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Why President Obama Throws Like a GirlWritten on April 7, 2010 at 8:13 am, by Eric Cressey Many baseball fans thought that it was a bit inappropriate of President Obama to wear a Chicago White Sox hat as he threw out the opening pitching at the Washington Nationals game on Monday. However, many others – including those of us on the baseball development side of things – overlooked this fashion faux pas, and instead pointed out that the commander-in-chief’s throwing mechanics closely paralleled those of an 11-year-old girl. Now that I’ve irritated both my Democrat and female readership, let me explain. We are all born with a certain amount of humeral retroversion. For the lay population out there, think of retroversion as a bony positioning that allows for more shoulder external rotation. As we age, we actually gradually lose retroversion (gain anteversion); as I recall, this process moves the most quickly from ages 8-13, which isn’t surprising, as this is when kids rapidly become more skeletally mature. It’s why we see more torn ACLs than broken bones in the late teenage years; the bones are no longer the path of least resistance. However, we actually see something different in kids who are involved in overhead throwing sports during this crucial developmental period. They don’t gain anteversion as quickly in their throwing shoulder; in other words, they preserve at lot of the bony positioning that gives rise to external rotation (the lay-back position), which in itself is a predictive factor for throwing velocity. Very simply, it’s easier for them to get their arm back to throw because the bones (specifically, the proximal humeral epiphysis) have morphed to allow for it. There’s even a theory out there that this bony positioning actually spares the anterior-inferior glenohumeral ligaments from excessive stress during external rotation, but that’s a topic for another day (and president?). How much of a difference are we talking? Well, in a study of 54 college pitchers, Reagan et al. found that had 36.6° of humeral retroversion, as compared with just 26° in non-dominant shoulders. Here’s our fearless leader throwing a cream puff from a different angle at last year’s All-Star Game;you’ll notice that he leads with the elbow and his arm doesn’t “lay back” – a technique we’ve come to term “throwing like a girl,” as politically incorrect as it is. Think he could use an additional 10° of shoulder external rotation? The good news, however, is that he’s in good company; Mariah Carey has sold over 175 million albums and rocks a 12-foot palmball, too. We can’t fault these folks (well, maybe for their attire, but that, too, is another blog post), as females traditionally haven’t had exposure to baseball at young ages in order to develop these osseous (bony) adaptations that favor throwing hard. And, with just a little reconnaissance work on President Obama, I quickly came across this quote from him in the NY Daily News last year: “”I did not play organized baseball when I was a kid, and so, you know, I think some of these natural moves aren’t so natural to me.” There’s your answer. Contrast his delivery with that of George W. Bush, who not only played baseball as a kid, but actually owned the Texas Rangers for a while, and you’ll see what a few years in Little League will do for a shoulder. Interestingly, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush actually displayed some decent lay-back, too. It makes me wonder if he was born with some congenital laxity, played cricket or tennis, or just practiced a ton for his first international shoe-throwing appearance (cap?). As an interesting little aside, in our Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set, Boston Red Sox Head Athletic Trainer and Rehabilitation Coordinator Mike Reinold talks about how European soccer players have actually served as the control group against which we can compare overhead throwing shoulders in research, as these athletes are the same age and gender as baseball pitchers, but rarely participate in overhead throwing sports. So, perhaps we should say “throw like a European soccer player” instead of “throw like a girl” – particularly since more and more female athletes have started participating in overhead throwing sports at a younger age!
