Which sport has the fittest athletes?

At least define fit?

Tennis requires so many different aspects of fitness which is why I think they are the best all-around athletes for fitness . Of course long distance runners etc will be the fittest if you define fitness as pure cardio. I think it's a silly question tbh
 
Moby said:
You probably played against some shite that kept hitting the ball straight at you not forcing you to sprint and reach for the ball every point. Dependingon how the game goes, tennis can destroy you far more than a team sport where you can break anytime you want.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I’d be more inclined to question the standard of football you were playing where you can “break any time”. A tennis match has multiple breaks built into it. Football has no breaks for the first 45 minutes. Plus each and every serve in tennis has to wait until the receiver is ready. Good luck asking an overlapping fullback to wait for a few seconds while you get your breath back!
 
GoranIvanisevic said:
At least define fit?

Tennis requires so many different aspects of fitness which is why I think they are the best all-around athletes for fitness . Of course long distance runners etc will be the fittest if you define fitness as pure cardio. I think it's a silly question tbh
Click to expand...

its an impossible question really.

good for debate though.

my immediate thoughts would be endurance athletes. But when you look at runners, they don’t have explosiveness, they don’t have robustness, they don’t twist and turn.

I’m not sure how you can compare Mohammed Ali with Mo Farrah for example? Completely different metrics.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Hmmm. I’d be more inclined to question the standard of football you were playing where you can “break any time”. A tennis match has multiple breaks built into it. Football has no breaks for the first 45 minutes. Plus each and every serve in tennis has to wait until the receiver is ready. Good luck asking an overlapping fullback to wait for a few seconds while you get your breath back!
Click to expand...
You can watch any top tier league game to find endless players who barely make 2-3 sprints a game. How many sprints did John Terry make in a game where him and his 10 mates were camped inside a 20 yard area playing Jose ball?

And at least you know a half in football will end after 45 minutes. In tennis even a single set can in theory go on forever. And similarly a match. You can end up playing a tennis match 12 hours straight after which your legs would be present physically but their spirits would have left the world. There isn't a single 45 minute period of football in history that would have exhausted a player similar to say what Nadal ended up as when he played that 6 hour AO semi all those years ago. And then turned up and won the final a day later.

Fullbacks or wingbacks are probably the only position in football that can boast of any kind of fitness comparative to most high level individual streams mentioned in this thread. And they'd still fall well short.

Also in the end we both are really talking out of our arses commenting on experiences we can merely dream of so yeah.
 
They should bring back Superstars on the BBC where different sports people compete against each other over various sporting and fitness challenges... that was great viewing. I remember Dwight Yorke absolutely smashing a 1km run on that show and beating all the other sports people by a good distance.
 
ZupZup said:
They should bring back Superstars on the BBC where different sports people compete against each other over various sporting and fitness challenges... that was great viewing. I remember Dwight Yorke absolutely smashing a 1km run on that show and beating all the other sports people by a good distance.
Click to expand...

My most memorable moment was Kevin Keegan absolutely wrecking himself in a bike race. Which is why, unfortunately, we’ll never see the like again.

 
Watching players dead on their arse in extra time in the Euros makes me think football has to be up there. You rarely see athletes so obviously knackered in other sports
 
Clearly long distance runners are the fittest, as running is just a bit of other sports, but is the actual only bit in running.
You're close to your limit for a continuous long amount of time.

A lot of other sports have teammates to rely on, or constant breaks in play, or you get to sit down for minutes after a few mins of action (Tennis etc). Cycling you have to be very fit of course, but you have a bike as an aid too :)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
PL footballers run 10–12k per match.
Click to expand...

It's not so much the mileage, as 6-7miles in 90mins isn't exactly hard, just clock any local level 10k and even your average runner can do that distance in 45mins or quicker.
It's the mix in with high intensity sprints and quick fire reactions for headers/challenges etc.
 
Deery said:
5-aside football always knackered me out more that 11-aside.

