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Our Thoughts About The Olympics
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Mar 27, 2025
If you want me to coach you personally to jump higher click here: If you want a FREE week of jump training click here: 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.
View Video Transcript
0:00
I have a 50.5 inch vertical. This is my coach and together we how many people do you think we have
0:05
trained to 40 plus inch verticals at this point? I would say like between 50 and 100. Yeah. Maybe
0:11
more. Yeah. So we know how to make athletes really freaky and we have some unique thoughts about the
0:18
Olympics. This is probably the most Olympic events that I have watched in my whole life. I was pretty
0:23
pretty into it this year. Did you even have Peacock to watch the Olympics? Would you just
0:28
watching on NBC? Yeah. All right. I did get Peacock to watch high jump, though
0:32
Oh, nice. I, too, watched more Olympic, specifically track and field, than I ever have, which might
0:38
be hard to believe, but I've tried to watch every single event outside of the boring ones. Like, I don't want to watch men's 400 hurdles
0:44
I'm just not interested in that. Yeah. I specifically... I just don't want to watch that
0:48
Just sprinting and jumping. Yeah, exactly. That's what I like to watch. And basketball. I didn't even..
0:52
Well, I've watched some basketball, but not... Oh, that's the last two games. Yeah, exactly. Okay. That doesn't constitute a lot of basketball
0:58
You watch the USA specifically. It's a lot to me. I don't really. Yeah, you don't watch sports. It's hard to believe, but I don't really watch sports
1:03
Yeah. Which, outside of the playoffs, we do. We very passionately watch the NBA playoffs
1:10
Yeah. Every year. Or try to, at least. Anyways. And the Super Bowl. And the Super Bowl
1:14
Yep. He's really. You're like a. You know what a Kreister is? A Christmas Easter
1:18
Don't call me that shit. No, no, I don't know. I don't know what that is
1:22
Sounds like an insult. It is. You Kreister. It's a Christmas-Easter Christian, ones that only go on Christmas and Easter
1:28
That's like you with the Super Bowl and the finals. You only watch sports if it's the Super Bowl or the finals
1:33
You don't even watch the – I don't really watch the MLB either, to be honest. No, I do
1:37
I do watch the World Series. I watched – so every sport that there is, I watched it diligently
1:42
when I was currently playing the sport. But as soon as I stopped playing it – So you watched dunking
1:46
Yeah, because part of the reason is, like, when I watch sports, I don't even watch it for entertainment
1:51
I'm like, could I do this? Like, that's what I see it in the lens. That's wild. I actually watch it with the 3D biomechanical yses in my head
1:59
I look at the kinematics and kinetics. It's kind of funny. Not as much anymore, but definitely when I was, like, new a lot early on
2:05
Like, when I was first learning a lot, I would watch it and be like, oh, now I know this, so let me look at the whip and flow mechanism of a pitcher
2:11
I always thought that was interesting. So, that said, we're going to get into the Olympics
2:15
What was your general kind of opinion watching these athletes? Did you look at them and say, wow, they're so freaky, I could never do that
2:23
Or were you kind of like, I think I could do that? like well because you do that often you have a problem um what what did you think specifically
2:29
let's talk about the sprints what did you think about that uh so sprints were ruined for me
2:36
because my first memory ever of the olympics i was how old was i this was
2:43
we're in 2024 that is insane yeah so how old were you 20 no i was 11 10 10 11 years old okay when i
2:52
when I first watched the Olympics. I was at my house. My family actually, 08 Olympics, we were watching like all of swimming
2:59
because Michael Phelps was popping off. I barely watched it. And then I remember I was the only person in the living room
3:05
