The Fittest Sportsman

davestar_delux · 11 Jul 2007 at 13:36

This was an interesting debate on another forum I am on. The front-runners last I read there were Muay Thai practitioners, rugby league players, cross-country skiers, tour cyclists, decathletes and F1 drivers. So who do you think is the fittest?

Chong Warrior · 11 Jul 2007 at 13:50

Those guys who do the iron man thing? You know the swimming, cycling and running, that just looks like hell to me! :eek:

Isn't Paddy Doyle regarded as the fittest man in the world?

Gilly · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:01

Chong Warrior said:
Those guys who do the iron man thing? You know the swimming, cycling and running, that just looks like hell to me!

Aye, that was my first thought

6thElement · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:02

I always thought that rowers were pretty high up there.

davestar_delux · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:12

See I'm not sure if this would count as fitness but I reckon there should be a mental element - like a sport that if you slip up in or don't maintain perfect concentration you could die or get seriously injured - which is why I put F1 so high and combat sports like boxing, muay thai, MMA... of course all of these guys have excellent physical conditioning in addition to this.

Fubsy · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:17

I'd say gymnasts would be pretty high up aswell. They have to perfectly balance all aspects of fitness. Flexability, strength, endurance etc.

Bigpig · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:27

Rugby League players are fit as hell. Power speed and strenght and flat out all match.

They infact did a sudy on them and they came out on top over other sports but this covered lifting weights, runing and so on

Gilly · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:34

Bigpig said:
Rugby League players are fit as hell. Power speed and strenght and flat out all match.

They infact did a sudy on them and they came out on top over other sports but this covered lifting weights, runing and so on

Not all of them. Some do 30 seconds work every 10 mins.

Ripper · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:35

Squash players need to be extremely fit!

marc2003 · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:36

davestar_delux said:
tour cyclists

them!

Mr.Stu · 11 Jul 2007 at 14:46

Fitness to me means physical endurance, not short bursts. Therefore I'd go with tour cyclists (180bpm+ heart rate for long periods of time etc)... these guys usually have crazy high lung capacities as well.

Them or people at the top of the iron man game. The thought of running a sub 3 hour marathon after swimming 2.4miles and biking over a 100 is just mind boggling.

Chong Warrior · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:11

My main reason for saying Iron Men is because of the variation. Yes cyclists of the standard mentioned are super human fit.

Thing is in my experience it's easy to get fit at something. Go running and you'll get fitter, go cycling and you'll improve, keep swimming and you'll swim like a fish after a few months. Thing is, try and swap over.

Go running for 12 months and you'll be pretty good and thinking you're fit as a flea but then go swimming.... you'll be gasping for air after just a few minutes and struggling just like any other beginner, the fitness doesn't carry over too well.

My point is Iron Men are incredibly fit period, not just super fit at one particular thing. They'd give the tour cyclists a run for their money on the bikes over a certain distance. I'd bet the cyclists wouldn't get anywhere near the Iron Men during the swimming and runs

IceBus · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:15

For what he can do with his body Tony Jaa, for overall frightening strength/fitness it'd probably have to be Sean Sherk.

ojo · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:16

Single discipline: Tour Cyclists are super fit - day after day with the odd break doing insane distances with insane hills rolled in.

Multi: I reckon Decathletes, triathletes and so on (polyathletes?).

Darts players...

Bigpig · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:17

Chong think you hit the nail on the head. People are only fit for what they train for and what is needed. Pretty hard to put sport vs. sport as they all need different attributes.

Visionary · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:27

Gilly said:
Not all of them. Some do 30 seconds work every 10 mins.

Not exactly true, whether you have the ball or not you have to move constantly to keep up with the attacking or defensive line. Also, tackling is physically draining beyond belief, IMO.

Gilly · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:31

Visionary said:
Not exactly true, whether you have the ball or not you have to move constantly to keep up with the attacking or defensive line. Also, tackling is physically draining beyond belief, IMO.

Certain large wing players do nothing but walk about the pitch and get given the ball every so often to go on defence-busting runs.

6thElement · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:32

Tour cyclists rest in the peleton or just draft with their teammates for long periods. Unless you're in a breakaway on your own you don't exert yourself constantly.

Mr Nice · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:35

Probably concur with Ironmen.

I remember reading some years back in Men's Health about who was the fittest between a fireman, gymnast, long distance runner and a soldier. Did all sorts of things like running, lifting, jumping, endurance etc, and the fittest overall was the squaddie....

davestar_delux · 11 Jul 2007 at 15:52

I find sprinters fascinating, so much training put into an event that lasts no more than 10 seconds but it's difficult to see where they would stand and they are so rarely mentioned in something like this but I reckon they could compete with a good amount of strong-men and long-distance runners although it would just destroy their sprinting game to do that. Or do people not like that because your average Joe can't go out and work his backside off and and get into it, at that level it's about genetics and all the conditioning in the world still wont get you into it.

Also, what about sailing? Or these people trek to the North Pole? Are these endurance athletes? That British lassie had to stay awake about 4 days solid moving masts about (or whatever they do) and battling the ocean.

I might be shifting the goalposts a bit to the heights of human endeavour but I'm mainly interested in the ultimate in human conditioning so keep the ideas flowing.