What Does The Highest Jumper In The World Eat?
If you guys have ever wondered what we do for our diet, we are gonna tell you in today's episode. But before we do that, we're gonna introduce myself and Isaiah and Austin. I'm John Evans. I coach the highest jumper in the world. This is the highest jumper in the world, Isaiah Rivera, and this is Austin Burke who has a 45 inch vertical off one and in the low forties off two.
John:If you're interested in getting coached by us, go to thbstrength.com and sign up for coaching.
Austin:With discount code THP for 10% off your first month if you are weary. Perfect. Stop being weary.
John:Let's let's What's up? Let's get it going here. So Isaiah, what what do you eat? Do you have any rules? Any restrictions?
John:Not really. Go ahead. Go ahead. Take take the
Isaiah:describe my day?
John:Yeah. Talk about what you eat.
Austin:Okay. Our Nascot's back.
Isaiah:I Oh. Dang. That's a that's got a mohawk. I wake up. I eat usually a bowl of cereal.
Isaiah:I try not to eat too sugary of a cereal. Usually, it's honey bunches of oats. I have a small cup of coffee.
John:When did you switch from, like, sugary cereal to honey bunches of oats? Yeah. When did you switch from that? Like, a week ago? Like, two years ago.
John:No way, bro.
Austin:I think that I I haven't moved to film. So
Isaiah:I do. Alright.
John:We'll take your word for it.
Isaiah:Yeah.
John:Yeah. Yeah. Those are David's. That's David's?
Isaiah:Yeah. He has cereal?
John:Oh, okay. Okay.
Isaiah:I was
John:gonna say I've definitely seen it in there
Austin:for sure.
Isaiah:And then about two hours later, I eat lunch, which will usually be leftovers from the previous night. And then two hours later, I eat again after working out, something something light.
John:How many many meals a day do
Isaiah:you eat? I think, like, five or 10.
John:It's been, like, six hours, and you've eaten three meals.
Isaiah:Like, today today is an example. I woke up, ate a bowl of cereal, and then a couple hours later ate a bagel with cream cheese. Then I ate pizza bagels that my daughter didn't finish eating. So that's three meals a How are
John:you not fat as hell?
Isaiah:Because the portions are small, But
Austin:He doesn't eat to be full either.
Isaiah:As soon as I'm full, I stop eating, but I eat really frequently.
John:Like, How much foodies are away, you think? A lot. Really?
Isaiah:Yeah. But I try to eat leftovers, though. Like, I'll put it in the fridge and stuff, but, yeah, I don't I don't eat that much. Like my portions are really good.
John:I think that's the difference is I always feel this pressure to like finish all of my food.
Austin:I don't. I do too. I've had to work on that. Being around Isaiah has actually helped me.
Isaiah:I literally the other day we went and I bought a huge bag of candy because I had a craving. I ate a quarter of it and threw the rest away because I knew it's I'll body it if I if I keep it. So I just yeah. Yeah. I throw it away.
Isaiah:It's kinda wasteful,
John:but damn. Wow. That's, like, eye opening.
Austin:Well, that if you remember, like, when, I guess, like, 2020 I guess, 2020, 2021, any of those times we'd go out to eat, and you'd be done. And I'd eat my whole meal because I felt like I couldn't take it home. And then I'd eat your leftovers because you wouldn't finish it. Oh, yeah.
Isaiah:For real.
Austin:I would eat everything because I felt like I couldn't leave food left alone. Like, I I couldn't leave food out. Like, I couldn't let it rot. I had to eat it all, that was like another 4,000 calories.
John:Yeah. I blame my girlfriend for that. Yeah. That's why the other day she was like, I wanna get a large fry and a large sweet tea and an eight piece nugget and a spicy chicken sandwich. And I turned to the guy and I was like, make that a medium fry.
John:So we're making small changes to getting her portion size. And she still didn't finish them. So it's small.
Isaiah:If it's fast food, cause I hate fast food leftovers that I like don't finish like, but I like eating out, like at a restaurant or something like that because the leftovers will last me a while.
