Train Like Cubs Ace Jake Arrieta At Pumps Fitness!

Pumps Fitness is one of the only training studios in Northwest Indiana that offers personal training and group classes in Mat Pilates and also Pilates Reformer. According to Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, adding the reformer (a versatile piece of pilates equipment) to his training helped him turn in a historic season in 2015.

 

Here is an excerpt from the article "The Revenant: How Jake Arrieta came back from the baseball dead." By SI writer Tom Verducci.

"One day after the 2013 season Brittany and Jake were leaving a French bakery in their hometown of Austin when he noticed a Pilates studio next door. Arrieta has always been a workout omnivore, devouring any discipline that will make him better: yoga, Olympic weight training, visualization, sports psychology.... Pilates? Sounded interesting. Arrieta figured he would take one or two classes a week. He walked into the studio and signed up for a class with an instructor named Liza Edebor. 'I pitch for the Cubs,' he told her.
 'Oh, that’s great,' she said. 'I never heard of you. Let’s see what we can do.'

 In the first half of the 20th century German-born Joseph Pilates developed a series of controlled movements to improve strength and flexibility throughout the body. Many of the movements involve the use of pulley systems on a machine called a reformer. After Arrieta’s first session with Edebor he told her, 'We need to train together. This is life-changing.' He took sessions three times a week. He ordered a custom-built reformer for Wrigley Field and put it in the only space available, a cramped storage room that doubled as manager Joe Maddon’s media interview room. Last season Maddon conducted media briefings while Arrieta ground through his Pilates workout just a few feet away. In the off‑season Arrieta turned his Austin garage into a Pilates studio. Edebor trained Brittany and Jake there for an hour and a half six days a week, starting at 6 or 6:30 a.m. 'Jake went from a regular-sized athletic guy to just ripped,' Edebor says, 'and the only thing we did was Pilates.'

 'It’s an incredible experience,' Arrieta says. 'Pilates has been around a long time but maybe was taboo in this sport. I think it’s only a matter of time before you see a reformer in every big league clubhouse.' The Cubs finished remodeling their clubhouse facilities this off‑season, giving one of the game’s most cramped quarters the second-largest footprint in baseball, behind only the Yankees’ facilities in square footage. The new Wrigley digs include a room devoted to the latest in training devices. It is known as the Arrieta Room. More reformers are on the way.

 'What I noticed from Pilates last year was that I have much better control of my body,' Arrieta says. 'I repeat my delivery consistently. My balance is much improved. And the mental and physical toughness Pilates requires to complete movements the correct way have directly helped me on the mound.' 

About two hours before every start Arrieta climbs on his reformer. He runs through a progression of movements designed to awaken and stress parts of his body for competition: obliques, lats, shoulders...."





Pilates is being used as a crucial adjunct to traditional strength and conditioning training throughout many professional sports. Here are some other professional athletes that use pilates to improve their performance: Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Olympic Volleyball Champs Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and Matt Forte to name a few.


Looking to get ready for the upcoming season, or want to improve your current performance? Click here or call now (219- 548-3480) to train like a pro and  set up a session of expert instruction by our Pilates trainers at Pumps Fitness.