[Closed] What type of althete/sportsperson is the "fittest"?

Literally just been done 5thelephant.
Netflix - Fittest on Earth

I would have thought pro road cyclists, rowers and biathletes. Sports like tennis and football slightly different as there is rest involved in play.

Some boxers have it all and are supreme physical specimens in every sense. It's not necessarily a requirement though - you can be a world class fighter with only average stamina [relative to the elite athlete level we're talking about], if you have other strenghts to compensate.

Whereas to be the slowest guy at the TdF you still need alien levels of endurance.

Boxing, by a long way.

AFL players. they're massive and sprint around a cricket pitch for what feels like hours.

honestly, it never ends.

In terms of CV fitness, it would probably be XC skiers / biathletes as they engage more muscle groups -the highest recorded VO2 max figures have been from XC skiers.

Strength and fitness? Freeclimbers have the strength and flexibility of gymnasts but need to keep going for bit longer.

Don't Biathletes spend most of the race in oxygen debt?
Also quite frequently racing at above sea level.
Also some of those ultra marathon types are pretty fit.
And those alpine ski tour racers are up there.

Hard to compete with the TDF lot though as they are at it for weeks..

Not convinced about F1. When Mark Webber did mountain mayhem he was ok but not amazing.

I don't think you can say anyone sport

One interesting take on this that I read goes back to evolution. Training the human body to excel at feats of power/strength is not very useful in an evolutionary sense. Even a house cat could beat Bolt to 100m, never mind a sabre toothed tiger.

No, the real power of humans is in their endurance. Over 10, 20, 30 miles there's nothing else in the animal world that can keep up with a fast human. Taking that argument to its logical conclusion, the 'best human' might be an ultra marathon runner.

So my suggestion would be Kilian Jornet Burgada. Dressed in shorts and T-shirt, carrying half a litre of water, a single energy gel and an extra base layer, he ran up and down Mont Blanc in under 5 hours. Amazing endurance. There are all kinds of other crazy achievements. The best athlete (you've never heard of).

Olympic decathlete/heptathlete must be in with a shout. Good mix of abilities and a decent level of world class competition.
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Over 10, 20, 30 miles there's nothing else in the animal world that can keep up with a fast human. T

Apart from the African hunting dogs

Or horses

Or....

Apart from the African hunting dogs

Or horses

Or....

Perhaps 10-30miles is wrong. Maybe the distances need to be longer E.g. 70-80 miles.

Would have thought that mental exhaustion has to contribute somewhere. Being able to concentrate and take control of your mind and body while in an exhaustive state is tough. i.e. biathletes calming their breathing to take a shot etc.

Biathletes, without a doubt. Not just in leg strength like cyclists but in arms and shoulders and cardio-vascular as well as much of their sport is at altitude.

I have no idea but I watched a documentary on the cross fit world championships (had no idea there was such a thing beforehand) and they seem rather fit!

Until you watch them do any kind of aerobic sport, and you realise how slow they are. As with any sport their fitness is optimised for that sport.

Anyway, my vote would probably go to long distance swimmers.

F1 drivers are surely just wanna be fighter pilots who are scared of heights

Motorbike racers seem to do pretty well.

Look at Guy MArtin for example and then Cal Crutchlow who regularly trains with Cav and Cav states would make a proper level of cycling etc.

The MX guys are always thought of as being exceptionally fit.

But of course it depends how we're comparing it all.

I think the fact that patently there is no answer to this question is a testament to what amazingly adaptable animals humans are. And that's before taking into account the mental faculties to be able to apply it to a myriad of circumstances.

I would have though rugby players would do pretty well - some of the modern players cover an awful lot of ground plus put in some big tackles etc. The All Blacks after 80 mins still look incredibly sharp and can turn defense into attack pretty damn quickly.

Modern F1 drivers are pretty damn fit too.

Tennis players always amaze me - Murray after five sets still looks pretty lively.

But I agree that it's hard to compare sports these days mainly because modern sports training is very specific.

On F1 drivers, Button did triathlons bur want winning so must put triathletes above them (simply speaking)

Middle aged mountain bikers.

Otherwise triathletes, the ones I know are crazy fit and have a crazy fitness level and competitive edge that filters down even to the amateur level

It was lance armstrong.
But right now it is probably a Russian

Interesting thread.

As others have said, any top athlete has optimised their training for their particular sport, often at the detriment of other abilities.

As somebody who is not gifted or wanting to specialise too much, I've always liked the idea of being fit and capable enough to be able to turn my hand to 'most' things.

To me, a good boxer/wrestler/MMA fighter, biathletes, some armed forces (eg. Paras, Marines, some Special Forces), some rugby players, have a good blend of useful 'fitness' aspects, physical and mental.

One idea that has been floating around is "Natural Movement" that, amongst other things, suggests natural physical abilities that all humans should aim for as the basis of health, fitness and "usefulness" or "helpfulness" in all kinds of situations.

[url= http://www.7sec.co.za/7-fitness-challenges-to-complete-are-you-strong-enough-to-be-helpful/ ]7 Fitness Challenges: Be strong to be helpful[/url]

Left field options. Strong men, skateboarders and surfers. Watched something on the Extreme channel years ago where they ran various tests on big wave riders and half pipe skaters. Even the guys that took part were surprised by how fit they were.

I quite like those 7 fitness to be helpful challenges Aristotle, but I think they are too land based. There should be some water based challenges.

I've really enjoyed getting back into running recently, despite a slight niggle (probably too much too soon due to being off my bike against my will for a bit), the natural movement aspect of it is nice, I'm definitely going to endeavour to keep it up.

Humans will beat horses over a long enough distance, particularly if the terrain is rugged and/or hilly.

