John Evans, Isaiah Rivera
323 episodes listed below
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Isaiah Rivera, pro dunker, and John Evans discuss anything related to maximizing athletic performance, and in particular, jump training. Strength and conditioning, jumping technique, weight room practices, and general fitness and health tips and advice are shared on this podcast.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
THPStrength makes advanced jump training practical by connecting performance measurements and exercise mechanics to real programming choices.
THPStrength turns vertical-jump training into a working session between Jon Evans, Isaiah Rivera, fellow coaches, athletes, and guests. The conversations move comfortably from reactive strength measurements to Olympic-lift mechanics, with questions aimed at how training choices…
A jump becomes a ground-contact-time investigation with Jon Evans; your inner training nerd is invited.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A blunt training breakdown with enough programming detail to reward serious jump and strength listeners.
Burke and Moxness keep this grounded in the numbers. The episode walks through sets, reps, rehab, core work, and lifting choices without dressing them up, so the value is in the specificity rather than any big sweep of inspiration.
A practical dunk-session blueprint for jumpers who need intensity without self-sabotage.
This episode covers the part of jump training that matters most: how elite dunkers build intensity, pace warmups, and keep a session from drifting into avoidable risk.
A technical coaching discussion about elastic volume, athlete profiling, and why similar tests do not always point to the same elite profile.
This conversation stays on a narrow coaching question: what best predicts an athlete's ability to handle elastic volume on arrival. It moves through speed, power, jump training, transfer work, acceleration, and max velocity without losing the thread, and Mike Young gives the…
A coach's filter for sports tech, with daily steps and jump metrics doing the heavy lifting.
This episode breaks sports tech into three clean buckets: worth buying, worth ignoring, and worth treating with caution. Most of the time goes to jump metrics, My Jump 2, and ground contact time, with a firm case for tendon elasticity and energy recycling in the jump.
Explosive training, explained in plain gym language.
The piece stays on one jump training block and keeps its focus tight: accelerations, 10 meter fly sprints, hang power snatches, drop squats, and depth jumps.
A practical look at how performance isometrics fit into jump training, with a clear caution about knee tolerance.
Jon Evans and Isaiah Rivera treat isometrics as a performance tool first, not as a rehab placeholder. They lay out where paused reps, max-effort holds, and other isometric work can sit inside a jump program, with the coaching choices grounded in concrete terms instead of broad…
A dense, practical look at how heavy eccentrics connect physiology to jump training.
Ben Moxness and Isaiah Rivera use overloaded, or accentuated, eccentrics to ask what changes in the body before a jump improves. The discussion stays grounded in stretch reflexes, neural drive, the Golgi tendon organ, and Renshaw cells, while keeping vertical-jump training and…
Hamstring rehab, jump mechanics, and a tight coaching lens.
This episode stays close to one athlete's return to jumping and the mechanics that surfaced after a hamstring pull. John Evans, Ben Moxness, and Isaiah Rivera work through what changed in John's jump session, how the hamstring issue exposed the way his body loads, and why the…
Yoga, grief, breath, and brave self-compassion.
Western bowhunting lessons from the field.
The host interviews elite athletes about the physical sensations they experience during their best jumping performances, focusing on feelings like weightlessness and natural movement.
The host discusses plyometric training volumes, sharing personal experiences with depth jumps and squat jumps to improve vertical leap, while cautioning against overdoing it based on athlete examples.
Dom discusses his goal of achieving a 50-inch vertical jump and identifies knee pain, particularly from over jumping and lack of warmup, as his primary limiter.
The podcast discusses how stimulants like caffeine can potentially improve vertical jump performance, with the host and guest sharing personal experiences and joking about the topic.
This segment introduces and defines eccentric versus concentric rate of force development (RFD) in the context of athletic performance, particularly for improving vertical jump ability.
Isaiah Rivera discusses his recent attempt to break the 51-inch vertical jump barrier, sharing details about his testing experience, mindset, and performance during deload week.
This podcast segment introduces a discussion on force-time curves in sprinting and vertical jump, highlighting tendon contribution and ground contact mechanics.
This podcast segment discusses the impact of upper body training on vertical jump performance, featuring insights from a coach and an athlete with a 47-inch vertical.
Jon Evans discusses the benefits and programming of shot put throws for athletic training, particularly for improving vertical leap, with examples from his coaching experience.
This episode segment explains the concept of specificity in training for jumping higher, contrasting general activities like swimming with highly specific exercises like power cleans and weighted jumps.
Isaiah Rivera discusses how track coach Rolf's advanced training methods, including squat progression and VBT devices, could potentially help him achieve a 55-inch vertical jump.
This podcast segment discusses strategies for training around injuries to improve athletic performance, featuring insights from a physical therapist and an athlete on modifying workouts and managing pain.
This podcast segment discusses whether it's possible to increase vertical jump height simultaneously for both one-foot and two-foot jumps, with insights from a physical therapist and an athlete.
This segment discusses the effectiveness of training with low rims for improving dunking performance and confidence in athletes.
The host tests ChatGPT's ability to create a vertical jump training program and critiques its suggested weekly structure as ineffective.
The segment discusses the impact of sprinting on jumping performance, highlighting how adding sprints reduced ground contact times and improved vertical jump metrics.