It was like kind of late, and it was Usain Bolt's gold medal run
3:10
And that was like the first track and field event that I saw that year or ever
3:14
And he broke the record, and I remember just being like amazed. That's one of my earliest like sports, like watching sports memories
3:21
Yeah. And then I actually kept up with Usain Bolt pretty. I was an avid fan
3:28
You were an avid Usain Bolt fan? So everything, after having witnessed that and also being young and experiencing that
3:34
it's trying to live up to that standard. But this year, me watching the Olympics
3:42
it was born out of watching the 100-meter documentary on Netflix. Oh, the one with Noah Lyles and all that
3:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was watching that, and it just got me really invested in all the sprinters
3:53
like the women and the men. So it was cool. Which, by the way, they train like an hour from us, like Shaqari and Noah
4:00
Less, less. So it was cool seeing that. I like watching any sport that's like maximum output, short bursts of power
4:12
You know what I mean? So I actually watched all of the prelims because I wanted to see specifically
4:17
how really slow people look. compared to really fast people, because prelims, they'll throw, like, some random country 45-year-old
4:25
Like, there was, like, some marathoner in the previous year. She ran the marathon at the Olympics
4:29
And then this year, she was running the 100-meter dash. And she was their Olympic athlete. And she was, like, a 45-year-old woman
4:34
It was insane. So she ran, like, you know, 15 seconds. And, like, there's, like, a girl running 11 seconds
4:40
And I was curious to see what the major differences were when watching them
4:44
And then you see the same thing on the men's side. Like, you know, you'll see someone run really slow
4:48
and then you'll see someone run like 10-1 or something in prelims. By the way, I'm going to cut you off real quick
4:55
This is John's background. There's a lot of people that have not
5:00
People don't know that I love track, specifically sprints and the events
5:06
Our first call, John came from the track and field world, and then he basically asked me what I was doing, roasted my training
5:14
and then was like, imagine what would happen if you trained a track athlete. That's literally how THP, as you know it, was born
5:20
Yes, 100%. Just keep that lens in mind when you hear me talk about traffic
5:26
John was a really fast springer. He would dust me. I wasn't super fast. When we first started training, he would dust me in the sprints
5:33
How fast were you? Were you like high tens or low? I don't know if I ever broke into the tens
5:38
I think I probably split that, obviously, in the four-by-one for sure, but in high school
5:43
and like open 100 I was never that crazy I think I ran low 11s there the 400 like when I was six
5:52
or wait I actually told Nick Rossi this because he didn know this shout out Nicholas Rossi in high school I would have been a legend to Isaiah because I was like when he was four years younger than me and I was a senior or
6:05
whatever so he would have been a freshman I would have been a senior he would have looked up to me which is actually hilarious now looking back at where we where I had never I've I grew up in Utah
6:13
and I saw like one person dunk yeah so I was dunking I dunked when I was like 14 yeah so I was
6:18
dunking is like an eighth grader. So when he was like 10, he would have seen me dunking. Um, but
6:23
in high school, I was even in middle school, I was a five, 10 high jumper. So I was slated to be
6:29
relatively good. Typically high jumpers, they're really good young and then they improve very
6:34
very little as they get older. And, uh, that's just the nature of it. They're genetic freaks
6:38
I was like, Oh yeah, you know, I'm pretty good. Whatever. I jumped five, 10 for a 14 year old
6:41
That's not bad. But most of the time that's because most kids haven't developed and you don't see those big, big jumps until like 15, 16. That's where you'll start seeing guys go over
6:49