John:Like this Puerto place
Isaiah:near here. Those portions are huge. They'll give you massive portions and it'll be like rice and chicken or rice and pork. And then that can last me like three days. That'll be my
Austin:lunch Where'd for a you, after your workout you eat what? And then what?
John:We're at six hours into day.
Isaiah:Okay. Okay. It's about noon. It's about noon. It's it's usually a bowl of cereal bowl of cereal or, like, a bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel.
Isaiah:It's like one of the two. Then about two hours later, it'll be like right before we podcast, I eat a pretty big meal. Usually, it's leftovers from the previous day that might be like, let's say, pasta or something like that with ground beef, and then I'll eat that. Then we finish training, and I'll usually order food from somewhere. And it's usually always the same thing.
Isaiah:It's just like a big carb and a big protein in every meal that I get. And then the next meal is dinner. So usually, my beautiful wife will cook dinner. I'll eat that. And then cereal as my night snack.
John:So I calculated the protein. And just with that, you're at about one ten to one twenty ish.
Austin:A protein shake.
John:Do you take a protein shake?
Isaiah:Yeah. That's 30 grams of protein.
John:So you get about one fifty grams a day?
Isaiah:I guess so.
John:Well, you've you've tracked it before. Are you around that?
Isaiah:I have no idea. It so long. I remember the calories specifically. Milk. I remember you used to have
Austin:so much more cereal because it would be like Yeah. 15 grams of protein per Yeah. Yeah.
John:I think I think just based off that, it sounds right. You probably get in about one fifty, which is almost what is that? 1.8 per kilogram. You're probably just at that or rate below that. That's the minimum recommendation for speed power athletes looking to gain muscle.
Isaiah:Yeah.
John:So yeah, you're probably within the realm of that and your total calories are what usually a day when you have tracked it, 3,600?
Austin:When I
Isaiah:tracked it, no, it was 2,800 to 3,200. That's it? Yeah.
John:Alright. Maybe now that's why I'm fat than fatter than you. Alright. Austin, you're up. No.
John:You go. You go.
Austin:Alright. So if I'm if I'm trying to get really shredded, which I am trying to right now, it obviously takes a lot of discipline. My metabolism is not as fast as Isaiah's, but I use similar concepts. So I will not eat normally past the point of being full. If I start feeling uncomfortable, I just stop because that's your body telling you to stop.
Austin:But a typical day for me is I I fast for at least fourteen hours. My first meal is typically about five to six eggs, just eggs. I'm not even kidding. Like, just some eggs with salt and maybe some avocado.
John:Fucking Arnold Schwarzenegger I swear.
Austin:Every morning.
John:Are they raw?
Isaiah:No. Not eggs. Just fucking.
Austin:Yeah. No. So I have, like, five or six eggs, sometimes with, some kind of cheese, like a Parmesan cheese a little bit of Parmesan cheese, like, healthy Parmesan cheese or feta cheese because I got that from Eddie Abo. I like that. It's actually a good combo.
Austin:I try to work out while I'm still fasted, but typically with our schedule, it doesn't work. My second meal after working out is typically a protein shake with Fairlife milk. So we just have protein. You know, it's like around 300 calories, about 45 grams of protein. And then my next meal is typically half a pound of either lean ground beef or bison or turkey, which is about 45 grams of protein.
John:How many grams of protein do
Isaiah:think you get a day?
Austin:It depends. So if I'm having if I know I'm going out to eat
John:Like, right now. Right now.
Austin:Probably one sixty something just because I'm not eating as many carbs. So since cutting out a lot of the carbs, I am typically dropping.
John:You like meat in your mouth?
Austin:Yeah. But no, this is my diet pretty much every day. Nighttime is the only thing that shifts. Since I have like around 800 calories remaining every day, my maintenance around 2,200. I try to finish eating before ten so I can start my fast.
Austin:But my last meal will kind of be more lenient. So I'll have, you know, some kind of protein source, like aim for about 20 grams. And then it's typically, you know, if I want ice cream or I want a glass of whiskey or I want like whatever whatever the hell I want, I let myself I just work hard all day on it or stay disciplined all day and
John:then I'm like, I'm you had a drop of alcohol in your mouth?
