In the performance world, athletes are often evaluated through their mindset, technique, or training metrics. But beneath it all lies a foundational truth that’s too often ignored: structure dictates function.
An athlete’s anatomy — bone lengths, joint types, and segment ratios — is not just background information. It’s a primary constraint on how they move, how they perform, and how they tolerate load.
1. Anatomy Is the Only Constant in an Athlete’s Career
While strength, mobility, and skills evolve over time, your bone structure doesn’t. Leg-to-torso ratios, arm lengths, pelvic width, these characteristics are mostly set after adolescence and define each athlete’s physical identity.
Trying to force every player into the same mechanical model, regardless of structure, often leads to:
- Higher energy cost (sometimes up to 4x more effort for the same output).
- Poorer performance consistency.
- Greater injury risk.
Suggestion: What if we started not with “how should this athlete move?” — but rathet“how can they move, based on their structure?”
2. Anatomy Shapes Movement — and Movement Shapes Load
Let’s take a real-world example. An athlete with more body mass who moves like a lightweight aerial profile (short ground contacts, fast rhythm) might unknowingly create high levels of impact stress. Their anatomy doesn’t allow them to fully "escape" gravity.
On the flip side, a long-levered athlete might struggle in tasks demanding rapid flexion or rotation due to higher inertia and longer moment arms.
It’s not about what’s right or wrong — it’s about what’s efficient and sustainable for the individual.
🔬 Scientific support: Studies confirm that segment ratios and joint structures influence injury risk when movement strategies don’t match morphology (PMID: 29875671).
3. Selection Bias or Advantage? Anatomy in Sport-Specific Profiles
Anthropometry plays a major role in who gets selected, even when no one explicitly talks about it.
- In gymnastics, short stature and compact limbs create high angular velocity and balance.
- In basketball, height offers reach and vertical advantages.
- In endurance sports, lighter frames conserve energy.
These aren't rules, but observed tendencies shaped by time, space, and biomechanics.
Your movement profile tells us how you’ll move.
Your anatomy hints at what types of stress your body is built to absorb or resist.
4. The Pitching Paradox: What About Height in Baseball?
Pitchers are the tallest position group in Major League Baseball. For the 2025 season, the average MLB pitcher height is 6’2.5” (189 cm).
And yet:
- The tallest pitcher, Sean Hjelle, stands 6’11”.
- Marcus Stroman, at just 5’7”, remains one of the most successful and durable pitchers in the league.
- In 2024, 76 MLB pitchers were listed under 6 feet.
📊 Height appears to matter more to scouts than to performance metrics.
Several studies, including those published by the SABR Journal, suggest no statistically significant advantage of height on velocity, control, or injury prevention (SABR).
So, if tall and short athletes both succeed on the mound, how can we help any pitcher reach their potential?
5. Build the Movement Around the Body — Not the Other Way Around
This is the crux of our work at Motor Preferences Experts (MPE). Each athlete’s anthropometric profile (limb ratios, joint types, fascia quality) is the starting point.
When we force identical techniques on structurally different athletes, we risk:
- Overtraining one body to imitate another.
- Delaying performance development.
- Increase the stress on the body structure, so the risk of injury.
- Ignoring what the body naturally wants to do.
What we advocate:
- Start with anatomical measurement (visual, functional, structural).
- Align mechanics with structural potential.
- Let the athlete explore their optimal zone — not an imposed one.
Conclusion: Reintroducing Structure into the Conversation
Anatomy is not destiny — but it is a compass.
- Movement shows us the athlete’s preferences.
- Anatomy shows us what their body can handle.
- Desire shows us how far they want to go.
Ignoring anatomy leads to frustration, injury, and missed potential. Embracing it allows for personalized training, lower injury risk, and more authentic performance.
At MPE, we don’t change athletes to fit the model.
We change the model to fit the athlete.
Sources:
- Sands WA et al. (2022). Anthropometry and sports performance. PMID: 35200183
- Posner M et al. (2018). Pitching mechanics and tissue stress. PMID: 29875671
- SABR Journal. Does a Pitcher's Height Matter? SABR.org
- Armstrong N et al. (2021). Talent selection and anthropometry. Frontiers in Sports