MAG Chicago Cubs Jake Arrieta and Gymnastics

[GymDad9.9]

Last night Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta threw his second no-hitter in under a year and has been pitching recently on a dominant level that very few starting pitchers have in the entire history of baseball. Listening to sports talk radio this morning a commentator mentioned that Arrieta has been known to walk around the Cubs clubhouse on his hands, and we all know what that means. I found this below on the internet and I'm sure there is more about him but essentially he incorporates gymnastic technique into his conditioning and without a doubt it is effective. He's also married to a former elite gymnast from Texas.

I only wish I had known as a youngster who much more effective a pitcher could be with a little gymnastics under their belt. Moms and Dads, if your son and daughter loves baseball, it might pay to keep them in the gym too.

The article is from last year....

http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/how-jake-arrieta-transformed-himself-cubs-ace

 

[rosiekat]

See, that was 2/3 of my reasoning for getting DS into the gym very early on. (The other 1/3 was the fact that he climbed everything, so I wanted him to learn how to fall!) It was clear from a very, very young age that DS was just naturally athletic, and I figured gym was a good way to get a little kid exercise while not "specializing" in any particular training. (Little did I know that, at least at 7.5, he lives for the place!) I figured gym and real dance and swimming were the 3 best things to keep a body active and generally fit, without necessarily overdeveloping any one area of the body. Even if he ends up getting into a different sport (which so far seems unlikely, because he's been really good at everything he's tried, but hasn't had the passion for it), I'd encourage him to continue a rec gym class. I haven't seen other sports emphasize the same level of general fitness that I've seen in the gym, either, at least not at this young age. It helps that his gym emphasizes the slow race to the finish - i.e. at L4, he only "gets to go" 4 hours a week, when he'd gladly be there more.

I've seen some cool videos on strong competitors in other sports trying gym. I remember one was a massive bodybuilder who was interested in gym for his routines. He actually did pretty darn well, but I suspect he was the exception - he seemed like a guy who didn't just bulk up but worked to retain flexibility and fluidity.

Thanks for sharing that!

 

[ZJsMom]

Jake Dalton was apparently a strong baseball player as a kid and his baseball coach recommended gymnastics as a supplement to help him with baseball. It turned out he liked gymnastics better.

 

[B.Gold]

....and it's never too late. My 50 year old dh has just started to incorporate gymnastics into his daily workouts (his competitive outlet is judo). In case anyone is so motivated:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156557504820207&id=56916320206

 

[flipnastic]

As a pediatric physical therapist (and of course a former gymnast, gym mom, and all around gymnastics lover) I agree 100% that there is so much value in any young child taking gymnastics!! The core strength/stability, coordination, body awareness, overall strength, etc etc etc (the list goes on and on) will help any child in anything they pursue in the future..sports, music, handwriting skills, functioning in a classroom, etc. pretty amazing stuff!