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Gymnastics, boxing, mma, maybe football/rugby and the 400m.
Greatest all round fitness sport?
- Thread starter King Damager
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Well, the thing is crossfit was created is almost created as an answer to this very question, but I wouldn't call it so much a 'traditional' sport.
kd
Biathlon is badass. All the fitness requirements of cross country skiing with the skill of target shooting thrown in. Their recovery time must be incredible to be able to shoot straight, especially in the standing shoot. Alpine skiers are ridiculously fit and powerful too. The leg strength involved in these events must be monumental considering the speeds. I get extreme thigh burn at half the speed they're doing.
I'm biased towards rugby, and while I agree that American football probably requires a greater degree of out and out power, rugby is much more of a balance between power and fitness. Modern front row forwards are amazing beasts, you just have to look at someone like Schalk Brits or Tom Youngs who move around the park so well, but have to deal with scrummaging and line out set pieces.
Rowing, professional cyling, swimming and triathlon are up there for aerobic fitness, but you don't need any sort of physical toughness (withstanding regular hits etc.) to do them.
I'm biased towards rugby, and while I agree that American football probably requires a greater degree of out and out power, rugby is much more of a balance between power and fitness. Modern front row forwards are amazing beasts, you just have to look at someone like Schalk Brits or Tom Youngs who move around the park so well, but have to deal with scrummaging and line out set pieces.
Rowing, professional cyling, swimming and triathlon are up there for aerobic fitness, but you don't need any sort of physical toughness (withstanding regular hits etc.) to do them.
Soldato
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Why notsrs? If you watch some of Rich Froning's videos there is no doubt he's in tremendous shape, not just strength wise but cardio wise too.
You can't really compare some things though - someone who competes in MMA only has to have endurance to go hard for 25 minutes, where as a triathlete needs to be able to go hard for hours - thus they have extremely different body types.
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Competitive eating?
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Triathlon. Natch.
Soldato
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How quick can they run a marathon or climb up a mountain?
Soldato
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Not very, but I think you've missed my point. An American Footballer might well have a lot of explosive strength but I'm not sure they really qualify under "all round fitness" given they are going to be poor in pretty much any form of endurance.
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Soldato
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Indeed
I've never done ice hockey or triathlons but I've played a fair few sports over the years and the combat fitness classes I do at Krav Maga are the best I've done so far. Instead of the 90 minute technique classes they do a couple of combat fitness classes which are only (only!) 60 minutes but the warmup alone is shattering, then it's a mix of sparring, boxing, elbows, knees, circuits, plank, etc. all high-intensity interval training, with sadistic bouts of press-ups until muscle failure, it's different every session, with few short breaks in between.
I've always been reasonably fit but the first time I did this I was so exhausted afterwards that I was too tired to listen to music on my earphones on the way home, I was destroyed. But once you get used to it, it's taken my fitness to a higher level now though, I really notice it in other areas such as the last 10 minutes of a football match when others are getting tired and I can often keep getting those bursts of energy.
I've always been reasonably fit but the first time I did this I was so exhausted afterwards that I was too tired to listen to music on my earphones on the way home, I was destroyed. But once you get used to it, it's taken my fitness to a higher level now though, I really notice it in other areas such as the last 10 minutes of a football match when others are getting tired and I can often keep getting those bursts of energy.
There are some freakishly athletic dudes in the NFL, Adrian Peterson should have his DNA cloned so future generations can see his greatness first hand.
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Because most of the people who are elite Crossfitters only took it up recently and spent most of their life doing other things. E.g. Annie whatshername who won the women's games spent years doing gymnastics (same for the fap-worthy Camille Leblanc-Bazinette) - it doesn't say much for people who've trained for Crossfit for years when they get pasted in the comps by people who've only been doing it a year or two.
Soldato
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I don't think it's necessarily the case that endurance athletes are 'fitter'. It's a different type of fitness; I've played football and tennis against and with triathletes and they haven't always had the fitness for that kind of sport. I'm someone who can play a 5-set competitive tennis match or work my **** off on a football pitch for 90 minutes and come off looking fairly fresh, but if you were to put me in a marathon or a triathlon I'd be gassed long before anybody with any experience of that sort of thing.
I would say as an all-round greatest fitness sport I'd have to pick swimming. The guys who do it are usually huge but also have excellent fitness.
I would say as an all-round greatest fitness sport I'd have to pick swimming. The guys who do it are usually huge but also have excellent fitness.