How Fast Should You Run To Jump Your Highest

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: 00:00

What's up, guys? Welcome back to the THPStrength podcast. My name is John Evans, and I coach four of the current six highest jumpers in the world, including the current world record holder, Dylan McCarthy. This is my best friend and business partner, Isaiah Rivera. If you guys don't know, he was the first person ever to break the 50 inch vertical leap barrier.

JOhn: 00:16

And in today's video, we're actually gonna be talking about how fast should you run-in your approach, whether one foot or two foot. And how do know if you're running too fast or if you're running too slow? Because this is an important concept because speed is one of the most important things when it comes to how high you will jump and your technique. So what what we'll do first, say, is just talk about what you've tried and how your approach speed has changed over the years.

Isaiah: 00:41

Yeah. The first time I heard about this concept was from this early program, the jump technique program I bought when I was 16, and they talked about maximum control velocity. And they basically said that running faster helps you jump higher, but it's your maximum control velocity. If you go too fast, you can't control the speed, and it makes you jump lower. So that's the first time I heard about that.

Isaiah: 01:12

Used to be a

JOhn: 01:13

lot of buzz about that. People used to there used to be, like, different consensuses about it.

Isaiah: 01:17

Yeah. Yeah. So from that that point on, I think I always just tried running as fast as I can on my approach. If you look at my dunk sessions from when I was, like, 16 to, like, 20, 21 around there. But, 16 to, like, 19.

Isaiah: 01:32

My approach is fast, sometimes even up to a fault. I didn't think of it as, like, there's a limit or this is hurting me. It was run as fast as I can. Mhmm. How that's changed from try to run fast to now is now I think way more about rhythm and timing.

Isaiah: 01:54

And what shed light on this to me was just testing more. Ever since I started testing my vertical really frequently, you get direct real time feedback on how high your jump is. So there was times when I would try running fast and I would jump lower. There was also times where I would try running fast and I would jump really high. My highest jump ever on a on a vertical jump test, that was my queue.

Isaiah: 02:22

I literally queued run as fast as I can. Recent vertical jump tests, I queued run faster and I jumped lower. When I tested 48, like, two months ago, I tested 48 on a warm up jump, literally, like, one step in a One moment do it. Then I did a full approach running fast, and I also tested 48. Made no difference.

Isaiah: 02:46

So I've jumped high with both methods, but now what is more important definitely is rhythm and timing. And how I would describe the sensation is speed helps as long as you can maintain good rhythm and timing Mhmm. On your approach. I think in a hypothetical world where someone can retain rhythm and timing, you run infinite speed, and it would probably help.

JOhn: 03:10

I think I think the other thing too is whether or not you deflect outward versus upward. Yeah. Like, you gotta go straight up. You gotta go straight up. Sent me some videos, and he was like, I can't control.

JOhn: 03:23

Like or he said he was like, I can control it, but and I need to load my legs more, but you could watch the jumps and tell that he was just deflecting forward really far. So I told him, look. This is awesome, but you you've gotta jump straight up. Like, you've gotta take that energy vertically or else it's it's pointless. Like you said, it doesn't matter.

Isaiah: 03:42

I will say when I try to jump for distance, running faster always helps.

JOhn: 03:47

Yeah. That's that's a no brainer.

Isaiah: 03:50

Yeah. And you can and you can cover more distance, but being able to deflect upwards, I think, is a indicator of your, like, force output as an athlete.

JOhn: 04:02

Some some of it's, like, a psychological too. You know? And I'll I'll I'll give kinda my lens on it as a one foot jumper. So, typically, like, speed and how low you are, those are the number one determinants of, you know, how high you're gonna jump. And speed, the lower you are, the slower you have to run.

JOhn: 04:18

And the faster you are, the higher your hips have to be. So depending on what type of jumper you are, if you're a power jumper, then you're gonna have to run slower. If you're a speed jumper, then you can run faster. You wanna run faster as a power jumper, then you can't lower as much. So you have to keep your hips higher in the approach.

JOhn: 04:37

And when you're running fast, it's hard to lower. It's really hard to lower. You basically wanna run as fast as you can without your leg giving out, your knee giving out or your takeoff, you know, kind of being flat. And sometimes, like, I'll feel like I I basically I don't I don't think I've run too fast yet. May may I don't think so recently.

JOhn: 04:57

Like, I I basically can add more speed, I'll jump higher as long as my rhythm is still good. Like, that's the big caveat. Like, if I hit the takeoff and I'm running fast, it's gonna be a huge jump. Yeah. The the biggest gotten more elastic.

JOhn: 05:09

You could tell.

Isaiah: 05:10

The biggest determinant of if I can run fast or not is how healthy do I feel. Yeah. Does something hurt? Does something hurt? For me, it's my hamstring.

Isaiah: 05:20

Hurt, the sessions look like, the approach looks markedly different, like, way different. Like, I look Yeah. I've posted videos before of, like it happened last summer where I think I was, like, having TFL issues, like, around February. It was, like, coming out of out of all star weekend. And then that summer, I just felt, like, no knee no tendon pain anywhere.

