[robbgerard]

Some may laugh - but I would add sumo wrestling to the list of physically demanding sports. These guys are massive (obviously) which is hard enough on a body, throw each other onto a rock-hard surface - sometimes right off the raised ring onto the cement floor three feet below resulting in many injured knees/ankles, smash heads together (lots of concussions), wear no protective equipment, open-fist punch each other in the throat + face, and must fight 90 days/year to retain/improve their rank. Further, missing a fight due to injury counts as a loss, encouraging fighters to wrestle even if injured and discouraging them from getting much-needed surgery/recuperation.

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[flash]

hitting a baseball is actually not that hard. i used to laugh when people said it was the hardest thing to do. a baseball, by the best of pitchers, is only going 95. it is originating from a fixed point, and must come at you within a very small area, or you can ignore it.



a served tennis ball is frequently over 120mph, from about the same distance away (78 ft vs 60.5), can hit an area 50 times larger than the strike zone, is spinning more than 3 times as fast as a curve ball, will bounce and jump a dozen feet from its original trajectory, and you have to go and shag that and then hit it into an area 1/80th that of a baseball field, just to be "in".



and you have to do that at least 72 times, under the best of circumstances. in a 5 set match, like at wimbledon this year, you would have had to do it well over 300 times.



p.s. - i played both sports, at competition levels.



i'm not saying tennis is the most demanding sport, and i agree that cycling is very hard at that level, having gotten very close to that myself. swimming uses more muscles than any other sport, so technically that one may be the most demanding.

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[Chris Vais]

Having played baseball in HS and college both as a pitcher and a third baseman. I'd say that pitching is probably more physically demanding than hitting. When I pitched there was no such thing as a 100 pitch limit nor was there anyone on the roster who was a middle reliever or closer. You went the full 9 innings and occasionally more than 9. The thing that makes pitching physically demanding is the requirement that the ball be placed with a high degree of precision which becomes much more difficult as the number of pitches thrown increases. To successfully hit the strike zone repeatedly requires the pitcher to execute a series of movements (wind up) with a fair bit of precision, time after time, in order to deliver the pitch in the zone. This gets very hard to do long about the 6th or 7th inning. As far as hitting was concerned, a good hitter has to have excellent vision and outstanding hand/eye coordination to hit. Strength only really has a role to play if you are looking to hitting home runs all the time. My BA ion college was in the low 400s and most of the hits were line shots through the infield. I could see the ball come off the pitchers hand and I new whether it would be a fastball or a breaking ball.



I also road bikes competitively, not at the Tour d'France level, but at a very high amateur level. It helped me stay in the best shape of my life, very physically demanding sport.

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[flash]

yeah - when i was playing baseball, it wasn't a question of being able to hit the ball, it was more determining where i wanted to hit it, and succeeding at it. i wasn't a long ball hitter though.

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[ds968]

Hey, why the heck does the tour de FRANCE circuit pass through ( small parts of, but still.. ) Belgium and Switzerland ? Shouldn't they call it Tour de France Plus ?

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[lbpesq]

You guys aren't even close.  The most demanding sport, (and the most dangerous), by far, (nothing else is remotely as difficult), is ... marriage!

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[ds968]

Marriage is a sport ?! We need some convincing analogies to make that connection :-). Anyone ....?

Besides, the title of the thread is " the most PHYSICALLY demanding sport " , marriage is more of a mental exercise, psychologically exhausting at times , but unless you're hanging from trapezes in the bedroom, or bare-ass on the kitchen countertop granite, or into S&M, the physical side of things is generally more enjoyable than most sports... Ok, endurance might come into play, lol.

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[Waylander]

Marriage is an endurance sport been playing it for 33 years, I'm knackered

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[flash]

marriage is physically demanding, at least to hear my wife muse about how tired i must be from running my mouth, chasing my tail, dragging my ass, and sticking my foot in my mouth.

 

marriage is like a sport in other ways too.  

 

like any sport, in a "discussion" (read - argument) there is a winner and a loser (i'm always the loser by the way)

 

like in any sport with fanatics, women have the uncanny tendency to keep track of statistics on things, like how many times i've said i was going to do something, but never got around to it, etc.   she always knows by "batting average"

 

there are also uniforms of sorts.  i can't go out without being in mine.  she see to it that i am wearing the proper uniform for that night's "game".

 

there are even souvenirs.  she is constantly collecting them from our "away games".

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[ds968]

And here's an illustration of the gender difference responding to physicality in soccer :    

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[Rap]

Knackered means exactly what?

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[Rap]

Perhaps there is some sense in not getting married! I don't listen to any of that shit. I just have been slayed numerous times by venomous looks. Looks or words. Pick your poison!

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[ds968]

Knackered means exactly what?

Anything to do with knickers ?

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[Waylander]

Knackered= tired, worn out, had enough

 

take your pick

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[Rap]

Can it also mean, time to move on?

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[Waylander]

not heard it used in that context.

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