Don't discount surfing.
Requires alot of upper body strength and stamina to paddle out to the waves, and just balancing on the board to do that isn't as easy as it looks.
Chat Forum
[closed]
So....what's the hardest sport/pastime?
-
Posted 2 years ago #
-
what's the hardest pastime?
trying to please the wife
Posted 2 years ago # -
putting yourself through hell for 6 mins on a rowing lake or 6 hours on a mountain stage are certainly not what most of us could ever get near to doing well.
It can be pure pleasure if you in the lead boat looking at 5 other crews floundering
The hellish part is training through winter to be able to do that come summer!
Posted 2 years ago # -
The most fatigued I have ever been is boxing.
Climbing (badly) is tough on a multi-pitch.But my vote:
XC skiing/biathlon.Posted 2 years ago # -
speaking as somebody who spent 5 years of his life doing very little except for rowing at a fairly high level, I'd never class it as one of the hardest sports from a skill/technical perspective. Sure, the technique is critically important, but it's really not that difficult to learn. A lot of people who end up rowing at university or afterwards are those who were never sufficiently co-ordinated to be any good at any other sports: that should tell you something about the skill/natural ability level necessary. I loved it, though.
I reckon you need to include a "danger" coefficient as well. getting tired when you push yourself is one thing: risking serious injury or worse as you push the limits is quite another. so for me, no quasi-safe sport can possibly be the hardest.
therefore, my vote goes for the mountain stages in the TdF or back-country snowkiting (fly up, ride down). though DH racing isn't far behind. honourable mentions for alpine snowboarding (up to 100mph down a mountain with burning thighs and only one edge), boxing and football - everybody wants to play, so think how good you have to be to succeed - as well.
Posted 2 years ago # -
need to include a "danger" coefficient as well
Again, mountaineering.
I would say that ice climbing and conquering peaks like everest especially without oxygen is about as hard as it gets physically, emotionally, courage and skill wise. I cannot see surfing comparing; IMHO of course.Posted 2 years ago # -
bodyboarding.especially on the north coast.i cant hack it,i cant get out in 6ft+,the board is nowhere near as bouyant as a surfboard and even if i do get out,each pummeling in water thats around 4c makes yer eyes pop out yer head.to be supple and fit enough to pull yourself through the surf on a piece of sponge in water that cold, and to repeat it when it takes so long to get out on something thats so crap to paddle on.. takes something else.
wish i kept at it after the first time i tried it in the late 80s but hey ho.still great fun getting hammered to hell though. especially alone with nobody else around.adds to the fear.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Boxing, footie, surfing, cycling......there are a lot of sports that you can "rest" whilst still in competition, how about balls to the wall for longer than 10-15 minutes! Fell running gets my vote
Posted 2 years ago # -
a hard looking sport - no time for rest whatsoever. well,you could have a rest.. but then you die.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'd say Extreme Enduro's like Erzberg and Hells Gate have got to be up there with the toughest sports.
Riding an enduro bike over stuff that would be considered difficult on a trials bike is very physical and demands a huge amount of skill and balls.How many other events are there out there where you only get a few finishers out of an entry of hundreds. Even some top world championship riders aren't tough enough to finish.
Posted 2 years ago # -
yeah but the folk that do pull out of these crazy long/hard enduro races before the end get the chance to sulk over it all and put their feet up fairly quickly.
you chicken out of surfing like the guy above, you arent going home.Its those sports with those moments that make those kind of sports the hardest in my eyes.
wheres stuartie c, i can see him saying climbing would be one of his hardest sports. another sport you cant chicken out of and put the kettle on whenever you feel like chickening out.
Posted 2 years ago # -
pass me a tissue, my eye has gone a bit drippy..
Posted 2 years ago # -
Well if we're talking pure balls,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMKJl8Tn5DkPosted 2 years ago # -
I'm going to throw another contender into the ring here: track cycling. Unlike road/crit racing there's no rest, you can't just freewheel for a bit. The enduro side of it (Madison, points race etc) requires incredible concentration, speed, skill, tactics and stamina. OK so the longest races are usually only about 25 miles but that's 50-60 mins, no food or water, the G-forces as you go through the bends at speed can be surprisingly high and it really takes it out of you!
Posted 2 years ago # -
yeah but the folk that do pull out of these crazy long/hard enduro races before the end get the chance to sulk over it all and put their feet up fairly quickly.
Does that include all the bikers* that have died doing The Dakar?
*One who was a friend of mine.
Posted 2 years ago # -
In terms of endurance type stuff i think Biathlon is right up there. Adventure Racing I would say as well, 145hrs ish with about 6 hours sleep and covering about 990km needs a bit of puff. Done them and done an Ironman as well. I'd do the AR over an Ironman any day because my brain almost fell out on the Ironman !
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hardest in my book must be the rock/mountain climbing without any ropes
Not sure if its bravery or madness, one slip and you die
Posted 2 years ago # -
Pro boxing anybody?