Isaiah: 05:47

And people were like, wow. I haven't seen you. It looks so different. I haven't seen you jump like this in years, like, all this stuff, but it's just like, I was just even faster. Get like, being low and fast, everything's at max compression.

JOhn: 06:01

Like Mhmm.

Isaiah: 06:02

Tendons in your hip are compressed, your tend the the knees, your Achilles, like, they're all max compression. So it's intense. It's really hard on the body to be able to do that. Mhmm. Austin is a good example.

Isaiah: 06:15

Right now, we were talking about before where he's jumping the highest I've ever seen him jump off two feet, but his approach is way faster and he's lowering, and it's a similar thing. Like, you probably if you were to ask him, he probably feels really healthy. Like, his knees probably don't hurt. His hips probably feel good. He can lower and be fast in that in that position.

JOhn: 06:34

Yeah. My limiter is definitely my hamstring. Like, my approach gets faster as my hamstring feels better in sessions. And I made that mistake last week in not doing a lot of cuff dunks at slow velocities to warm up because those, like they always just warm me up really well. And if I do fifteen to twenty minutes, usually, I'm good to go because it's strictly like a nerve thing.

JOhn: 06:55

It's like an inhibition that takes place in my hamstring. So if I warm up and that inhibition drops down and then I can really start putting my foot down, like, when my nervous system's revved up, you can just you could tell. Like, I pop off the floor right now. And Yeah. Even adding more speed in that approach, like taking two dribbles, you know?

JOhn: 07:12

My off dribble has never been good. It's never really been that good. Maybe in high school, it was pretty good because I was using a different type of approach where

Isaiah: 07:20

I was taking two dribbles, and you get more momentum on it. And, yeah, I've just been jumping I way higher as a result. I will say in terms of queuing it, whenever I feel fatigued and or achy, if adrenaline isn't high, running those are the times running faster, like, actually hurts me. Those are the sessions where I queue rhythm and timing. When I have a lot of adrenaline, I'm healthy, I'm I'm, like, fresh, that's the time when I can queue go faster and it'll help.

Isaiah: 07:56

Because a lot of I think what happens is you get used to whatever your approach speed is. Mhmm. During, like, a like, in the middle of your training cycle, and then you freshen up when you have adrenaline, and you're still using, like, that same

JOhn: 08:09

That's a slow approach.

Isaiah: 08:10

Speed. But that's the time I that is the time, I think, to experiment with, like, that queue, like, run faster because you can usually handle more.

JOhn: 08:19

The thing that is probably limiting you from doing that more than anything is your ankle right now.

Isaiah: 08:23

Oh, yeah. They didn't even talk about that. My ankle's huge. Like it like, if you can run by Friday because we're tapering, freshening up a little bit, and then my ankle, like, my mobility is finally coming back in a deep squat. Last session, I was able to, like, throw myself into the plant on a spin, I which haven't been able to do that in What

JOhn: 08:46

was this fucking I'm sorry. Freaking. What was this freaking ankle injury? Was this the one foot ankle injury? Yeah.

JOhn: 08:52

Oh god. Yeah. Yeah. That's just debilitating. I forgot about that.

JOhn: 08:56

But, yeah, I think if you can handle running fast, you're gonna you're gonna I think you're gonna jump high irrespective of it because just watching last session and how ridiculous it looked, like, looked like just a pogo stick. Your stiffness is crazy high right now. So I think if you can run fast and be aggressive and you feel fresh, like, you're gonna fly. And then we've been touching on the fitness work. So it's like, you're gonna be fit, and you're gonna be fresh, and your ankle's gonna feel good.

JOhn: 09:22

So as long as your knee's good and your TFL right now is fine, so you have a high likelihood you're gonna you're gonna jump high. I can usually just tell by the trend of the sessions and your list and stuff like that. Like, I don't it's it's a weird coaching inner knowing that you also have where, like, we see a lift, we see a session, we're like, yeah, this is Squatting is back. Like, it's squatting. Like, your back squat comes back up.

JOhn: 09:47

You're, like, cleaning heavy weights, but not, like it's usually, like, when your clean's not its highest because your clean's its highest when you're really fatigued. Like, usually, you're carrying some fatigue when your power clean's its highest. So, like, what happens is you drop that fatigue. Your power clean usually drops a little bit. Like, you don't feel strong or as powerful.

JOhn: 10:05

You still you but you're still really powerful, and you're still and then we touch on the strength work and touch on the clean, and then you can just back to running faster. You can just run so fast.

Isaiah: 10:15

The clean has been interesting.

JOhn: 10:18

Why do you say I

Isaiah: 10:21

think it used to be more of an indicator of how I'm gonna jump, but I think what happens now is it's more intense. So if I were to, like yesterday, if I were to, like, try three fifteen, I think, like, the residual train like, fatigue effects of that lift Yeah. Or more intense. Versus yesterday, I felt fatigue coming in because of the session on Friday. Like, I'm still, like, I went really hard and I'm, like, kinda, like, down regulated right now.

