Top rank international sports people. Footballers, rugby players, tennis, cyclists, marathon runners, darts players , etc....

For me it would be cyclists. When you see those guys climbing mountains in the big tours like TDF and then still sprinting for the line, unbelievable. 3 weeks of hell.

I've always thought the top tennis players had to be the fittest.

boatshed bill wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:07 pm

I've always thought the top tennis players had to be the fittest.

That would be my first choice - but then again each requires a very different kind of fitness so that would definitely complicate any reasonable discussion

Grand Tour Cyclists.

Brownlee brothers and the like could be a consideration.

Bring back 'Superstars' and we could find out...

Topless darts players.

Dark Cloud wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:21 pm

Topless darts players.

Double Top anyone ?

Pump me full of steroids and tell me to ride up a mountain and I reckon I'd be pretty fit, too.

Definitely triathletes like the Brownlee Bros

Difficult to answer but I agree the Tour de France riders are absolute machines, even those on steroids. Yes Steroids give you an edge but you still have to train ridiculously hard.

Triathlon is another good shout

Got to be cyclist their physic says that

Ok, topless cycling then.

whoever it is I reckon some of Jurgen Klopps players would run them close as they are the fittest football team I've seen by a country mile

Only those on the grass, and Dyche fit

Zlatan wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:32 pm

Definitely triathletes like the Brownlee Bros

Triathlon is clearly a tough event and they need to be fit as well as being able to swim, cycle and run well. But a triathlon is much shorter than a grand tour stage and not day after day after day.

Spiral wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:26 pm

Pump me full of steroids and tell me to ride up a mountain and I reckon I'd be pretty fit, too.

Miaow.....

Devils_Advocate wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:43 pm

whoever it is I reckon some of Jurgen Klopps players would run them close as they are the fittest football team I've seen by a country mile

jdrobbo wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:10 pm

Grand Tour Cyclists.

Why do they all drop dead quicker than WWE westlers then?

I was hoping it was going to be Charlize Theron v Margot Robbie not cyclists v footballers !

Sheff U

Surely has to be tennis players? Chasing here there and everywhere. Massive amounts of energy, just to hit the ball and often keeping going for four of five hours.

Cyclists on the other hand are sat on their ars*s all day.

I'm with Vegas Margot Robbie definitely

I'd have thought boxers. The strength, speed and stamina required at the top level is out of this world.

Fatuous argument ... the argument is " Fitness to do what, exactly ? "
Put Jonny Brownlee in as a Tight-head Prop for one half of a Six-Nations game, then he'd be hospitalised ! Ask England 2nd Row Joe Launchbury to replace Max Whitlock on a Gymnastics " Pommel Horse " and he'd probably neuter himself ! Ask Harry Kane to ride " Tiger Roll " in the Grand National, he'd have a job to get to Becher's Brook without breaking his neck, Tom Daly would probably be killed in a Boxing ring, and Tyson Fury would empty the pool in an Olympic Diving event !

Tennis.

Cyclists are using legs primarily. Tennis players use everything.

I'll go for Decathletes!

Decathletes are mostly skill based.

IanMcL wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 5:47 am

Decathletes are mostly skill based.

I think I know what you’re trying to say, but it’s not exactly darts! Each event requires different conditioning (and technique to be any good- which I think is what you mean). To prepare for all 10 is remarkable and requires fitness and physicality most elite athletes would struggle with. That’s why there are so many injuries. Very difficult to prepare the body for that range of activity.

groove wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 11:24 pm

I'd have thought boxers. The strength, speed and stamina required at the top level is out of this world.

Nah, I did consider it but there’s far too many boxers that let themselves go between fights then do an 8 week training camp before a fight and hit peak fitness to win. There’s no way you could do that in some of the other sports and still make it to number 1.

Don’t get me wrong that’s not all boxers, although I did once best Anthony Crolla by about 7-8 minutes in the Manchester 10k whilst he was World Champion

I saw a study years ago where they looked at something similar to this. They gave points for various aspects of fitness. speed, endurance, flexibility, coordination and so on and added them up. I forget which sport came top but I’m fairly sure that stage dancers beat them.

Stanbill05 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:29 am

I think I know what you’re trying to say, but it’s not exactly darts! Each event requires different conditioning (and technique to be any good- which I think is what you mean). To prepare for all 10 is remarkable and requires fitness and physicality most elite athletes would struggle with. That’s why there are so many injuries. Very difficult to prepare the body for that range of activity.

That if Stanbill. It is that mix of conditioning and lots of different but short action, with rest in between, whereas tennis players are constant, with minimal breaks.

Gordaleman wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 10:56 pm

Surely has to be tennis players? Chasing here there and everywhere. Massive amounts of energy, just to hit the ball and often keeping going for four of five hours.

The men’s game, yeah.