Boxing you’d probably have to do most training for to be world champion and be in peak physical condition but there’s also so many fat unfit boxers as well. I’d say marathon running is really gruelling, no hiding from the marathon as they say.
Click to expand...

5 a side is a lot more intense, especially indoors, as the ball is almost never dead.
 
Australian Rules Football has to be in with a shout. Players avg around 15km a game and like football is a mix of endurance and short explosive bursts. Combine this with the constant bumps, ground work and the jumping it can be brutal.
 
When combining physical and mental strength, and if we're only talking about the peak athletes, surely has to be boxers?

You need some strong mentality to even step in a ring and do 12 rounds with an opponent that wants to knock your head off.
 
Decathlon?

The various training for the different events, the endurance and mental toughness to do this for two days straight as well.
 
Sky1981 said:
Swimming is short duration though. Olympic 400m is only a few minute max.

Tennis could go on for hours. Boxing is more brutal i think.
Click to expand...

400m isn't the longest distance in a swimming pool and not close to the longest distance in open water which I believe is 25km which takes around 5 hours.
 
I believe the highest VO2 max in a human was recorded at 90 in one of those Norwegians that walk up mountains on skis. The Premier League average VO2 max is 60. The land mammal with the highest VO2 max is a husky at an incredible 250 which means they can pull a sled one hundred miles a day for 7 days on the bounce.
 
Surely it's cycling. There's a reason they all dope and I doubt it's because pro cyclers are inherently cheats.
 
JPRouve said:
400m isn't the longest distance in a swimming pool and not close to the longest distance in open water which I believe is 25km which takes around 5 hours.
Click to expand...
A dutch guy recently tried to swim the elfstedentocht which is a 211km open air ice marathon in The Netherlands. In the end he failed sadly. Funny thing was, he fell asleep whilst swimming a few times. Imaginr being such a good swimmer you can fall asleep while swimming.

Edit: oh he actually tried again and did it.
 
Last edited:
Squash has to be up there, the confined space and constant changing of direction makes it a real killer. One of the hardest sports physically that I've played.
 
Vidyoyo said:
Anything in water would be difficult given the general resistance of liquid. Water Polo is apparently one of the toughest sports.
Click to expand...

Yup I'd say water polo for sure.
 
Cyclists by a long, long way.

The Tour de France is absolutely mental.
 
Wal2Fra said:
Australian Rules Football has to be in with a shout. Players avg around 15km a game and like football is a mix of endurance and short explosive bursts. Combine this with the constant bumps, ground work and the jumping it can be brutal.
Click to expand...

Was waiting for someone to say this. I guess we have a lack of Aussies in the thread. The combination of the endurance and physical pressure from constant hits is next level.
 
It still surprises me than in MMA even the fittest fighters can get knackered in Round 1 or 2 from trying to produce too much offense, usually trying to both wrestle to keep control/top position on the ground, and also throwing strikes to try and get a KO. Gives perspective about how taxing it is to use your upper body muscles so much especially shoulders, humans seem to be a lot more efficient in using our legs.

My shout would be triathletes because of the swimming component added that means they can't neglect upper body power. I think elite marathoners obviously have very resistant upper bodies because it is a component to running, but they literally can't pack any significant muscle there or it will be overall inefficient for their running given the weight.

Another one I don't think is mentioned because its not a top-level sport, but have you guys seen some of the stuff they get up to when competing in crossfit? The Murph workout that they try to do for time is pretty crazy: All while wearing a 20 lbs vest (9 kg), run 1-mile, then 100x pull-ups + 200x push-ups + 300x squats partitioned however you want, then run a mile to finish. World record is just over 34 mins. Think about what other sport athletes might do well at that?
 
I'm late to this thread;
lots of good answers but I want to pour one for the motorsport elite.

F1 drivers:
losing 3kg of fluid in 90 minutes, heartbeat constantly over 150bpm, fully clothed with a nomex underlayer in a cramped cockpit that reaches over 50° C; pulling up to 5G laterally and longitudinally in many corners each lap; barely seeing the road through a tiny slit in their helmet from their almost supine position; constantly fiddling with a 20+ buttons steering wheel, talking with the pit on the radio, feeling the constantly evolving car balance with their asses; all while continously hitting dead-on time windows of hundredths of second for braking, changing gears and steering.