Austin:Last night. What? I got a beer at the movie.
John:Oh, you traitor.
Austin:Yeah. Yeah. I did.
John:Your joints probably feel great today.
Isaiah:No. We did it in in unison.
Austin:We did it together because, like, we we we haven't done it and it's not it was nice for camaraderie. Confession.
Isaiah:What? I drink, like, half of it.
Austin:Really? Yeah. I figured. That's why Traders. Split it.
Austin:I didn't want the whole thing. The movie theater beers in Florida are literally, like, 36 ounces. They're humongous. One of 15 them dollars. Yeah.
Austin:Yeah. It's actually worth it. They'll be like, that's $12.50. No.
Isaiah:Oh, wait. Bet I
Austin:bet that. But even with that, like, I didn't eat. I didn't eat after anything when I got home. Like, even though I was hungry, but to take into account that those extra calories. So typically nighttime, I just get whatever to eat whatever I want as long as there's some protein and I don't overdo it.
Austin:Like, don't be stupid. Know, don't have like a lava cake or anything, but that's typically my daily.
Isaiah:You know what I'm really curious about is, I'm actually looking into getting, a personal chef, but it's actually way less money than I thought. Because I we added how much, like, I spend, like, eating out and stuff like that, and I would literally save money by getting a personal chef. And I'm I'm it's actually ridiculous. He eats up a Mind you, that's for my whole family. I have a wife and a child.
Isaiah:So it's not just me, but I'm actually really curious how that's gonna affect my diet, if at all.
Austin:I would wait. I would say I I try to be in, like so my calories every day is around 2,000. I try to be in a slight deficit, around 200 calories ish. Some days it's a little bit more, little bit less. I don't really count calories.
Austin:I just know that, you know, half a pound of ground beef is about three fifty, 400. My protein shake is around 300. Five, six eggs around, you know, three fifty to 400. And then after that, it's kinda like whatever I want.
John:Alright. I guess I'm up. How about that? Alright. Quick story time.
John:I started intermittent fasting because in 2017, 2016, I was no. 2017, I was making $25,000 a year, which at '27 you literally, I don't think could live off that alone now. It'd be very difficult. But, yeah, that's what I was making. And I saved, like, a 100, $200 a month.
John:I was 25, I think. And so I didn't have a lot of money, and that meant I had to eat the most caloric dense foods for as cheap as possible, and I had to eat as infrequently as possible because I was also working sixty hours a week and waking up at five and going to the gym and getting there at 05:50 to start the classes. So during that period of time, I formed a habit of intermittent fasting, and it sucked. I used to get a lot of hunger pain, but I basically just made it through that little spurt and got used to it, and I would eat McDonald's every day, and I would just try to spend, like, $10. That was like all my budget was, or I would eat pizza rolls.
John:That was it, because they were the highest, most caloric dense things. I mean, yeah, was I towing the line of probably pre cancer? I'm sure I was. Was my blood pressure maybe 20 points too high? Yeah, probably.
John:Did the did the lipids in my blood look like shit? Yeah. I'm sure they did. But I managed to somehow stay about one seventy. And during that time, I just fell in love with intermittent fasting because it was convenient and I could put more time into work.
John:And then I just now don't get hungry until the evening, but I never ever not starve myself. What is it called? Like like, restrict myself, I guess. Is that the word? I don't know what that what the word is.
John:But, anyways, yeah, I don't restrict myself at all. I eat completely intuitively. If I want something, I eat it. If I'm trying to lose weight, I will typically just cut out ice cream, and that's it Yeah. And candy, and then I will minimize alcohol.
John:And, yeah, that's about it.
Austin:Crazy. Like, for me for me, it's because I do love to eat, But it's easy for me to stay productive if I'm eating, like, high fat, high protein foods throughout the day. And that's why nighttime, I just go crazy. But the issue is when you take me to, a buffet. You know?