And how about this for a left field selection... Eddie izzard. 28 marathons run in 28 days...

Or those athletes who take on the marathon de sables.

Oh. And it’d be Charlize Theron, without a doubt.

groove wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 11:24 pm

I'd have thought boxers. The strength, speed and stamina required at the top level is out of this world.

Not all boxers have stamina.... Aj v Ruiz 1 and Fury v wilder 2 are two that recently spring to mind.

Maybe too tricky to compare, you know what it's like when you rattle off a few 10K runs and feel super fit then 5 minutes sprinting into a 7-a-side you feel like you've got full blown Convid-19.

3 elements to fitness, strength, flexibility and endurance.

e.g. Rugby League Strength+++, flexibility++, endurance+

Triathlon Strength+, flexibility+, endurance+++

etc.

Dark Cloud wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:21 pm

Topless darts players.

Male or female?

I always thought swimmers had to be proper fit at elite level. Them and David Goggins

In terms of cardio grand your cyclist are up there but I still believe doping is the only way people can do what they do.

Tennis is up here as well

jollyjack wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 10:25 am

3 elements to fitness, strength, flexibility and endurance.

e.g. Rugby League Strength+++, flexibility++, endurance+

Triathlon Strength+, flexibility+, endurance+++

etc.

I was always taught to gage fitness on recovery levels. How quick you recover from a sprint, to sprint again etc..

Recovery rate is an accepted measurable, but still fairly specific to the type of activity. All round fitness I would say would be a mix of the best attributes of all different sports, so no one group can claim to be the fittest as another group has more endurance/strength/flexibility.

Anyway, this is certainly fit:

Quick Google came up with Topendsports.com. Which has Water Polo at number 1. Rugby 7's at 2, Boxing 6th, Tennis at 10th. Football way down in 26 below Baseball at 21. Methinks. This a user poll rather than an exact science though.

F1 racing drivers.

Spiral wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:26 pm

Pump me full of steroids and tell me to ride up a mountain and I reckon I'd be pretty fit, too.

No you wouldn't. It takes more than that. Cycling is a very tough sport. People have died riding the mountains - and not just from accidents. Tom Simpson, the leading British cyclist at the time, died in 1967 ascending Mont Ventoux in the Tour. A supremely fit man, he died of a heart attack. A few steroids would not make you a pro cyclist mate.

CJW wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 11:56 am

F1 racing drivers.

houseboy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 12:54 pm

No you wouldn't. It takes more than that. Cycling is a very tough sport. People have died riding the mountains - and not just from accidents. Tom Simpson, the leading British cyclist at the time, died in 1967 ascending Mont Ventoux in the Tour. A supremely fit man, he died of a heart attack. A few steroids would not make you a pro cyclist mate.

It’s worth mentioning Simpson was off his tits on amphetamines of some sort and probs wouldn’t have died otherwise . Though yes indeed top cyclists are supremely fit and I’m pretty sure they train at higher heart Intervals rate than any other sport.

bobinho wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 9:07 am

Not all boxers have stamina.... Aj v Ruiz 1 and Fury v wilder 2 are two that recently spring to mind.

Did you watch the Fury documentary where he did an 8 mile run up a mountain ? Boxers simply cannot fight without v v good stamina . You wouldn’t get through 2 x 3 min rounds unless fit never mind 12!

AlargeClaret wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 12, 2020 1:01 pm

It’s worth mentioning Simpson was off his tits on amphetamines of some sort and probs wouldn’t have died otherwise . Though yes indeed top cyclists are supremely fit and I’m pretty sure they train at higher heart Intervals rate than any other sport.

Yes he was on that day. Apparently he was actually ill on the morning of the race and probably shouldn't have ridden at all, it was a very hot day and he had had diarohea so he was also certainly dehydrated. He took a combination of amphetamines and alcohol, which combined with the effort of the climb and the heat caused a heart attack. His death ultimately lead to manditory drug testing, which of course is now practiced in all (I think) sports. The stage was 'won' by Barry Hoban after it was agreed that an Englishman should win it. Barry himself felt it was a hollow victory as he related it in his biography. Many thought that another Englishman (whose name escapes me) should have been allowed the win as he was in the same team as Simpson, but Hoban (I believe) was the second 'best' English cyclist at the time.

Incidentally Hoban's biography is a great read, I read it some years ago and it sheds some light on just how hard the sport is. He also mentions Eric Wilson, one time British Hill Climb champion, who I knew from him having a bike shop in Rawtenstall for many years, bought one or two bikes there and he was an absolute mine of help and info if you needed it.

Was a Club cyclist and have done lots of sportives/audax events and LEJOG. I hung up my cycling shoes a few years ago as its getting too tough to be enjoyable!

Kudos to anyone who works hard at their sport to achieve the best they can be.

This bloke is pretty fit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o