Isaiah: 10:54

But by keeping it light and what's funny is that's not even light and you like You

JOhn: 10:58

had two ninety five.

Isaiah: 10:59

Yeah. Two ninety five is not like a light cleaner. It wouldn't be considered light a couple years ago. But now it's like by keeping it short, I freshen up or keeping it at 95% effort, I freshen up. Because you gotta think oh, I don't I actually don't feel it at all.

Isaiah: 11:21

I didn't feel it squatting yesterday. The only time I felt a little bit was a couple of the sprint drills. Like, when I tried, like, the bounding and stuff, but, like, just, like, parallel type stuff. Bro, last week, I came in Tuesday feeling worse from a Monday session.

JOhn: 11:39

Today, I'm I I think you're gonna I I did predict this. I was like I was like, after a week, you're gonna feel like you can jump. And then I was like, the next week, you're gonna probably be at, like, damn near a 100%. Six weeks from now, you'll be able to jump off 100

Isaiah: 11:52

Is that a one again today?

JOhn: 11:55

And you've got and it's Tuesday. It's Tuesday. The only thing

Isaiah: 12:00

I feel is a little fatigue. Like, my nervous system right now is like,

JOhn: 12:04

oh. I felt that too yesterday. Like, bro, I was after I that lift, like, the so you guys don't know well, I mean, unless you saw my story, I did three fifty on the belts or three thirty five for nine. On Saturday, did 300 for 16. So, like, my legs have been so sore.

JOhn: 12:20

Today is, like, the first day I don't feel, like, any quad soreness and stuff like that. Yeah. And I was so dead. Like, I was, I just wanted to sleep, like, endless amounts on yesterday.

Isaiah: 12:31

You know what's funny is I added hip thrust in because I totally haven't we haven't really been doing accessory work or anything. This is the first time I did banded hip thrust in a month and a half, two months. Your boots are sore. Your boots are sore, bro. Like and I didn't I just did three sets of 10.

Isaiah: 12:47

I went red

JOhn: 12:48

band You didn't you didn't even go that heavy. Yeah. You didn't even go that heavy on the bands.

Isaiah: 12:52

That is that was it, bro. And I'm, like, hamstring.

JOhn: 12:55

Though. That's good. That's good.

Isaiah: 12:57

I was actually gonna ask, should I do the general days if this is technically the last week we're tapering?

JOhn: 13:04

I would probably I'd probably do today's, but not Thursday's. That's what I would do. And then and then Wednesday's gotta be light. Like, you can't like, you probably shouldn't squat above two fifty five. You probably shouldn't clean above two forty five, if that even.

JOhn: 13:19

Probably, like, two thirty five. Move it really, really fast, really, really snappy. Singles, maybe maybe start with doubles, work your way up to singles, cut it after about six sets. Squats, maybe between three and five reps, probably do, like Yeah. Between four and six sets, and then start light.

JOhn: 13:37

Just five four three two one is probably good. And then, yeah, after that, just two sets of 50% on the calf raise, and CD calf raise probably. No RDLs, and then just, yeah, be done. Like, you're gonna be you're gonna be set. Day.

Isaiah: 13:53

Should be a fun day.

JOhn: 13:55

And then we're we're leaving. We're going to go to California. Going to California.

Isaiah: 14:02

You know what's funny? What? We could technically dunk in Cali, but I don't know. We could,

JOhn: 14:09

but we're gonna be getting off a plane.

Isaiah: 14:11

Yeah. Yeah.

JOhn: 14:12

After sitting

Isaiah: 14:13

That's like five to a point. It'd be like like, we're probably gonna be tired on Saturday.

JOhn: 14:16

Yeah. I would I don't think that

Isaiah: 14:18

Olsen, Friday.

JOhn: 14:19

Well oh, wait. You're thinking Saturday.

Isaiah: 14:22

Yeah. Yeah.

JOhn: 14:26

I'll think about it.

Isaiah: 14:29

Don't think I'm gonna be able to wait. I can see myself waking up Friday and be like, John, cancel everything. Wanna

JOhn: 14:34

dunk. I know.

Isaiah: 14:35

I know.

JOhn: 14:35

That's There's there's Inevitably. There's no way that's gonna happen. But, yeah, that's the video, guys. If you're interested in coaching technical aspects of or if you're interested in learning about the technical aspects of jumping higher off one foot or two feet, that's what we do for work. Obviously, every day we say this.

JOhn: 14:50

Go tspstrength.com and sign up. Anything else to say? Yeah. We have the coolest job in the world.

Isaiah: 14:56

Teach mestrength.com. If wanna jump higher, link in below description. You can get six free months when you buy the year plan.

JOhn: 15:02

Go check out. Guys. Ciao.