Austin:You take me to, like, Korean barbecue or hot pot because I don't wanna stop eating. The other thing is too, never have snacks in my house whatsoever. If I have snacks, it is literally like pickles, low calorie popcorn. I'm not even getting olives, rice cakes. Yo.
Isaiah:I'm actually the same
Austin:way Really?
Isaiah:With snacks. Like, if if there are snacks in the house, they will get eaten.
Austin:That's what I'm saying. Like, it's just better to not have anything there.
Isaiah:So yeah. Like, don't Low
Austin:calorie fudsicles.
Isaiah:Like, that is actually a cheat code. Like, don't have soda in your house. Don't have chips in your house. Don't have candy. Don't have cookies.
Isaiah:Don't have ice cream in your house. Keep that stuff away from your house and, like
John:Or do and be a fat fuck like me. Yeah. I don't No. I'm
Isaiah:not fat.
Austin:I don't drink soda. I can't remember the last time I had a sip of soda.
John:Dude, I do a lot of selts, like, just straight seltzer water, like peri air or whatever.
Austin:And vodka.
Isaiah:I actually I actually indulge a couple times a week, I would say. And, like, actually, candy is not even that crazy. The candy is probably, like, once every two, three weeks, right, where I get it now.
John:You get some smoothies, bro.
Isaiah:Yeah. I do drink a lot of of sugar. I do drink a lot of smoothies.
John:And there's a lot of sugar in that.
Isaiah:But even smoothies aren't that, like that'll be after a session. It'll be the the smoothies. That's really the only time.
John:Hard training. Actually It's fine.
Isaiah:That's probably the
John:only time you wanna do it.
Isaiah:That's something I after dunk sessions, I have like, I can't eat right after or or I'll, like, throw up. So I usually think
John:your brain is so high highly innervated in your spinal cord that every other function in your body shuts down. You know how, like, you know how the human body shunts blood to the areas that it most needs it? Yeah. Like, what happens is all the blood shunts away from every other functional organ that isn't isn't involved in jumping, that you actually get sick because the blood returns to your gut after being completely diffused into every single leg muscle that you can't eat for several hours until your body's finally in rest and digest. And that's why you also get sick.
John:Think your immune system is just wildly vastly under under nutrient. Yeah. Nutrient.
Isaiah:It's like it's like my body like, know, what is it the is it the Golgi tendon? The thing that Golgi tendon. Inhibits. Inhibits muscle force. Yeah.
Isaiah:Yeah. Yeah. It's like my body inhibits every system that's not for Yeah.
John:For jumping. Not used for jumping, I refuse to spend resources on.
Isaiah:Oh, no. No. No. It's gonna put all the resources into everything that's jumped.
John:Oh, no. I'd say anything that's not jump related, it's like we will starve the nutrients and we will my immune system. Including your immune system. But if it's used for jumping, his body's like, yes. It's actually selective.
John:He actually just thinks about it, and that organ just or tissue, organ system just absorbs more nutrients. Like, he's thinking about his tendon right now, and it's actually just absorbing amino acids.
Isaiah:You know I used to
John:You know I used to believe that?
Isaiah:No. No. No. No. I used to make myself, like, get it.
Isaiah:You know, like, that feeling of adrenaline? Yeah. I used to be able to, like, think about dunking and then, like, start sweating.
John:I used to get that. Yeah. I used to get that.
Isaiah:I haven't tried in a while. I don't know.
John:You wanna try it right now on the podcast? Kamikaze. Kamikaze. Kamikaze. I my will say this.
John:The only thing I
Isaiah:think we get warm.
John:Yeah. See. See. If you only if you wanna think about body composition, the only thing that matters for me is training volume. Like, that is it.
John:I will always eat intuitively depending on how hungry I am, and I'll pretty much always intermittent fast. I just train harder, bro. Yeah. Seriously. Actually, though, like, if I put sprints back in, I increase my volume and I do upper body, I will always get basically maximally lean.
John:I think a lot of the times the reason why athletes don't stay as lean as us is that they just don't hit the intensity as as hard or they are not doing all the volume. I really think that's why.
