THPStrength

What is THPStrength?

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.

John:

What's up, guys? Welcome back to the TSB Strength podcast. My name is John Evans. This is my business partner, Isaiah Rivera, and he is one of the highest jumpers in the world. And I am the best jumps coach in the entire world for vertical jump, but, also, I think I'm pretty good at the other ones too.

John:

So today, we're gonna talk about the sensitivity of the body to different training stimuli, specifically eccentric loading, and we're gonna talk about how we measure this in elite jumpers. And then we're gonna basically talk about the plan moving forward. So before we do that, if you guys are interested in coaching, go to thpstrength.com. Right now, if you purchase the annual plan, it's $900. If you buy the month to month and you paid for a year of month to month training, you'd pay 1,800.

John:

So it's 50% off. So consider paying for the annual plan. That's what we mean when we say

Isaiah:

We have beta, my favorite type of podcast,

John:

looking at numbers. I know. It's crazy. Nerd. So Isaiah sent his numbers here.

John:

So for those of you who don't know, on Mondays, I've been using BBT. I don't use BBT too often. I've talked about this pretty extensively, but it can sway an athlete's motivation. If you have really bad metrics, it can sometimes derail guys and make them feel like, you know, they're not performing a high level or they're not getting better. And that's definitely not what we want.

John:

We want guys to be motivated. We want them to train hard. We want them to to feel like they're improving. And and sometimes you're gonna get fatigued, and sometimes your numbers are gonna go down. So we did power clean numbers on Monday, and we essentially looked at where the drop off would start to occur, right, for for this lift.

John:

And so I know for Isaiah that his peak powers happen at about 83%. And so we started to do some working sets at those peak power numbers, and we're gonna actually shift down the force velocity curve. Well, I guess, yeah, technically down because we want them to move lighter loads faster, and I've talked about this pretty extensively. You can still get really high intensity with light loads. Sometimes you get higher power outputs.

John:

So I have the numbers that Isaiah hit for Watts on his power clean. And I thought initially that he sucked on this past Monday because I thought the numbers were way less. I expected him to perform at a really low level, and the training stimuli right now are very, very potent, meaning is very intense. And we should see these numbers, like, declining. We should see major decrements in in outputs.

Isaiah:

And John told me I was declining. We're in week two. This was my third, like, really high intensity workout of the cycle, came off of a high intensity jump session, and I sent him mind you, he has purposely not allowed me to look at the numbers throughout this cycle. But yesterday, he wasn't at the house. So I had to manually put, like I had to look at my numbers in Josh's and write them down, and I sent them to John with no context.

Isaiah:

Like, I didn't I have no idea how I did Monday. So these numbers were kinda just arbitrary to me. Like, I didn't know what they meant. And then I just know I personally felt flat during the lift, and then John told me without having the original numbers in front of him, he told me that I was looking flat. So I was a little sad.

John:

So I have I have some some good news for you. So here are the here are the numbers from Isaiah's session on, let's say, the what? Yester yesterday. Yeah. Yesterday.

John:

So he moved 95 pounds, right, in a power clean at a peak wattage of ten sixty five at a peak velo of 2.52. So remember, watts is force times distance over time. So it's not only, you know, the weight on the bar. It's also how far you move it and in what time interval. So we also look at peak velos.

John:

Those are also really important. And Isaiah's peak velo on this was 2.52. Josh actually passed Isaiah on that first set, which was a little bit shocking. And then he moved a 135 pounds at 2.81 meters per second and got 1,603 watts. Isaiah or Josh.

John:

What's that?

Isaiah:

I was getting warm.

John:

Yeah. And then Josh got 2.61, and he had a 100 1,570 watts. Then we went to one eighty five. And remember, we always keep the buildups the same, so we have a a point of reference, and that's what we're gonna do today. We're gonna compare these numbers.

John:

So one eighty five, he moved at 2.59. So mind you, 95 just moved as fast as double the weight on the bar almost. Yeah. He moved one eighty five faster than he moved to 95, which is not good. We we gotta be we gotta be trying harder on those lights.

John:

Yeah. And then the peak wattage was twenty one twenty nine. Josh hit 2.56 and was 2107. So he's on Isaiah's ass. Yeah.

John:

He's on his ass. Alright. So 225, Isaiah goes 2.35 meters per second, and that's twenty three fifty six. Josh goes two point one nine and twenty one eighty nine. So he starts to drop off here a little bit.

John:

And generally speaking, actually, I'll get into this in a in a second here. And then we go to 245. Isaiah goes 238, 2594. Josh goes 211 and goes 2295. Then I think you went to 265, and Josh stayed at 02:50.

