What sport hosts the best athletes?

[higgmond]

Tyson, even at his worst and it wouldn’t even be close.

[brain_wash_your_face]

@higgmond

There’s a reason why boxing and MMA have weight classes. While the occasional freak could beat a mediocre fighter a couple of weight classes above him, generally speaking a bigger guy is going to win. There’s a reason Roy Jones, Jr. didn’t want to defend his heavy weight championship belt.

Obviously. It is a component of an athlete and it is rewarded in that sport. If you took gymnastics, where small athletes excel, and broke it into weight classes it would be hilarious to watch the 6’7" guy doing a ring routine. There is a reason linemen are big and running backs are small, big whoop. The sky is blue.

[higgmond]

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

@higgmond

There’s a reason why boxing and MMA have weight classes. While the occasional freak could beat a mediocre fighter a couple of weight classes above him, generally speaking a bigger guy is going to win. There’s a reason Roy Jones, Jr. didn’t want to defend his heavy weight championship belt.

Obviously. It is a component of an athlete and it is rewarded in that sport. If you took gymnastics, where small athletes excel, and broke it into weight classes it would be hilarious to watch the 6’7" guy doing a ring routine. There is a reason linemen are big and running backs are small, big whoop. The sky is blue.

Were we disagreeing about something?

[brain_wash_your_face]

@higgmond

Were we disagreeing about something?

Thought it was written in response to what I said on the prevoius page. Never said that size/height don’t matter, just that they are only one component.

[Capt_Save_A_Ho]

Golf has the best athletes. Fore!

[Marathon_runner]

NBA

[Palantir]

@Greenman72

If you’re 325 lbs and can squat 800 lbs, you can be a lineman as long as you have decent footwork.

You obviously aren’t familiar with the Rams offensive line 2004-current. For good reason too I guess.

[bodhisattva]

Combination of Power, Strength Speed and Cardio - Rugby

Pure Cardio - Boxing

Pure Strength and Power - Olympic Weight Lift

[bodhisattva]

Combination of Power, Strength Speed and Cardio - Rugby

Pure Cardio - Boxing

Pure Strength and Power - Olympic Weight Lift

[bodhisattva]

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

@M4tt30

Actually it’s more like 45-60 second shifts. Despite the shorter time on the playing surface, you would burn more calories, on average, during a 60 minute hockey game than you would playing basketball for the same period of time.

And you’d burn more calories running as fast as possible for 60 minutes than you would playing hockey. Calorie expenditure is missing the point. So is focusing on skills, like a slapshot. Few people can pitch in the big leagues, does that mean baseball has the most athletic players? No, because pitching, like shooting in hockey, is a skill that is learned and that is sport specific. I would argue that no component of how we judge an athlete can be sport specific, it has to be transferrable.

No you wouldn’t, High Intensity Anaerobic training like Hockey smokes aerobic training in terms of calories burned even over relatively shorter periods.

[system]

I haven’t read read throughtt his entire thread but HIIT will improve your performance. I run 100 m sprints and walk the curves a few days a week. I target 8 twice a week. I t is a killer workout…

[brain_wash_your_face]

@bodhisattva

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

@M4tt30

Actually it’s more like 45-60 second shifts. Despite the shorter time on the playing surface, you would burn more calories, on average, during a 60 minute hockey game than you would playing basketball for the same period of time.

And you’d burn more calories running as fast as possible for 60 minutes than you would playing hockey. Calorie expenditure is missing the point. So is focusing on skills, like a slapshot. Few people can pitch in the big leagues, does that mean baseball has the most athletic players? No, because pitching, like shooting in hockey, is a skill that is learned and that is sport specific. I would argue that no component of how we judge an athlete can be sport specific, it has to be transferrable.

No you wouldn’t, High Intensity Anaerobic training like Hockey smokes aerobic training in terms of calories burned even over relatively shorter periods.

Notice that I said running as fast as possible for 60 minutes. Nobody would ever do that as a workout, unless they were doing some kind of time trial. Otherwise, it’s stupid. Go run a mile as fast as possible, then imagine doing that for an hour. You may have a heart attack. More likely, you will break down physically and menally and collapse.

Anyway, I mostly do HIIT for the physical benefits and the lower wear and tear on joint.

You chose 3 sports (which I generally agree with, with the exception of boxing), no fair:)

[whatsyourgovt]

@Blake McCallister

I haven’t read read throughtt his entire thread but HIIT will improve your performance. I run 100 m sprints and walk the curves a few days a week. I target 8 twice a week. I t is a killer workout…

Sprints are awesome. I go for 10-15 40s twice a week. 100s are brutal

[Viceroy]

To those saying MMA, it’s a known fact that due to inferior money to be made in MMA, top athletes tend to enter other sports.

Overall I think it’s a very hard question to answer.