Posted 2 years ago # -
muff diving
Posted 2 years ago # -
The toughest sports to do well in are probably footie and 100m sprinting. Virtually everyone has tried these out and would have probably carried on if they were any good.
If you are asking which event is the toughest to complete then the RAAM, atlantic rowing races and the iditbike 1100 mile event must be up there.
Posted 2 years ago # -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfPYVYc0U3M
there are a handful of people on the planet capable of this. 1.40 onwards is just insane....
Posted 2 years ago # -
I seriously think it's road biking - 6 odd hours of pedalling at fairly close to threshold. tactics, downhilling @ 70mph, mental toughness.
That said, at my level of road biking it's none of these things
another 'tough' sport is solo yacht racing (vendee globe etc). you've got to be a tough, tough bastard to be able to cope, both physically (cold, infection, getting battered by various bits of the boat) and definately metally (isolation, knowing if anything goes wrong, there are some locations where you know you'll never be found, self belief, meteorology, tactics, sailing skill)
out of sports making my 'f*ck that' list Solo RTW yachting is my number 1.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Has to be the 12 hour wankathon. I was puffing dust after the last one I did
Posted 2 years ago # -
I seriously think it's road biking - 6 odd hours of pedalling at fairly close to threshold. tactics, downhilling @ 70mph,
Well apart from the fact they don't actually do either of those things.Posted 2 years ago # -
Given how I now feel after training tonight, I think martial arts has to be up there somewhere!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Darts. Being able to be that accurate after 10 pints of lager requires, skill and stamina.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Not seen it mentioned yet, so...
...ballet
endurance, power, precisionPosted 2 years ago # -
The skill in shooting in Biathlon is kind of debatable because once you've learned to shoot, surely it comes down to having the fitness not to be a jibbering wreck when it comes to steadying your aim...
What you, and probably everybody else on here is missing is that the shooting bit is far from the only skill involved in biathlon. I'd guess that nobody has actually done xc skiing at a performance/racing level, as whilst it's not that technically difficult to plod along, it's an extremely technical sport to compete in, with a lot of very subtle coordination of all 4 limbs doing different things with critical split second timing of the different phases. Almost certainly the highest skill level of any human powered sport which is about covering the most distance in the least time. I know somebody who's converted from rowing to xc ski racing, and he certainly reckons the skill levels are far higher - meanwhile I have been a fairly high level kayak racer (something which is also more technical than rowing - ask James Cracknell) and now compete at a very low level in xc skiing, and the skill levels are a world apart.Posted 2 years ago # -
I throw in Enduro DH. Stage races etc. In terms of intense effort (15-30 mins repeatedly over a day) along with skills I don't think I have done anything as hard. You can be strong in the morning and fade like daisy in the afternoon and crash your brains out. Then you do it the next day.
Any thing that sits in this cat must have a 'no where to hide' factor i.e. you can't cruise and need coordination at all times
Biathlon must be the one.
Posted 2 years ago # -
6 day track racing. the old fashioned way where one of the team of 2 had to be on the track at all times.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Maybe it is just me, but I reckon that sustained effort sports like cycling time trials, rowing etc. are always going to be easier than sports where the effort is on/off. I play unicycle hockey once a week for 1 hour 45, and that knackers me out way more than riding road bikes hard for the same time - 70% of the time you are going at absolutely 100% sprinting pace, and 30% of the time you are hanging around for a pass. It is like doing interval training solidly for almost 2 hours, or doing 50 100m sprints with short gaps between. I reckon pro-level football must be bloody hard for the same reason.
Obviously there are different types of fitness though - the ultra long endurance fitness versus sprinting type fitness. I guess team sports kind of come somewhere in between the two, which is what I find hard.
Joe
Posted 2 years ago # -
Dinghy sailing
Ridiculous levels of skill
The taktics are mentaly draining
There's a very complicated rule book to follow
And a lot of races are run back to back, so you could be flat out for anything upto 5 hours.And for an idea of the strength involved, hook the tips of your toes under your desk with your chair suppourting your legs, the edge of it in cantact about 1/3 to 1/2 way up your upper leg. Now hold that position lying completely flat for 20 minutes, whilst intermittently doing violent sit-ups (its called torquing, the sailing equivalent of pumping through waves), now hold a 20kg dumbell in both hands and box.
20 minutes of that is a fair aproximation of a lap in moderately windy conditions, and you've not even had to think about taktics or setting the sails yet.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think people should try judo at competition level... Compare to that I find moutain biking to be a pita...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Really do not think mountaineering comes near, most big mountain outes are technically easy and its only the cold and the altitude that makes it hard.
Very hard sport climbing al a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lr_5m443WI or hard onsighting might get a shout nowadays but NOT mountaineering.
When I think back, the most complete all round athletes I have known were gymnasts.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Total bollocks.
The skill required just to stay alive, the fitness to absorb sufficient oxygen at altitudes and the mental toughness to go on is super human. Many people die on mountains due to how challenging it is.
Compared to flipping along in a nice warm gym with a sprung floor....Posted 2 years ago #
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.