John:

Right? Yep. So these are the working sets. This is where the peak wattages should happen, and we this is what we saw. So Isaiah 265 hit peak wattage of 261 o, the first set.

John:

The next set, 2661, which is really good for those peak top sets. Okay. So then Josh hit what do we have here? At two fifty, twenty three eleven, and then at 02:50 what's the other one? 23 or wait.

John:

What? It says?

Isaiah:

He he did the

John:

Oh, the same exact wattage for two sets. I was like, what? That's pretty crazy. Okay. So my expectation was that these numbers would go down this week potentially because he would be very fatigued from the crazy stimulus stimuli that we've been putting him under.

John:

And then on top of that, you know, he's he jumped this week, which wasn't initially in the plan. I think that it was we we need to have him jumping mentally speaking, and it's not gonna not happen. So he just we've gotta we've gotta

Isaiah:

full of going more

John:

than Mentally. He's mentally incapable. He's physically capable. He's mentally incapable.

Isaiah:

No. You don't understand. I feel that

John:

Your body needs it. It's like a drug.

Isaiah:

This is funny. We're watching me and Christina, we're watching Dexter, and there's, like, this serial killer, like, this other serial killer that pops up in the show. And he's showing the main character, Dexter, like, he's gonna show him something. And he gets really excited, and he just starts, like, dancing, and he's, like, really peppy and stuff. And I literally told Christina, I was like, this is me on Fridays.

Isaiah:

Like, because he he just got mind you, leading up to it, he was depressed. Like, something had happened where he, like he's, like, really angry. He's, like, snapping at his kids and all that. And then for whatever reason, this thing is gonna show Dexter. Like, just was so happy.

Isaiah:

And I was like, this is me

John:

I know.

Isaiah:

On Fridays. Like, I become manic.

John:

It is it's an interesting phenomena. And if you're a dunker and you really like dunking, you probably relate to this. But alright. So let's

Isaiah:

way to describe it is just mad. Like, you become mad.

John:

Yeah. Yeah. It's a drug for them. Putting an orange ball in a hoop is very addictive, apparently. Alright.

John:

So we have the wattages of the first week. So, again, my expectation is these would go down. So the first weight, which is ninety five pounds, your peak wattage week one was eleven fifty two, and your peak VLO was 2.73. So that's down a little bit, but we think that you probably weren't warm and that's evident I came in sets.

Isaiah:

I came in Monday banged up, by the way.

John:

Yeah.

Isaiah:

I quote and I quote. I was telling John this. I was like, John, I'm not broken, but every tendon and cartilage in my body feels like a two out of 10.

John:

Yeah. It's on the brute.

Isaiah:

Everything is just kinda it's just hanging on, but we're doing it

John:

for Yeah. So the culture. So the velo is down a little bit, which is an indicator that there is some central nervous system fatigue, but the watts are still high, which means he's still able to produce force over longer intervals. Right? You give him more time, he can still produce force.

John:

So then we go to one thirty five. Week one was sixteen thirty six. You actually repeated that, And your peak VLO was two seven three. Now this week, which is interesting, your VLO was 2.81. So your peak VLO was better at one thirty five, and your wattage was 16 o three.

John:

So you didn't get quite as many watts, but you moved it really fast. Your peak VOA was was really good. So it's kind of an indicator that maybe you weren't warm. Then we go to one eighty five, and we're at 2.59 on week two. So and week one was 2.67, so moved a little bit faster at that weight.

John:

So now we're kind of all over the board, but it's the cluster's pretty tight. You know? These wattages are are pretty close. Week one, he was at twenty one twenty nine, and week two, he was at twenty one ninety seven. Or sorry.

John:

Week one, he was at twenty one ninety seven. Week two, he was at twenty one twenty nine. So a little bit of a drop there in the wattage, little bit of a drop there in the peak VLO from week one to week two. His one thirty five set was better. Then we get a two twenty five, and and this is where generally, you know, it it it tend it it tends to be a little telling in in terms of how Isaiah's feeling is is how he moves two twenty five.

John:

At this point, he's usually pretty warm. So I never might

Isaiah:

try hard on two twenty five.

John:

Yeah. So two twenty five, you hit 2.35 meters per second, and your watts were twenty three five six. Week one, you were at two point five five and twenty five forty nine, but your second rep was really bad. So it's, like, kinda all over the place, but a little bit of a drop. Then we get to two forty five, so now we're starting to get to those peak power loads.

John:

And you moved at the exact same speed, actually. 2.38 for both weeks, which is pretty interesting. And then your peak

Isaiah:

real quick. My

John:

Your watts were identical

Isaiah:

as well. At 02:45 actually moved faster than two twenty five. I remember that. I remember telling Josh because I did two twenty five, and I was like, I feel like doo doo, Josh. And then we put two forty five on, and I was like, let me just walk in.