However, in the interim, what can President Obama do to get over this hurdle? It goes without saying that it’s too late to get that retroversion, as he’s already skeletally mature. However, there is research out there that shows that pitchers gain external rotation over the course of a competitive season – so President Obama would be wise to get out in the rose garden and play some catch because, you know, presidents have plenty of time to do that! Likewise, as I outlined in Lay Back to Throw Gas, there are several things he could do to improve his pitching-specific flexibility. The most important thing is to avoid spending so much time hunched over a desk watching NBA TV writing legislation and the like, as being stuck in this position will shorten the pectoralis major and minor, lats, subscapularis, and several other small muscles that need adequate length and tissue quality to get the arm “back” via good humeral external rotation, scapular retraction/depression, and thoracic spine extension/rotation. To keep it simple, I’d probably just have him do a lot of the side-lying extension-rotation drill: In terms of volume prescriptions, I’d just have him do one rep for each time Nancy Pelosi blinks in a day (which, coincidentally, is 570 million reps daily): Of course, there’s a lot more to it than just this, but these quick modifications would be a good start. For more information, check out our new Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set.
20 Responses to “Why President Obama Throws Like a Girl”Leave a Reply |
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April 7th, 2010 at 8:32 am
This is one of your best posts! Toooo funny!
April 7th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Yes, can we please come up with something different than “you throw like a girl?” I am a girl, and I throw like a “baseball player.”
But nice post, nonetheless
I always wondered why “non-players” tend to throw like that.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
At least you can`t say “throw like a peruan soccer player playing in germany”; watch this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu47wOIjuqA
pretty good throw, nasty hit
the club fined him with a sum between 50.000 and 100.000 Euros
April 7th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
just watched the section on the dvd set about retroversion last night…found it very very interesting.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Good stuff, but let’s be honest Eric: it won’t be healthcare that bankrupts us, it’ll be the bank bailouts and Obama and his embarrassing girly arm share the blame for that with W and his slightly better arm.
April 7th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
This is great stuff all the way around, from performance to politics! Nice work!
April 7th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
It’s not like the rest of the developed world has universal healthcare.
April 8th, 2010 at 6:10 am
Perhaps he can use his shoulder problem to an advantage and develop a toss like a relief pitcher – Lindey McDaniel, who threw completely over the top. Maybe get Biden to throw out next year’s pitch?!?
April 8th, 2010 at 6:49 am
Eric, awesome article and good job tap dancing around the politics, hopefully everyone takes it in good nature because its a great job!
Joe
April 8th, 2010 at 6:51 am
I’m a girl and I… just this once… don’t mind your “girl” comment. This article is hysterical!! Pat from God’s Country
April 8th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Love the analysis. I saw a little thing on Obama’s posture once; also quite interesting. Apparently he needs to keep his neck elongated, even during moments of political strain. (Absolutely no disrespect toward the President intended.)
http://egwellness.com/newsletter/NewsletterFeb09.html
April 8th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Hysterical and very well-researched article. Good to know it’s too late to fix throwing like a girl.
April 8th, 2010 at 8:21 am
During WWII it was apparently commonly understood that American GI’s were far more effective with hand grenade’s than their Japanese and European counterparts. Who knew humeral retroversion was the hidden key to Normandy.
April 8th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Awesome I tell my 8 yr old daughter, “you can be anything you want… even a pro baseball pitcher *note-
Penny Marshall (A League of Their Own)… except the president of this great country” lol great blog Eric!!!
April 8th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I hear he’s approved a bill that will include $.05 tax per pitch, to help fund free Tommy Johns ‘n all that.
April 10th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Great article! Both funny and informative! The video clips are really entertaining to!
April 12th, 2010 at 5:13 am
I respect how you poked fun at everyone. It was actually very funny. I was a little riled at the title of this entry . . . took me two weeks to calm down before I was able to see straight enough to read and watch. (Actually, I was in CO learning KB lifts and sprinting at 5280 feet.)
I could not help wincing at Carey’s lob. Embarrassing.
EW
April 14th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Too f-ing funny
April 26th, 2010 at 10:24 am
This girl should become President Obama’s Pitching Czar! She could really fix his throw!
Check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9bREvWUtQI
April 26th, 2010 at 10:39 am
This girl can really throw a baseball better than President Obama in high heels and a skirt.
Check out this hilarious video:
youtube.com/watch?v=P__PECEf8Ww&feature=fvw