two meters, two of five, two 20, even sometimes at like 16. And then typically there's a trail off
6:55
a lot of the time, not always, but a lot of the time that's the case because genetics just takes them so far. So then I, 15, I was running, I was long jumping like 18 ish feet. I was running
7:06
the hundred around 12 seconds or 11 high. I was high jumping six foot, triple jumping like 39
7:15
feet and then 16 so this would have been my sophomore year i was a 6.2 high jumper triple
7:22
jumping 43 feet running the 400 right around 51 seconds 50 point which is pretty fast for
7:28
a 16 year old and i was long jumping in the 20s 21 it or 20 foot change i think maybe barely under
7:36
21 and then 16 that was at 16 my sophomore year and then 17 i was high jumping 6.4 running the 100
7:43
in the low 11s, high 10s range, probably in that range. The 400 didn't really run off, and I wasn't fit for it
7:48
but I could go out there and still run in the 50s. Triple jump, I was in the 44s
7:53
After that, I had a bunch of injuries from training, and part of that was I was training myself and didn't know any better
7:59
didn't know what I know now. And that was kind of mostly the end of my career. I didn't do it my senior year of high school, but I love track
8:04
Love it, love it, love it. I would have probably done the multi in college if I had the better hip mobility to hurdle and stuff
8:10
and I would say genetically speaking, I'm like probably in the sevens
8:14
with perfect technique in all the events in terms of output, right? I probably could score that. In terms of speed and endurance and stuff
8:20
because you've got to have a little bit of everything, and then the event work I was decent in
8:24
Even now I can throw a discus pretty cleanly, and I can get a jab to fly appropriately
8:31
Some of the stuff that team sport athletes will struggle with when they come into track, for me, is pretty natural
8:37
I can pick up the events pretty quickly outside of maybe a vault. And I'm not saying I'm like a one-on-one track athlete
8:42
I'm sure there's guys that listen to our podcast or some of you watching that would shit on me
8:47
And I brush shoulders with a lot of those guys. But for a high school kid in a small town, I was pretty good at track
8:54
And I loved it. I love track so much. So experience from there. I coached at Duke, which some of you guys may not even know
9:00
I was a high jump coach there and helped the hurdlers, 400 hurdlers, 110s
9:04
helped some of the multis whenever need be, and then helped some of the sprinters. I didn't write the programs for the most part because the programming was really solid at Duke
9:13
but I knew what they were doing and why they were doing it, and we had similar philosophies
9:17
So it was a really good environment. I was also at Altus where Andre de Gras was, so getting to watch him run was cool
9:24
And then I had a lot of experience with my mentor, Mike. So I've been – track is my background
9:30
That is how I got to a point of coaching Isaiah even and him trusting me was me demonstrating my expertise
9:38
Like it took a lot of convincing to get Isaiah to even want to work with me because he was so skeptical
9:44
Like how could this kid that doesn't really know that much about dunking per se be a good coach for this, a vertical jump
9:51
Like he's not at the level that I am even. And so it took a lot of, hey, I'm not a genetic freak, but I know how to make genetic freaks better
10:00
I would say that was generally the conversation, right? And, yeah, so now watching it with that lens, I think my takeaway from it this year was slightly different
10:11
because I actually knew a good number of athletes that were competing
10:16
either just through corresponding on DMs or talking to them even five to ten years ago
10:20
or probably five years ago. But, like, Sandre Gumersen from Norway, he was on our podcast in..
10:26
2020, 2021? Yeah, 2020, so four years ago. This might have been right..
10:33
Yeah, it was before the 2021 games. So, seeing him, you know, progress and then..