Isaiah:

And then I I had a way better set at two forty five.

John:

Yeah. And you had the same exact wattage. So now we're at the real weights we're focusing at. It looks like his readiness is about the same. The metrics aren't too far off.

John:

A little bit of neural fatigue, I would say, based on those peak below numbers. So first set at two sixty five, you went two two one yesterday. And the first week, you went two two six, so just marginally faster week one. And the watts were twenty six six one, and you hit twenty six one o the second week. So just a little bit down there.

John:

Mhmm. And then the top set, you or the very last set, you went 2.25 yesterday, and your last set was 2.22 week one. So you actually moved and your watts on that set were what do we have here? Two six six one again. Did you do that twice?

John:

Oh, no. You just week one, you hit two six six one as well. So Oh. And then your week one was two six one three. So your top sets, I think it was a little bit of a warm up thing.

John:

I do think there's a little bit of, like, neural fatigue setting in there when you start seeing these clusters kinda bounce around a lot. Like, that's a pretty good indicator. You know, Rolf always says this. If can move a light load really fast, that's a good indicator of your nervous system's readiness. And as you move heavier loads, it starts to become, you know, more muscular.

John:

You have more time. Your motor recruitment can be a bit slower, you know, and and power cleans are still fast. But I think that there's you're starting to set into a little bit of neural fatigue. You know, we're we're, like you said, we're balancing on a blade's edge, which is again what I would expect, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought you had major drop offs.

John:

These are these are this is the

Isaiah:

was, almost negligible.

John:

Yeah. Really.

Isaiah:

Actually, I would say very I think the first few sets was a warm up thing. Like, I was banged up yesterday. It took me a while to warm up. But on the top sets, I was trying as hard as I could. I was also trying as hard as I could last week, so I think those are very telling that I'm still close.

John:

You're you're okay. You're gonna be okay.

Isaiah:

Is there alright. Let me ask you a question. With with with the fitness fatigue model, that's what I'm picturing in my head right now. Mhmm. As you train, you build fitness.

Isaiah:

So I'm training these qualities. There's adaptations happening with these qualities and then fatigue masks it. Is there a chance that

John:

Your readiness is higher. Yes.

Isaiah:

Like, they've improved already, but my fatigue is making it still baseline with week one.

John:

Yeah. Correct. So you have fatigue building in, but you're still moving the bar really freaking fast. So that's a I mean, and we'll see on Wednesday, you know, how you recover from the stimulus on Monday. But, yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head.

John:

You've got some fatigue there. The assumption is you're fitter. We've been addressing these qualities. They should be improving, you know, specific adaptations for imposed demands or specific is that it? Specific adaptations for imposed yeah.

John:

So you we, you know, we basically asked you to move a bar really, really fast. Same load. Alright. What do we what's our wattage? It's still really high.

John:

I thought you were gonna have a major drop off. So it makes me rethink things. I wanted to do a four I just wanna do a three week cycle and unload week three. This makes me tempted to push you to a four week cycle, but I don't think your tenants can handle it, so we're probably just gonna stick with two. So Josh's numbers, by the way, Josh's numbers.

John:

Yeah. That is the bottleneck. So peak wattage week I'll just say week one then week two. Week one, he went one one four five. Yesterday, he went ten sixty five.

John:

Actually, I lied. He went 1,100. He beat you on that first set. Yeah. What a dog.

John:

And then one thirty five, Josh hit fifteen twenty eight. At one thirty five yesterday, Josh hit fifteen seventy. So yesterday was better. One eighty five. Yeah.

John:

This is pretty interesting. One eighty five, Josh hit twenty one zero seven, which is significantly better. He was at nineteen ninety three week two. So he's moving that bar 200 watts more, or a 100 and some. Is quite a bit better.

John:

Two twenty five, Josh went twenty one eighty nine, yesterday. Week one, he went two three four two, so not not the best. Two forty five, he went two two nine five. And the week one, he went two two two zero. So he bumped up a little bit there at two forty five.

John:

Two fifty, which we'll see, you know, kind of how fatigued wants. He went twenty three eleven, the first set, He went twenty three eighty eight. And then the last set, same exact thing, twenty three eleven and twenty three seventy two week one. So both of you guys

Isaiah:

exact same drop off as me.

John:

Yeah. Just very subtle. Just a very subtle drop off, which is good because we have an n of two, which is telling. You know, Ethan Prasati is also on the cycle as well, but he doesn't have VBT. It would have been interesting to see his numbers.

