08
Speaking of the hard training, actually, it's not as well we're here. Now you're getting the rambling
13:12
You can click off the video if you want. Yeah, right, right. Unless you really like us. Unless you really like us
13:16
Some people just watch us for our personality. Some people watch us because they hate me. Some people watch us because they love him
13:21
It could go either way for you. Some people hate me, though. What? Yeah
13:26
I've never seen anyone hate you. I only see lovers. No, I've seen some
13:29
Some hate comments? Yeah, there's been some haters, yeah. No way, dude. Impossible. Anyways, what was your question
13:34
There was some guy who was like, this is just the same shit
13:38
You talk about the same shit every day. Yeah. Because I like jumping
13:42
Yeah, that's the topic that we talked about. It's my special interest. What did you just pick up? Oh, your ring
13:45
Yeah. It was under my shoe. Anyways, the ADHD is really going at it. Yesterday I got asked if I had Asperger's, and I think yes
13:52
You know what I overheard? Oh, no. I've overheard my parents. Oh, I thought you were talking about yesterday
13:59
I overheard my parents talking about me having Asperger's. Is that a shell casing right there
14:03
Is that a shell casing? Okay. Oh, but I was going to ask. Oh, sorry. Should I start doing the long warm-up every day
14:10
That thing looks so nice. I know. I like that. There's a nice car over there. I think that that's tough
14:17
Probably not every day. I'd probably start with like once or twice a week and then build up. Or sprint development. You could do sprint development
14:22
Yeah, I would probably do ISOs and then jump down into flexibility sprint development
14:26
I think it's a good place to start. Bye. All right, yeah. The car's pulling in
14:30
The car's here, so we got to go. See you guys
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