I saw a video of a regular-guy amateur driver getting a test-ride in a f1 car, he could never reach over 30% brake pressure giving it all with his left leg in his whole session, these guys go 100% with insane timing dozen times each lap.


MotoGP and Superbike riders:
these guys cling on a 200kg beast for over 20 laps, using each and every muscle of their body to continously slide around and adjust position to balance the bike, fight vibrations, transfer weight, make it lean, bring it up; heart racing 150+bpm as well; they smear their body in the gravel multiple times each race weekend; they hop on again with stitches, broken fingers, cracked ribs, patched up ankles and shoulders.

Vibrations and brake force are so extreme nowadays that almost all the pro riders develop compartment syndrome and end up getting their right forearm cut up lenghtwise to ease the cramps pain. Oftentimes, they get arm pump surgery after a race and are back to the next race a week later with metal stitches running up their whole forearm.


Elite motorsport athtles do not train their body to the extreme maximum like many other athletes, as their results don't depend on extracting every last ounce of performance from it, they just need it to be fit just enough to not impede the expression of their handling talent; but they do take such an intense beating every race, and when you factor in the extreme mental application - reflexes, sight, focus, strategic and creative thinking... - I think they deserve to considered among the top dogs.
 
izec said:
Water Polo is brutal, at least physically.
Click to expand...

Hell yes, I've played it once. I could play 2 90 minute football matches in a row back then and it still didn't come close to a single match of Water Polo.
 
darts, definitely has fittest competitors. Standing on feet for long durations under bright lights and heat. Constantly throwing darts and putting stress on arm. Snooker a close second.
 
I did Judo to a national level and I would put that well up there. You need intense strength in your core and upper body, flexibility but the endurance required to grapple at near 100% for 3 minutes is insane. There's a reason Judo players used to dominate the early "superstars" shows.
 
Desert Eagle said:
In neolithic times i reckon the most important thing is survival based on finding water, shelter and food. Stamina and covering large distances is imo the most important skill set considering those factors.
Click to expand...
Why on earth would this be the metric we use
 
A lot of good suggestions already in this thread but it definitely is not tennis. I play a lot of tennis and it is nowhere near as physically demanding as an 11 aside football match. You have to remember that football attracts the best athletes across the world whereas tennis has a much smaller pool of athletes to choose from and even some of those guys are failed footballers or guys who went with tennis as it was a more sure fire route to success.

Yes rallies can be exhausting but there are many quick points, waiting to receive serve etc etc the other sports mentioned in this thread are non stop with barely any rest periods.

Cycling seems a good shout as it seems to take strength, endurance and speed. I’d say football would be up there as it touches upon every kind of physical aspect even if it isn’t the hardest in each of those categories - need to be an all round athlete to survive in it.
 
Raees said:
A lot of good suggestions already in this thread but it definitely is not tennis. I play a lot of tennis and it is nowhere near as physically demanding as an 11 aside football match. You have to remember that football attracts the best athletes across the world whereas tennis has a much smaller pool of athletes to choose from and even some of those guys are failed footballers or guys who went with tennis as it was a more sure fire route to success.

Yes rallies can be exhausting but there are many quick points, waiting to receive serve etc etc the other sports mentioned in this thread are non stop with barely any rest periods.

Cycling seems a good shout as it seems to take strength, endurance and speed. I’d say football would be up there as it touches upon every kind of physical aspect even if it isn’t the hardest in each of those categories - need to be an all round athlete to survive in it.
Click to expand...

That touches on something else too. To be a top footballer you are competing against the very best in the world, almost everybody has played football to some degree. Physical ability is top notch. If you do show jumping (just an example, horsey friends) you're competing against what? The few thousand people who have ever properly ridden a horse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.