Hardest Sport ?

[CrankItUp!]

Just curious what everyone thinks is the hardest single sport :

I'd have to say Bicycle Road Racing - Hands Down.

[Loppfessor]

Wrestling hands down....

[HEIRESS]

the butterfly stroke

[zorra_chiflada]

triathlon.

[enree erzweglle]

100-mile trail ultramarathons

[Rancid_Beasties]

triathlon.
Yep

[zorra_chiflada]

100-mile trail ultramarathons

oh, i knew someone who did those. he lived off of seeds.

[enree erzweglle]

oh, i knew someone who did those. he lived off of seeds.
I don't have the endurance to do anything even close to an ultramarathon. My friend trains long and hard regularly and can nearly wake up on any given weekend and think, "should I do one today or not?" and then he'll go and do one. Like it's nothing. :eek:

[zorra_chiflada]

I don't have the endurance to do anything even close to an ultramarathon. My friend trains long and hard regularly and can nearly wake up on any given weekend and think, "should I do one today or not?" and then he'll go and do one. Like it's nothing. :eek:

wouldn't that put a lot of strain on your body, no matter how amazingly fit you are? the human body wasn't made to do that.

[TonsOfFun]

The human body is pretty amazing. It can take strain like that, every week even if you condition yourself for it. I'd love to do an Ironman Triathlon. No way fit enough right now. But I love the feeling of doing exercise until you can physically do no more. Like sprinting until you you cannot run anymore. Just hardcore, the pain is soooooooo nice. I sometimes do it with swimming also, front crawl. Pain is good.

Although the hardest sport I've played in terms of skill and actually being strong or 'hard' to do is rugby. Man, those guys are fit AND strong and tend to get injured easily.

So Rugby would be my answer.

[enree erzweglle]

wouldn't that put a lot of strain on your body, no matter how amazingly fit you are? the human body wasn't made to do that.
He seems to be doing okay at 47. He's been doing this stuff or stuff like it for as long as I've known him and that's a long time. (It's not like at his age he just decided to start doing an extreme sport.)

I think some people are designed for this level of sport. Most aren't, though. I'm pretty fit and I think no matter how much I trained, I could never get my base miles up high enough to survive an ultra.

[scotty]

Rugby union, hands down.

[tracky]

I couldn't even run 200m

What are we talking about here anyway, the sport requiring the most skill, or most endurance, or ability to cop a pounding?

[laurie_hammy]

the butterfly stroke

exactly

[Nuzzolese]

boxing or ballet would be my guess

[enree erzweglle]

What are we talking about here anyway, the sport requiring the most skill, or most endurance, or ability to cop a pounding?
I wondered this too but figured that someone would tell me that I was overthinking things if I posed the question. :)

[ChrisLove]

In terms of physically demanding then I guess that triathlon marathon and that sort of things takes it. But the hardest?

Hardest to become best in the world : Football/soccer – just depends on the number of people who play (and also related to the regards for being the best) and I would guess that footie takes it comfortably.

Hardest to get the hang of: (ie it will take you ages to not look like a complete twat): probably skateboarding or skiing or something of that nature.

I dunno quit bugging me

[Tzar]

AFL anyone?

it ain't the easiest game. try running as fast as you can and kick an oval-shaped ball 30-60 odd metres in a straight line.

try bouncing an oval-shaped ball with your hands whilst running as fast as you can and getting to come back into your hands.

try kick a torpedo :p

edit:
skill-wise hard? yes
rough hard-wise? yes - we don't wear padding, bitches

[enree erzweglle]

AFL anyone?

it ain't the easiest game. try running as fast as you can and kick an oval-shaped ball 30-60 odd metres in a straight line.

try bouncing an oval-shaped ball with your hands whilst running as fast as you can and getting to come back into your hands.

try kick a torpedo :p
What's the one that the Wallabies play? I get Rugby League and Union confused no matter how many times you guys tell me which is which. The one where they don't have to stop after <n> tackles--those guys have to be (and seem to be) in great cardio shape.

[Tzar]

What's the one that the Wallabies play? I get Rugby League and Union confused no matter how many times you guys tell me which is which. The one where they don't have to stop after <n> tackles--those guys have to be (and seem to be) in great cardio shape.
wallabies is Rugby Union.

i mean AFL (http://www.afl.com.au)

[tracky]

AFL is football, and by football I don't mean soccer. The wallabies play rugby, something I know nothing about.

[Nuzzolese]

The only reason I wouldn't guess a team sport to be the toughest is because you get breaks now and then, and you get the help and support of your teammates. In solitary sports you're all alone out there doing all the work nonstop.

[Tzar]

The only reason I wouldn't guess a team sport to be the toughest is because you get breaks now and then, and you get the help and support of your teammates. In solitary sports you're all alone out there doing all the work nonstop.
yeah suppose. but most professional sports have an off-field team to support them. like....gymnastics - the actual gymnasts do their shit but they have their team-mates and coach screaming at them in the middle of everything.

[custom51]

boxing would be the toughest i think, or ironman triatholons

[enree erzweglle]

wallabies is Rugby Union.

i mean AFL (http://www.afl.com.au)Okay now I'm confused. How is AFL different from Rugby Union?

