All bodies are beautiful, but I have a special fascination with the ones built from scratch. You know what I mean - they're bodies so sculpted, so taut, so powerful that just glancing at them tells you everything to know about their owners' work ethic. Jake Arrieta, one of the pitchers that led the Cubs to their first World Series win in over 100 years Wednesday night, has one of those bodies.
It's expertly crafted to perform exactly the way he needs it to - Jake is rock solid from head to toe, giving him balance, control, stability, and an explosive pitch. He's flexible, allowing for mobility and recovery, and an uncanny ability to do the splits on his Pilates reformer. Its aesthetic is just a symptom of its function - but one we certainly appreciate.
It hasn't always been like this, though. A self-proclaimed "fat kid," Jake told ESPN that he didn't thin out until the second half of high school. Even then, he was fit - not ripped, and not someone you'd find naked on the cover of a sports magazine. At the time, his career was in a similar place: strong but not awe-inspiring.
Junior college ball led to a spot on the TCU team, which led to what was initially a very disappointing demotion in Baltimore. Everyone agreed that he had promise, and everyone agreed he wasn't showing it. It was around this time that he thought about quitting baseball - and the rigorous workout schedule of a professional athlete - all together.
Enter: Theo Epstein and a small Pilates studio in Jake's hometown of Austin. The magician behind several baseball droughts, Theo catalyzed Jake's move to the Cubs, and a trip to a bakery near the studio catalyzed Jake's entry into Pilates workouts. If that sounds like an odd way for a man to go from reasonably athletic to positively chiseled, that's because it is. It's an even stranger way for a good pitcher to become a legend - but both things happened.
Pilates is about two things: Building strength and increasing flexibility. The kind Jake practices is done using a reformer machine that capitalizes on body weight and tension to build muscle, which sounds sacrilegious to athletes weaned on heavy weights. Two classes a week turned into six, and Jake credits it entirely for what made him so ripped.
Oh, yeah - and it also gives him an unprecedented range of motion, which turns out to provide a distinct edge when it comes to a consistent, fluid, injury-free performance. To activate his body (and our blood pressure) before he starts, he hops on the reformer as a warm up. Initially, it was just Jake using his customer-ordered machine in the Wrigley Field training room, but many of his teammates have since hopped on board.
When he came to Chicago (beloved home of Mr. Man), Jake just wanted to be himself and do things a little differently, and that's clearly all he needed to create a formidable yet centered, burly but graceful man unlike any one else in professional sports. He listens to soothing music before he pitches and eats 3 pounds of kale a day. He meditates, foam rolls, stretches, and does an hour of cardio before practicing to replicate the exhaustion and stress of a game's last inning.
He credits being as prepared as possible for anything at any time to his success, and in the process has prepared the best possible body for him - and that, dear Mr. Man fans, is something we can get behind.
Congrats to the Chicago Cubs for their long-awaited success, and big thanks to the amazing players who've let us ogle them while they rise to the top!
Now if you'll excuse me - I have the sudden urge to drop in on my gym's Pilates class.
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