Champions in the 400 and 800 meters will have hearts that can produce the most output in short periods.

Top Gymnasts have flexibility, and body control that cannot be matched.

Now, both of these categories of athletes don’t need much natural reflexes, which are necessary for say, a boxer, who then doesn’t even need to be able to touch his toes.

To the people that say resistance to pain: a boxer would throw up from the pain that a marathonian goes through, and the other way around as well.

Can you compare an olympic champion in wrestling to a top pro boxer? No you can’t. A top wrestler may hit like a little girl, and a boxer may have the weakest pulling muscles in his back that are necessary for wrestling.

So all in all, I don’t know. I think this question is flawed and cannot be answered.

[M4tt30]

@Viceroy

To those saying MMA, it’s a known fact that due to inferior money to be made in MMA, top athletes tend to enter other sports.

Overall I think it’s a very hard question to answer.

Champions in the 400 and 800 meters will have hearts that can produce the most output in short periods.

Top Gymnasts have flexibility, and body control that cannot be matched.

Now, both of these categories of athletes don’t need much natural reflexes, which are necessary for say, a boxer, who then doesn’t even need to be able to touch his toes.

To the people that say resistance to pain: a boxer would throw up from the pain that a marathonian goes through, and the other way around as well.

Can you compare an olympic champion in wrestling to a top pro boxer? No you can’t. A top wrestler may hit like a little girl, and a boxer may have the weakest pulling muscles in his back that are necessary for wrestling.

So all in all, I don’t know. I think this question is flawed and cannot be answered.

/Thread

[dudesama]

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

I like MMA, boxing and other fighting sports as an example, although I do not like that it involves no ability to control an object outside of ones own body. Same for gymnastics.

In fighting sports your success greatly depends on your ability to “control” (beat down) your opponent. I’d argue that controlling a person that is trying to kick the stuff out of you is harder than controlling a ball

I’ve practiced soccer, swimming, rowing, muay thai, and boxing, and, in my experience, it was boxing the one the best conditioned athletes BY FAR. Muay thai and MMA might seem more well-rounded (cuz you can kick/knee/wrestle instead of just punches), but the sheer insane intensity of a boxer’s work out schedule anything.

[bodhisattva]

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

@bodhisattva

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

@M4tt30

Actually it’s more like 45-60 second shifts. Despite the shorter time on the playing surface, you would burn more calories, on average, during a 60 minute hockey game than you would playing basketball for the same period of time.

And you’d burn more calories running as fast as possible for 60 minutes than you would playing hockey. Calorie expenditure is missing the point. So is focusing on skills, like a slapshot. Few people can pitch in the big leagues, does that mean baseball has the most athletic players? No, because pitching, like shooting in hockey, is a skill that is learned and that is sport specific. I would argue that no component of how we judge an athlete can be sport specific, it has to be transferrable.

No you wouldn’t, High Intensity Anaerobic training like Hockey smokes aerobic training in terms of calories burned even over relatively shorter periods.

Notice that I said running as fast as possible for 60 minutes. Nobody would ever do that as a workout, unless they were doing some kind of time trial. Otherwise, it’s stupid. Go run a mile as fast as possible, then imagine doing that for an hour. You may have a heart attack. More likely, you will break down physically and menally and collapse.

Anyway, I mostly do HIIT for the physical benefits and the lower wear and tear on joint.

You chose 3 sports (which I generally agree with, with the exception of boxing), no fair:)

Do HIIT for 60 minutes and you will burn more calories then 60 at your fastest sustainable sprint.

[system]

^^^ I’m guessing 99% of the people on this forum can’t jog for 60 minutes. 8-10 100 m sprints at 100% effort is brutal and time wise takes a few minutes. I’m guessing less than 1% of people on this forum can do that.

[brain_wash_your_face]

@bodhisattva

Do HIIT for 60 minutes and you will burn more calories then 60 at your fastest sustainable sprint.

That statement is laughable, largely because running “as fast as possible” for 60 minutes was meant to be ridiculous. You cannot do it. You would collapse or be reduced to barely moving. A sprint is called a sprint because it cannot be sustained for long, namely after you exhaust you glycolitic energy system (burns glycogen that is stored in your muscles). Once that is exhausted you will begin to fall back on “cardio”: using oxygen for energy. Pushing to the red line, you would quickly become exhausted and stop or die.

I support HIIT, you need to not take running 60 minutes as fast as possible seriously.

Also, to everyone talking about “conditioning” I’d like to point out that conditioning is dependent on activity. Boxers are in excellent condition for boxing and train as such. They are not in good conditioning for an offensive lineman or a 100 meter sprinter.

Sports train people to be good at that sport. MMA and boxing are being cited here because they provide the most generally applicable training.

The question is flawed though: people should build general, generic streng and conditioning as a base and then focus on developing skills and sport specific conditioning.