Fittest Athletes?
Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by yuri in Train Like a Pro
Having played soccer pretty much all my life you would think that I would have a biased opinion as to which athletes I believe are the fittest.
But that isn’t necessarily the case.
I used to think that soccer players were easily the fittest athletes, until I got into high performance conditioning and coaching. I quickly began to realize the physical (and mental) demands of many other sports. This was taken to the next level after having watch the winter Olympics over the past 2 weeks and seeing some amazing olympic athletes in action.
So which sports do I believe have the fittest athletes?
Here’s my top 5 (with the fittest at the top):
- rugby
- soccer
- hockey
- basketball
- tennis
(NOTE: I’ll be devoting an entire post to each sport individually)
Now, after reading this list, you might be saying…
“But Yuri, what about cyclists, cross country skiers, or long distance runners?”
Trust me, I understand where you’re coming from. And I certainly believe that these athletes possess some of the most highly conditioning aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. However, they just don’t have the multifaceted fitness that is required by my top 5 sports.
So…
Why Rugby?
In my view, rugby players overtake soccer players as the fittest athletes. Why?
Well, not only do rugby players need to be able to run just as much as soccer players (ie. on average 8-11 km per game over 80 minutes) but they also need to possess a huge amount of explosive power and strength. They need to train for muscle development, strength, power, agility, speed, AND aerobic and anaerobic endurance.
Just look at most rugby players. They aren’t dangly weak athletes. They are solid, well built machines. And they have very high VO2 max levels. In fact, the fittest soccer players that I ever played with (Abidal, Ribery, and other top players in Europe) recorded beep test scores around level 18-19. And these guys are fit.
However, some of the top rugby players have run all the way up to level 21 and 22 on the beep test. That’s absolutely ridiculous!
Elite rugby league players are quick, with many of them being able to perform a 40-meter sprint test in just over 5 seconds! They also possess good speed off the mark and acceleration power.
Considering that most rugby players have to carry that much more mass than most other athletes, it’s amazing that they can do so so efficiently. And that’s all about power.
In sports, it’s not whose the strongest that wins. It’s who is the most powerful!
Power is the ability to move a certain load (ie. weight) over a certain distance as fast as possible. Thus, if 2 athletes can push a 50-pound sled over 40 yards, he/she who gets their first is more powerful (in that endeavour).
Here are some more examples of sheer power…
If 2 people both squat 200 lbs, he/she who moves the weight the quickest (concentrically) is more powerful.
In sports, there’s no point in being strong if you’re not powerful. There’s no point in lifting heavy weights if, down the road, you can’t move them more explosively. Â That’s why athletes train to be faster – not slower.
Back to our rugby players….
The amazing thing about rugby training is that these athletes need to train hard to first pack on some muscle. Then they need to train to build their muscular strength. Then they need work hard to make those muscles react quicker and more explosively. And then they to fit some good old fashion interval training aerobic/anaerobic conditioning to last an entire rugby game!
Therefore, putting together a properly periodized training program for a rugby player is necessary considering that concurrent strength and endurance training can negatively impact strength and power gains.
It truly is a science.
Rugby players know that being big is not the name of the game (unless most football players). It’s about being big, strong, and being able to move that bodyweight as quickly as possible with great speed and agility.
That’s why I think rugby players are the fittest.
In my view, any athlete that possesses great strength, muscle mass, agility, explosive power, and high aerobic/anaerobic endurance is an athletic machine.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at why soccer players take second spot on my top 5 list of fittest athletes.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments.
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13 Responses to “Fittest Athletes?”
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ABOUT YURI
Mike
01. Mar, 2010
What about MMA fighters? They combine extreme levels of strength/cardio/mental training. They’re my pick.
yuri
01. Mar, 2010
Good input Mike. I didn’t think about them but I would agree to a certain extent.
Liam Mc Carthy
07. Mar, 2010
U need to look at hurlers. No other athletes have speed, co-ordination, strength that these players have. One other vital ingrediant that takes them above soccer players is that they play for their homtown, their parish, their county, for pride. One Club=One career.
Soccer is a game played over 40 yards. Take out the off side rule and then see.
You’ve also left out Aussie Rules footballers.
yuri
08. Mar, 2010
Hurling is definitely a crazy sport. I didn’t even think of that when I created the list but honestly sports like hurling, gaelic football, aussie rules, and similar field sports can be grouped together. They’re all crazy – but in a good way!
Alex Farrell
08. Mar, 2010
I know this sport wasn’t at the olympics, but what about motocross racing? Certainly a highly physical and mental demanding sport.
Racers train up to 8-16 hours a day to race for 30 minutes against 40 other racers as fast as they can through the toughest tracks.They are on a 110 kg bike shifting their weight between the ruts, jumps and burms. They now have bigger tracks and racers need to be at their peak fitness even for competing at even an entry level.
yuri
08. Mar, 2010
I was recently introduced to this sport as team Kawasaki and one of their top motocross riders has been using my Fitter U workouts and have noticed a huge improvement in performance. They were telling me about the physical demands of the sport and I was truly baffled.
Lisa
08. Mar, 2010
Synchronized Swimming? Strength, flexibility, endurance/cardio, breath control, coordination?
yuri
08. Mar, 2010
Maybe. It’s so tough to split hairs between all these great athletes. Ah…the challenges I face each day…lol.
Davey
08. Mar, 2010
Triathletes…? Or Decathletes…?
yuri
08. Mar, 2010
Yeah, they could make the list as well. I just met some great guys who are triathletes and one of them was telling me that it took him just over 9 hours to complete the ironman!!! I’ll definitely get him to write a post about his thoughts on the subject.
Frank Peterson
08. Mar, 2010
You should consider college and Olympic style wrestling for one of your top five. It was a wrestling website that got me interested in your book EatingForEnergy. These guys need to know as much as you can tell them about diet since they must make weight in order to wrestle. On top of this the demand of the sport make it a real physical and mental test of l fitness. (Check out the NCAA college wrestling championships March 18-20 University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
yuri
08. Mar, 2010
Thanks for letting me know Frank. I agree that wrestling is a great and challenging sport – but obviously I’ve got my “biases”.
name
20. Jul, 2010
I agree with this entire page, but i feel like there is just one more sport that’s missing….
WWE/TNA Style Professional Wrestling.
All awareness of storylines and predetermined outcomes aside, these guys (and yes, the ladies too) are some seriously determined athletes. They follow strict diet and exercise routines all year around, they get no off season, constant stress, they travel the world all year round. When performing, they get no “water breaks, no rounds to recuperate.” Now combine that with extreme choreography, and possessing the ability to remember all your next moves after taking several shots to the head, whether by force or by ground, and yet have the stamina and endurance to not collapse, regardless of how intense the matches are. The will and determination to cope with all these factors takes some serious capability if you ask me.