"tHrowINg iS UnNAtUral"

You’ve probably heard it before: “over head throwing is an unnatural motion.”

It sounds logical. Pitching is violent. It’s fast. It’s stressful on the arm. But it's just not true.

In fact, it's so far from the truth, it's time we not only stopped saying it, it's time we start calling it out!

Overhead throwing is one of the most natural movements humans have. It’s not something we invented for sports—it’s something we evolved to do for survival...

Long before baseball existed, humans were throwing, and not just casually—we were throwing with speed, intent, and purpose.

Roughly 2 million years ago, early humans developed a unique set of anatomical adaptations that allowed for high-speed throwing. This wasn’t accidental. It was essential for survival.

We threw to hunt.

We threw to defend.

We threw to survive.

Title: Spear Thrower. Artist: Jose Antonio Pe

Over time, our bodies adapted specifically for that function. Some key adaptations include:

• A highly mobile shoulder joint that allows for extreme ranges of motion

• A torso that can rotate and store elastic energy

• A separation between the hips and shoulders that creates torqueLong tendons and connective tissues that act like springs

  
  

Throwing isn’t just an arm action. It’s a full-body movement that uses what’s called the kinetic chain—a coordinated transfer of energy from the ground, through the legs and core, and into the arm. When done correctly, the arm isn’t creating all the force...it’s transferring it.

So if our bodies are built to throw, why do so many pitchers break down? This isn't because of the inherent motion of throwing. It is because what we’re asking the body to do now isn’t the same as what it evolved to do.

Throwing IS natural. Throwing at near-max effort, repeatedly, with high volume and minimal recovery…That’s not. This is where pitching workload volume becomes the real issue. In an evolutionary setting, humans didn’t throw 80–100 times in a row at max effort. They threw occasionally, with purpose, and then recovered.

In baseball, especially for pitchers:

You might throw 90+ pitches in a game

Come back and throw again a few days later

Add bullpens, long toss, and warm-ups on top of that

That’s not just throwing. That’s repeated high-intent stress with very little margin for error. And if that volume isn’t built progressively, the body doesn’t have time to adapt. That’s when injuries happen. (Read our post on Acute / Chronic Workload to understand this more)

The body is incredibly adaptable. When stress is applied consistently and progressively:

• Tissue becomes stronger

• The arm becomes more resilient

• The system becomes more efficient

But adaptation doesn’t happen overnight. It requires repetition over time.

When pitching workload volume increases too quickly:

• Fatigue accumulates faster than recovery

• Mechanics begin to break downTiming becomes inconsistent

• Stress shifts to vulnerable areas

(Again, check out the Acute / Chronic Worload post!)

That’s when you start to see elbow pain, shoulder discomfort, velocity drops, and loss of command - Not because throwing is unnatural— But because the system was overloaded.

One of the biggest misconceptions in baseball is that throwing is an “arm problem.”

It’s not. Throwing is a full-body movement. Energy starts in the ground, moves through the legs, transfers through the core, and is finally expressed through the arm and fingers.

When that chain is working efficiently:

• The arm experiences less stress

• Velocity improves

• Command becomes more repeatable

When it breaks down—especially under fatigue, the arm takes on more load than it’s supposed to handle. That’s when stress accumulates at the elbow and shoulder. Again, not because the movement is flawed, but because the system is being pushed beyond what it’s prepared for.

What This Means for pitchers and the parents of pitchers...

Pitchers don’t get hurt because they throw. They get hurt because their body wasn’t prepared for how much they threw. That’s the difference. A pitcher who gradually builds up their pitching workload volume becomes more durable over time. A pitcher who experiences frequent spikes—big jumps in pitch count, intensity, or frequency—becomes more vulnerable.

Consistency builds capacity. Randomness creates risk.

How We Approach This at Lights Out Performance

We don’t look at throwing in isolation. We look at the entire system. Yes, we pay attention to workload trends and avoid sudden spikes. But we also focus on building a body that can actually handle the demands of throwing.

That includes:

• Strength trainingBuilding a stronger, more resilient athlete

• Arm care monitoringUsing tools like the ArmCare app to track readiness and fatigue

• Finger and force productionUsing tools like the FlexPro Grip to ensure force can be transferred efficiently through the hand and fingers

• Recovery routinesSleep, nutrition, breathing, and soft tissue work all matter

• Throwing structureOrganizing high-intent, moderate, and low-intent days appropriately

  
  

The goal isn’t to avoid stress, it’s to prepare the body for it.

Simple Takeaways:

• Overhead throwing is natural.

• High, inconsistent pitching workload volume is not.

• Your arm adapts to what it does consistently—not what it does occasionally.

Rest alone doesn’t protect you. Preparation does.

The Bottom Line:

• Throwing didn’t break your arm.

• Poorly managed workload did.

• When you understand that, everything changes.

• Because now the goal isn’t to throw less.

• It’s to build the capacity to handle more—the right way.