Austin:I've been only eating healthy, like, really healthy for a couple weeks. Like, honestly, like, like
John:When my volume's low, I I have to be if I want to lean up, I have to be more careful. But I just don't like to do that. I like to eat whatever I
Austin:I'm like four or five pounds away from my leanest. And like yeah. It's just from the training that kept me lean because I was eating like shit. Like, when I was also drinking a lot too. Like, I we're ever since you were like, it helps with your tendon pain.
John:I said I said a small amount can help with your hormone profile, which is joint protective. That's actually what I said.
Austin:Well, I was trying to drink for, like, the whole year. Trying to do a lot for so it separate little amount.
John:Oh, you're trying to, like, binge?
Austin:Yeah. Basically, binge and spread. You know? I kinda like a hibernation type of thing.
Isaiah:You know?
Austin:Like a bear in winter time.
John:Yeah. Alright.
Isaiah:I will I will say, I think we should leave him with some tips. Tips? Should each give our tips for for dieting.
John:Alright. And it has to be one one sentence.
Isaiah:One sentence? Okay.
John:Two tips, one sentence each. Oh. And they can be the same. They can cross over.
Isaiah:Track your calories, weigh yourself every day, don't eat processed junk food.
John:What is this tips for?
Isaiah:For Same. Maintaining good body comp.
John:Okay.
Isaiah:Okay. Or losing weight if you need to. Austin, you go next. It's for maintaining. If you track your body weight and your calories, you will maintain or lose weight, whatever your goals are.
Austin:Yeah. Try to hit at least like 80% of your body weight in protein. Stay away from processed foods. And I would say don't eat to be full. Eat right before where you feel still feel satiated.
Austin:You feel satiated, but you're not like, ugh. And say no to those leftovers. Not those leftovers. Just the the leftovers on the plate. You don't you don't need to eat your your your lady's, like, breadstick because it's there.
Austin:Don't do it.
John:And if you have crippling body dysmorphia like me as a form of OCD, then the best thing to do is not track anything because it will become so obsessive. It'll cripple you with with severe anxiety.
Isaiah:With this morphed these guns. Wait. I do have a question for you, Don.
John:But but I actually had two more points on that. Okay. Because that is actually why I can't track. That's actually legitimately why
Austin:can't tracked, it bothered me.
John:I don't I don't have body dysmorphia anymore, but if I track, it is directly linked to body dysmorphia. And I'll check how I look in the mirror way too frequently. Am I losing weight? Am I leaner?
Isaiah:Blah blah blah blah.
John:Like, that is my compulsion. So and that is a common OCD compulsion. So I don't do that. And if you are similar to me and super obsessive in nature, recommend just eating intuitively, intermittent fast. Eating intuitively mean when you're hungry, eat intermittent fast and then focus on just training and enjoying the process and getting as much volume as you can in.
John:And yeah, found that I'm a lot happier that way. It's about to pour, so Austin, what's the last thing?
Austin:Eat Whole Foods. And sign up for THP at thpstrikequick.
Isaiah:Question. Yes. Go. If you are trying to jump higher, so you're you're lean you're a lean person, should you be at a caloric surplus?
John:I think if you are not if you're eating intuitively, you will be at a caloric surplus because you'll be hungry. If you're not hungry, then maybe you have hyperthyroidism or something else going on, but your body tells you when it needs more nutrients. You get hungry. You eat intuitively. If you eat intuitively, you will gain weight.
Austin:I think you were
Isaiah:asking like if a But will it be muscle? Like, will you get fat or
John:will If you're naturally lean and you're eating intuitively and you have high training volume, I have almost every single time I've seen this happen, athletes will gain muscle. They just gain it very slowly.
Isaiah:I will say my body weight, since I started training with John, has
John:gone like this. Very slowly, but he eats intuitively and he is naturally a lean athlete. And the bigger I get,
Isaiah:you know, higher I jump and stay lean because THP.
John:Look at that. Oh, flex on him.
Isaiah:Flex on him.
Austin:Give me two weeks.
John:Isaiah is the only one comfortable. Oh. Oh. Oh my. Oh my.
John:Alright. That's so let's just let's just end it here. Let's just end it here.