10:38
You're just so much more invested. I would say that was the biggest difference. Like, I was way more invested in the athletes
10:44
that I had had a personal interaction with at some point. So, like, Bryn King, she was a female pole vaulter at Duke
10:50
She ended up transferring. but like just even getting to spend that one year with royal palace she was a basketball player one
10:56
of our one of our athletes for the nigerian women's team like i was just more invested in
11:00
the athletes that i had some sort of connection with that's at one point steven maher had signed
11:05
up for our coaching and i think technically still has coaching credits but he just never
11:09
has talked to us really about it because he had to work with a national team so even just watching
11:13
him and being like holy shit like we've actually consulted for simon uh hansen as well like
11:19
Shelby McEwen, Jeremiah Davis, guys I've just gotten to know over the years
11:24
Getting to see them compete, I was just way more invested. I think watching it, it's interesting because the training is so different
11:33
I think a lot of the times we assume that it's so similar
11:38
but as I've gotten more invested in elite track and talked to a lot of these guys
11:42
and as I've gotten more invested in dunking and obviously coach these guys
11:45
I've started to see a lot of the dissimilarities, right? Like I look at the hundred and I realize the metrics and mechanics and things that you need to run truly truly fast is sometimes different And I talking like this doesn apply to you unless you running 10 or faster
12:03
probably 10.5 or faster. Like the specific kind of velocities and things that you need to do
12:10
when you're in that range to get even faster is just, it's insane. Like basically nothing is
12:16
specific for you other than sprinting really, really fast. So if you're not doing that, a lot of the time you're not going to get faster whereas like for us we see guys improve when we
12:25
improve max strength and deep knee flexion power clean like all the things that you would
12:31
traditionally think will make you faster and it does to a certain point but once you get down to
12:35
like your world world class which is like you're running 10 six or faster you're that is very
12:41
genetically limited it's very hard to do I think it you just shift completely kind of what the
12:47
training looks like. So I don't know. It just created a, a level of respect for it. I think
12:53
more than I maybe had in prior to watching the Olympics. And then to looking at how freaky
12:59
genetically they are, I just started to maybe a realization is like, these athletes are one of
13:06
one genetically speaking, like they're not the type of athlete that probably was like really
13:11
really bad. And then like slowly made incremental gains. Like they probably woke up one morning
13:15
and they were like if you're Tara Davis I'm not saying she doesn't work hard but she probably woke
13:20
up one morning went out and jumped six meters in long jump one day and beat everyone by a shit ton
13:24
you know what I mean of her peers or like Andre de Grasse dude went out was a basketball player
13:28
first day was running like 10-5 in the 100 or something like dusting everyone it's not like
13:33
in your shoes where you were a shit athlete I mean I guess in some sense because you improve
13:38
really quickly at first but I think it's just different you know like I see incremental gains
13:44
with my guys year to year to year and just staying consistent. Whereas a lot of these, other than the multis
13:48
I think the multis are slightly different, but specifically for the jumps, high jump, and the 100
13:53
long jump's slightly different too. I think you can keep making incremental gains there. But even though I did just reference to Howard Davis
13:59
and the 400, I think you can keep making incremental gains. But a lot of those events, you just realize how freaky they are
14:04
Like just, like Hamish Kerr, the high jumper, he literally went out one day, and his first day
14:09
he jumped like 7'6", or something. It wasn't 7'6", but it was something crazy
14:13
He didn't start high jumping until he was like in his 20s. That was like when he started
14:17
And it was like day one, he's over seven feet. I think that when you hear scenarios like that
14:22
you kind of understand how genetically gifted those athletes are. And that for me this year more than ever, I realized or it was like kind of apparent to me
14:35
And I love pole vaulters too because pole vaulters generally have a very slow progression
14:41
outside of like Duplantis and Mondo. So, yeah, that was kind of my lens watching it
14:47
I guess when you're watching it being a world-class athlete, what was like your lens
14:52
Are you in a position where you're like, I could never do that? Or are you in a position where like, I have a 15-inch vertical
14:57
I wonder if I could do that. It's definitely the latter. Really? Yeah
15:01