Sceptical of that - there's horses, and there's horses. We only know about racehorses, the horse equivalent of a 1500m runner. There are some big stories about long distance horses in the Wild West.

The world's best cyclists might have a VO2 max of 90ml/kg, a typical horse has 180ml/kg and sled huskies have 240ml/kg.

Anyway the debate about athletes is pointless. You can't possibly compare athletes across all sports. You might as well go to the doctor's and ask what the best drug is. All the studies that try to compare them can't help but have a bias towards one thing or another.

As for American Football players - run for 10 seconds, have 5 minutes rest, repeat four times, then have 20 minutes rest. Right.

There are some big stories about long distance horses in the Wild West.

*pulls up chair*

Go on...

I would define fitness as a relative measure of how close an athlete is to their optimum performance for a specific objective. By definition it's an individual measurement and can't be used to compare one sport against another (or tell you anything about absolute performances of different athletes within the same sport).

If you optimise your training, preparation, mental performance, etc and get as close as you can to your best possible performance for a specific goal, you are fit, regardless of what sport you are competing in.

philjunior - Member
I quite like those 7 fitness to be helpful challenges Aristotle, but I think they are too land based. There should be some water based challenges.

The "Natural Movement" or [url= https://www.movnat.com/ ]MovNat[/url] does include swimming and is a more recent revival of the original [url= http://methodenaturelle.de/en/ ]"Method Naturelle"[/url], envisaged by a French Navy officer, [url= https://www.movnat.com/the-roots-of-methode-naturelle/ ]Georges Hébert[/url], who was inspired by seeing people who could not swim very well whilst trying to escape a volcano eruption.

Chris Froome, he can both ride and run quicker up a mountain than anyone else I can think of...

If you factor in all the different factors of fitness in you'll struggle to beat a top tier cross fitter or MMA fighter.

mogrim - Member
I have no idea but I watched a documentary on the cross fit world championships (had no idea there was such a thing beforehand) and they seem rather fit!
Until you watch them do any kind of aerobic sport, and you realise how slow they are. As with any sport their fitness is optimised for that sport.

Anyway, my vote would probably go to long distance swimmers.

Suggest you go and watch the documentary Mogrim.
Sprints fast enough to put them in top flight races, 6 minute mile pace on the distance stuff, 400mt up vertical stairs and back down and then forcing heavy and explosive movements on top.
Then repeating the above for several sets.
Slow is one thing they are not.

Can't compare due to huge differences.

hammyuk - Member
Suggest you go and watch the documentary Mogrim.
Sprints fast enough to put them in top flight races, 6 minute mile pace on the distance stuff, 400mt up vertical stairs and back down and then forcing heavy and explosive movements on top.
Then repeating the above for several sets.
Slow is one thing they are not.

I think I'll look this up on Netflix, sounds interesting.

"Crossfit" as a sport in its own right is an interesting concept. I tend to think of that sort of training as preparation/conditioning for other activities or normal/abnormal life.

6 minute mile pace on the distance stuff

I may be wrong but I think it's about 3:45/km pace, which equates to approx. 37-38m 10K. It's a good time, but not up there with true runners. I managed a 40 minute 10K without trying too hard.

Its not massively quick compared to a dedicated runner [b]BUT[/b] you're talking about guys that can powerlift, run, cycle, row, climb, move, etc.
Arm only rope climbs, squats, clean and jerk, the Pig - it goes on and on and they are beasted.
And not just one move at a time - watch the film and see if you fancy the idea of Murph.
[u]JUST[/u] Murph....
Then consider if you want to do all the other sets they did on the [u]same[/u] day.
Along with the 2 days before that and the day after that.

-I did a variation on Murph the other day (without the pullups as I didn't have a bar to use where I was). It was quite taxing and I was wrecked the next day!

I've seen a lot of really fit Beach Volleyball players.
Nothing to do with the question, I just thought I'd mention it.

Crossfitters have the best all round fitness I believe. Look at the top level athletes, yes in individual events they may not be world class, but in simple terms they will be stronger than a runner and faster than a lifter. And the whole point of the sport was to define fitness and to compete to crown the fittest on earth.
The games starts in a week or so, worth a watch!

Seeing as all he does is dash up mountains in thick snow and then ride back down them with incredible style, I think it has to be Jeremy Jones

Sceptical of that - there's horses, and there's horses. We only know about racehorses, the horse equivalent of a 1500m runner. There are some big stories about long distance horses in the Wild West.

Top fell runners are incredible, Billy Blands BG time is unbelievable. And the top racers in the Snowdon race are doing sub 3min/miles running down the mountain, which is insane. Worth looking for the One show feature with Ewan Thomas doing a small local fell race and it nearly killed him, he finished with the children at the back.
Also those who win the Tour Divide and the like have got to get a mention, not just fitness but mental strength beyond measure.
As you can tell, I'm most interested in endurance sports 😛

bothybiker - Member
Crossfitters have the best all round fitness I believe. Look at the top level athletes, yes in individual events they may not be world class, but in simple terms they will be stronger than a runner and faster than a lifter. And the whole point of the sport was to define fitness

Exactly. People get better at what they train for.

A separate question might be,
"What sort of people have the most useful range of fitness/skills/abilities for life activities and hazards",

but that would also be quite specific as a firefighter possibly has a very different life to an accountant or a high court judge.

I was going to suggest Crossfit, especially as they bill the games winner as "The Fittest of Earth". That could be shameless promotion, but the number of varied movements makes it possible.

I did Murph last year. Took me an hour and four minutes and leaving for the second mile was a huge struggle. I think it was the slowest mile I have ever done. My arms were also shot to bits from the pull ups and press ups.

I might be able to do it quicker now, but not by much.