John:

But I think you guys you're starting to hit a little bit of neural fatigue, but you're doing really, really well despite that. You know, given the circumstances of you having two hundred seconds of eccentric loading at length, you're still hitting pretty high wattages. I would have liked to be there because I think it would have I could've, you know, queued you up a little bit. But, you know, on Wednesday, I'll be able to to look back at this stuff. So what does this mean for you guys?

John:

You just heard a bunch of numbers. You don't really know what what that means. It means that you need to address peak power. If you track it over time and you see big drop off, you know they're fatigued. And specifically at light loads, you know their readiness is down quite a bit.

John:

So if you see that happen, it means that you're you're at the tail end of, you know, what you can handle physiologically.

Isaiah:

How much of a drop off is it okay to still stick with it in a cycle? Is there numbers on that?

John:

I I there are. Off the top of my head, I probably I don't have those. I think most coaches don't like to see more than a few percent. You know? Like, 5% is considered pretty significant for peak watts.

John:

And it it just depends what you're doing. Like, if you're a sprinter and you're seeing 5% drop offs, that's huge. For you guys, it's not as much because you're not as sensitive to training fatigue. You guys can still jump high with a little bit of training fatigue. But if you're a sprinter and, like, Rolf measures TPV a lot, time to peak velocity, and I have those numbers on the jump squats, so I'll be interested to see what those are tomorrow.

John:

But we're gonna use the hex bar, so it's gonna be a little bit different, but I think it'll still be better than not because of your spine. But, yeah, with those guys, you've if you see TPVs drop, I mean, it's an acceleration in dicey. So it's more telling than just the peak VLO. If you see the peak VLO dropping off, that's, like, kinda, like, second in the in the hierarchy, but TPVs are better generally as a measure of of neural fatigue.

Isaiah:

5% drop off for me in vertical. So let if I tested, let's say, 49.

John:

Mhmm.

Isaiah:

Unloaded right now times point five point zero five. That's like a two and a half inch. That's pretty significant. Me jumping 46 in a sec.

John:

That's that's pretty significant.

Isaiah:

Forty six five.

John:

Yeah. That would be that would be bad. Yeah. So five five percent is even I guess for us, it's

Isaiah:

Actually, it's That's a lot. That is probably what I jump when I feel horror like, when I'm really fatigued in a Mhmm. In a cycle. I'm probably around, like, touching, like, 11:10, 11:11. Yeah.

Isaiah:

I mean, I I think they like, something's a problem.

John:

It'll be good to see tomorrow what numbers you hit. I'm I'm curious to see what happens because if those metrics aren't staying at least the same, if they're dropping off a lot, we know it's fatigue. They should be improving. That's the thing we're working on. Right?

John:

But it's never good to test. This is more so a metric for readiness and to see, like, we the assumption is you're adapting. Right? We know there's fatigue. So we're really just assessing readiness.

John:

What we'd wanna see, though, is that week one Monday session to the de load, like an unloaded session, like a Wednesday power clean session or something like that, like a couple days easy. Don't have a crazy jump session, then what are you hitting? I think that that would be much more telling to see how you've adapted because you came into the Monday session feeling okay. I I don't think you really felt that bad. And then on top of that, I think that you're getting like, when we're looking at these wattages, you're starting to correct some of the deficits that you had last cycle.

John:

I don't know if you remember correctly, but you the shape of the curve and the way that you were getting the power outputs at the higher loads. You know what I mean? You weren't moving the lighter loads as fast as you are right now. So you're definitely starting to to do that more.

Isaiah:

I'm especially

John:

yeah. Yeah. And I think we we probably need to really emphasize that, like, move every bar fast as fast as you can. You know? But I'm not there, so gonna have a little bit of that.

John:

But, yeah, that's the that's the video, guys. I hope you enjoyed it. If you're interested in coaching and you wanna use some of these metrics, yeah, go ahead and write them down and write down what we talked about. Maybe you have a VBT device. You can use this and see where you stand.

John:

Take the watts and divide it by your body weight, and then you can get watts per kilogram.

Isaiah:

Send them send them in the chat too. Like, if you're on HP like, the one zero one is this track. It's always good to track. Even if it's for, like, a cycle and then you don't use it again, it's good to look back on those numbers a year later, two years later, and see how you've progressed or not progressed. And then if you have those numbers, send them in the chat, and our coaches

John:

Be curious to see them.

Isaiah:

Apply that to the training. Alrighty,

John:

guys. Well, like I said, click the link in the description if you want coached by us. We like to use these metrics to make people better. And if you have access to the equipment, we can use that to help you. Thanks for watching, guys, and we will see you tomorrow.