For high jump specifically? The high jump and triple jump for sure
15:08
The sprints, not so much. the sprints it's mostly I wonder what I I look at it from the lens if all I did was that
15:15
and I started young where would I where would I be at and that's where all the events like I wonder
15:20
like if I was a decathlete and train only I think I think as a decathlete I think you and Donovan
15:28
and you guys would struggle in the sprints but I think in terms of your outputs I mean I've seen
15:34
you guys move a lot and sometimes like track is just different than team sports and you can adopt
15:40
things in team sports that would not work in track like you're not going to get away with
15:44
having a slightly different release in jav i mean sometimes you will but it's going to come at a
15:50
cost you're always going to tear i guess baseball it's sometimes true but like sprinting you guys
15:55
i think do really well accelerating i've seen donovan accelerate too and i think you guys would
15:59
struggle with upright sprinting the mechanics there and then also the 400 i think you guys
16:04
would really struggle just because you hate running so much like you just hate it and then
16:10
also the mile i think you got it well actually i think you would be good at that that's the thing
16:14
is i never liked running but i could like you're good at i'm good at you're good at the yeah you're
16:19
weirdly good at the mile and stuff people don't know that but isaiah actually what's your best 1500 meter time or 1600 it was just the mile four laps around the track uh 530 i went sub 530
16:30
That's so fast. Oh, that's hilarious. And I didn't train. It was basketball conditioning for like two months
16:38
That is crazy. So I think really where you would struggle, though
16:42
just seeing you run upright is the 400. You really struggle with fast, fast speed endurance
16:47
Yeah, like after 50 meters for you, it's just like you really have a hard time
16:53
You did improve at that. Yeah, that's the thing, though, is I think if I did it a lot
16:56
because 2021, it was the only cycle really where we've done, like
17:02
a lot of speed endurance work. Well, not even speed endurance. It was just long sprints
17:06
Like 50s to 60s. We did, yeah, 50s to 60s, and then one of the cycles was actually hundreds
17:11
and, like, 120s, I think you had me running. Did you do those properly on the track? Yeah
17:16
No, I did them on freaking 29 palms outside. Like, I'm going to freaking die
17:22
I love it. But, yeah, I did all the sprints, and I noticeably improved
17:26
like i was like i was thinking about this like what if you know it was cole rj you me in a chat
17:33
and we were like oh what do we want to do for rj's birthday or something like that and i was like let's all go out we'll go out to a football field and we'll do a contest for long toss
17:42
vertical leap approach vertical like i think i listed off like five or six things where i was
17:47
and we can race i was like we can race and we'll see who wins like that'll be it and i was like
17:51
Isaiah obviously has the highest vertical I was like I assuming RJ can throw like because RJ Barrett is really freaking athletic Like RJ and Cole both of them
18:02
Like, Cole will beat all of us in a race, I think. Yeah. For sure
18:07
Vertical, I think you would win. And then I think... Throwing would be interesting
18:12
Throwing is the one where I'm kind of like, because RJ and Cole love football
18:18
but I don't know if they were, like, baseball guys ever. But I would assume they can throw. I know you can throw
18:22
You would beat me. I can do long toss, but not as well as you. And what else was in there
18:29
I think that was like it. I might have said one other thing or something. But when you look at the decathlon, the decathlon is like this conglomerate of all those events
18:36
And in the decathlon, if you were to go through the events, Cole's probably going to win the 100. The 400, I think I would win
18:42
Hurdles, Cole, you, or maybe RJ. I don't know what his mobility is
18:47
Not me. I would be horrible at that. RJ has crazy mobility. Really? It's a trillion. Oh, you're right
18:51
Yeah, so he'd probably win hurdles, I think. And then pole vault, probably RJ, because he has a gymnastic background
18:58
I think you and I would be scared to – Cole, maybe. Cole's kind of crazy. Yeah
19:02
I think I could pole vault. You think you could pole vault? Yeah, I used to do backflips and shit. All right, all right, all right, all right
19:06
So maybe you, maybe you. Shot put, RJ. RJ would be shot put
19:12
Discus, I think you would – maybe me just because I get it to fly straight
19:17
but I think you have the most potential in discus for sure. Yeah. Easily. Or RJ
19:21
I don't think Cole. Well, maybe. I don't know. Cole could be a sleeper. I've never seen him throw a discus. Yeah
19:26
I haven't seen him throw literally, like, at all. I think Cole or RJ would win Jav
19:31
I think they would win that. High jump is going to come down to technique, but I think it would probably be you