This segment discusses Dom Gonzalez's recent achievement of a 9.68 flight time, his highest ever, and analyzes his vertical jump progress, training, and potential to reach a 50-inch vertical.
This podcast segment features coaches discussing training methods for achieving a first dunk for individuals under six feet tall, based on personal experiences and coaching expertise.
This episode segment introduces a guide on one-foot jumping, covering the science, technique, and exercises to improve vertical leap, featuring expert insights from performance coaches.
The hosts discuss what they would change in their vertical jump training journeys, focusing on lessons learned and a specific example involving a friend's Achilles tendinopathy.
The hosts discuss common mistakes athletes make when returning to training after a break, using a friend's injury as an example to highlight issues like excessive specificity, long sessions, and lack of gradual buildup.
The hosts reflect on a podcast with coach Boo Schexnader, emphasizing the importance of variety in training for adaptations like muscle fiber hypertrophy and neural drive to improve jumping performance.
This segment discusses the underrated benefits of using machines for strength training to improve vertical jump performance, contrasting with free weights and sharing personal coaching experiences.
The host introduces Mike Young, a PhD and NBA performance coach, discussing his mentorship and internship at Athletic Lab, and asks about his coaching influences.
The segment discusses common mistakes in self-designed vertical jump programs, focusing on improper dosing, lack of experience, and the tendency to overtrain or use exercises without a long-term plan.
The hosts discuss a squat protocol involving heavy pause squats and working up to a heavy single, then explore the pros and cons of bottoms up squats for developing isometric strength and RFD.
The podcast discusses how being tall affects jumping ability by explaining biomechanical concepts like intramuscular forces and moment arms in squatting.
The segment discusses a sprinting session where athletes tested their 40-yard dash times with timing gates, comparing the results to NFL Combine protocols and highlighting the impact of reaction time on measurements.
The podcast discusses three key metrics to predict if a 5'9" person can dunk, focusing on athletic performance and coaching insights.
THPStrength examines how Rolf Ullman helped develop the 1080 Quantum from Sweden's Breakman overload-eccentric project, which used loads around 30 percent above athletes' previous squats.
The podcast discusses how old someone can be while still achieving a personal record in vertical jump, using a 34-year-old one-foot jumper named Dallin as a case study.
This episode segment introduces the concept of load management as a key principle for preventing injuries and improving performance in jumping sports.
The episode discusses training elasticity for jumping higher, sharing personal experiences with detraining from an ankle injury and improvements in ground contact and flight times.
This segment discusses the concepts of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertrophy in relation to jump training, prompted by a viewer's question about Yuri Verkoshansky's book 'Super Training' and its implications for athletic performance.
The hosts discuss how sprinting improves jumping performance, focusing on warm-up observations, neural fatigue, and energy transfer efficiency.
This podcast segment discusses a tested jump program involving athlete Nicholas Rossi, focusing on overcoming plateaus through specific training cycles and metrics like RSI and sprint times to improve jumping ability.
This episode segment explains how identifying and addressing deficits in metrics like sprint acceleration and jump performance can improve vertical jump training.
This segment discusses the differences between speed training and jump training, emphasizing the importance of a needs analysis to understand kinematic and kinetic factors for improving performance.
Low-rim dunking has built-in variety, so even a football or volleyball player gets plyometric benefits from practicing trick dunks.
THP Strength hosts Austin Burke and Ben Moxness explain why daily maxes, heavy doubles, and heavy triples cannot fill an entire training year.
Ben Moxess and Austin Burke review the mistakes they made on pre-THP jump programs such as Jump Manual, Jump Attack, Vert Shock and Adam Ligonager's Freak V2.
Jon Evans, who coaches Isaiah Rivera, revisits viewer questions from May 17, 2019 and March 24, 2020 and answers them in 2026, opening with how to develop elasticity in tendons and fascia.
Athlete Austin Burke and his coach, Dr.
Strength coach John Evans and elite athlete Isaiah Rivera break down the science and practice of structuring dunk sessions for maximum vertical jump gains while avoiding injury.
Legendary track coach Boo Schexnayder joins the THPStrength podcast to discuss his training philosophies for elite jumpers and sprinters, covering plyometric volume, Olympic lifts, athlete assessment, and periodization, with insights from his former LSU colleague Mike Young.
Coaches John Evans and Isaiah Rivera review various sports technologies for tracking performance and recovery, from wearables and apps to force plates and even shock collars.
Coaches John and Isaiah break down an advanced training session focused on developing explosive power for vertical jump.
Elite jump coach Jon Evans and record-breaking athlete Isaiah Rivera dive deep into advanced isometric training for vertical jump performance.
Host John is joined by mentees Ben Moxness and Isaiah Rivera to explore the physiological adaptations and performance benefits of overloaded eccentric training.
John Evans, host of THP Strength, discusses his personal journey recovering from a hamstring injury with coaches Ben Moxness and Isaiah Rivera.
Performance coach Mike Young returns for a deep-dive roundtable on training elite jumpers and sprinters, debating the value of Olympic lifts versus plyometrics, analyzing different periodization models from legendary coaches, and exploring the biomechanical and pharmaceutical realities of world-class performance.
Coaches Isaiah Rivera and John Evans explain the Reactive Strength Index (RSI), a key physiological metric for measuring tendon elasticity and energy storage/release that directly impacts vertical jump height.