19:36
I think you would win that one easily. Long jump, I don't know about that one
19:42
You could take that one, too. Maybe Cole. He's fast. That's what I'm saying
19:47
Cole might. Cole might be a sleeper, bro, and just pop off. But we've never seen him jump off one foot
19:52
I've never seen him jump off one foot. And I can't think of any other events
19:57
But it's interesting when you look at that kind of conglomerate of events
20:02
and you kind of say where they'd be at. But I feel like each of you three, I think, could easily score 7,000 points at a cathline
20:07
I do think in track and field or in the Olympics in general
20:11
I think it's dumb that there is no vertical jump test. Like just a flat out jump as high as you can
20:19
Because it's a thing everybody has done. i guess that's like why they're like jump over the bar yeah i think it started but like it's so
20:26
much technique that's oh yeah yeah if you think about like uh i think it's probably started as a
20:34
all right let's just see who can jump the highest like that would make the more sense too yeah you
20:39
can touch the highest yeah but i guess technically you could just be like a seven foot gargantuan yeah well i think it would be like like a vertical jump test like figure out have a standard we were
20:48
talking about this at dunk camp even though you can manipulate physics and stuff the easiest way
20:53
is i think head height like because you nobody can really change their height so you measure your
20:58
heads at figure out where you touch and that would be the easiest way to standardize it if you can't cheat you know reach but dude what if i just like have dumbbell arms like they weigh
21:07
like 50 pounds and i just swing those sons of es super high and then just drop them down
21:11
have you ever seen the guys that take that jump with dumbbells and it looks like they're floating
21:17
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've talked about this. I think that's part of the reason I jump high, like, vertex and high checks and stuff
21:24
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My arms are, like – Big old arm swings. Yeah. I think when you look at that, that's the one thing I just don't like about it
21:30
I like jump and touch because it's also the only relevant thing that we care about
21:35
The thing is you still – it still plays a factor. You've got half your arm. Yeah
21:39
It's still – But who cares how high your head gets above or to a target
21:47
It's not about that. You're figuring it's standardizing it. You can't cheat it
21:53
The other ways you can. It's way too easy to cheat. What if you're on your tippy toes? What if you've got a big footer
21:57
I mean, that's another one. That's why I like high jump, though, because you've got to jump over something
22:02
But high jump is way too technical. It's not as correlated to how high you can jump as a jump and reach
22:12
As an actual jump and reach. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, that's fair. I don't know. I would – I just don't – I don't love it
22:18
I don't love it. I don't know why. I just don't – because I know the physics, but it's, like, imperfect
22:22
I mean, flight time is decent. I think flight time is decent, but that's hard to do
22:27
I just don't – I think it's so stupid. I just think it's stupid. Like, if I saw a bunch of dudes jumping and just, like, pencil diving in the air
22:35
I'd be like this is stupid like this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen yeah or like trying
22:40
to headbutt a bar like I'd be like I hate this like I like go up and touch it like what's the
22:44
point of that I think laser that's even dumber though like like the reason people love the
22:49
Olympics is because it's also or track specifically is because it's still somewhat of a a entertaining
22:56
sport whereas like just jumping for a laser yeah like that would be like the am I looking at
23:01
Like, there's no point of reference. So, I mean, that's also why I don't really like the jump mats
23:07
That's why, I mean, other than when people look like they're floating in slow motion, I just don't love it
23:10
But I don't know. That's my lens. That's a different. I think high check is the best one
23:16
It exists. There is a laser Virtec. Yeah. Dude, look at the lizard. He's still back
23:21
Anyways, that's generally, that was my view. Do you have anything else you want to add? I want to see more records broken
23:27
That's my favorite thing. Some more drugs. Yeah. we need output that's my favorite thing in track
23:34
is seeing a record get broken weightlifting is still the best to watch those dudes when they cry and they get so hyped
23:39
it's so cool I feel like it's a good place to end this
23:43
if you're interested in going and signing up for coaching and getting coached by yours truly or Isaiah
23:48
go to hbstrength.com and sign up anyways we'll see you guys tomorrow
23:52
peace out bye
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