(I have to say that rugby is so, so much better than American football. Much more action packed and it's a steady action. They don't stop every 10 seconds to regroup. That's probably why rugby players look to be in so much better shape.)

[Tzar]

Okay now I'm confused. How is AFL different from Rugby Union?

(I have to say that rugby is so, so much better than American football. Much more action packed and it's a steady action. They don't stop every 10 seconds to regroup. That's probably why rugby players look to be in so much better shape.)
AFL is A LOT different than both rugbys.

ummm...you'd have to see a video or something of AFL to see what i mean.

[enree erzweglle]

AFL is A LOT different than both rugbys.

ummm...you'd have to see a video or something of AFL to see what i mean.
If it involves the words "Aussie Rules" then I already gave up on understanding that. :D

[JBernas]

triathlon.

I was just looking up the Ironman in Hawaii this morning....2.4 mile ocean swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 run.....NUTS.

[Herbivore]

Golf.
I recently started playing and it is a very challenging sport.

[Nuzzolese]

yeah suppose. but most professional sports have an off-field team to support them. like....gymnastics - the actual gymnasts do their shit but they have their team-mates and coach screaming at them in the middle of everything.

So you're saying that equals things out then?

[Qdrop]

relationships.

[TonsOfFun]

Actually Rowing is pretty hard. I've only tried the machine things, which are hard. I've done canoeing - which is the closet to rowing I've done, but that was easy, mainly cus it was a still water and we didn't go far.

[Nuzzolese]

Qdrop just splash some gatorade in your face and get back in there.

[enree erzweglle]

I've done sports as part of a team and as an individual.

When I train to increase endurance and I'm doing that to shore myself up not just physically but in an all-around way, I train completely alone. It means more to me that way--it's a much bigger personal accomplishment because it all comes down to me in the end.

That approach, though, is a whole lot harder from a get-going/get-started perspective. (Sometimes, half of training or exercise in general is just getting up and out and started. When you've got someone waiting for you--either one other person or part of a team--that's strong motivation to get going. But to me, that lessens the experience if I'm using that training to get stronger not just from a physical perspective.)

[cosmo105]

water polo. no one trains or plays harder than h2o polo players. the chicks are meaner than the dudes. the guys would poke each other with needles and let them fall to the bottom of the pool when the refs were looking...the girls would scratch each other's suits off and draw so much blood...

[Bob]

water polo. no one trains or plays harder than h2o polo players. the chicks are meaner than the dudes. the guys would poke each other with needles and let them fall to the bottom of the pool when the refs were looking...the girls would scratch each other's suits off and draw so much blood...

surely this must be aganst some kind of health regulation

[cosmo105]

we were supposed to clip our nails down so you couldn't see any white, and the refs would do nail check before every game, sometimes even toenails...and if he thought they were too long and you didn't have clippers, you had to grind them on the concrete outside the pool. i had to do that so many times. :(

[Kid Presentable]

I'll do the predictable thing and nominate skating.

The first time you ever step foot on a board, you either love it or feel meh. But everybody feels off balance. Riding the thing is an artform. Once you learn how to push(properly) you then have to apply the skill to an urban obstacle course. Pedestrians, animals, trash, cracks. It's tricky to say the least. I first learned to respect the plank when I slammed on christams morning aged six, cut my face up, chipped a tooth and pulled out two fingernails by landing on them.

The next step is learning to ollie. Jumping with a wooden board centrifugally adhered to your feet; no easy task. I spent nights learning how to ollie to the point where my young frame couldn't stand anymore. Once I mastered it, I spent even longer learning how to do it whilst moving. Busted my ass bad. Looked like I'd shit my pants full of broken glass.

As time went on, I started riding ramps. This was 88-89, everybody had a ramp. You gotta learn how to drop in from the platform, and the only way to do that is to take a beating. Falling and falling, knowing you'd never be allowed to skate with the older crew if you pussied out. Twisted my knee, and hooked myself on a loose nail at various intervals. Got good at backside disasters though.

I started launching myself over upturned trash cans soon after, learning by gouging my legs up when landing inside the bin. I took a breather from the shit for a couple of years after the slow, flippy baggy jeans years took hold.

About 95 I picked up a board again, and progressed quickly. It became a must to leap down stairs, as a lightweight my maximum was ten. Lots of splits-doing ensued.

A friend filmed my doing a pop shuvit on a bank, and my board shot out and smashed his camera, and his nose. :o

About this time the hardest part took hold, the rockstar life. The ladies couldn't get enough of us grotty little danger monkeys, and partying took the focus away. So I'd bomb hills liquored up, and rip the shit out of my face as a result.Skating under the influence of smoke, I sprained both ankles in the same second, rolling them on top of each other.

I couldn't really face it the same way after that, I had a hard time walking for about a month, and then I just lost the fire. I got fatter and lazier, and mellowed a lot on the skating.

Then one day I went for an eight hour session with an old homie, and remembered why I loved it. That night to celebrate, we got fucked up. I was running along car roof-tops for fun, and jumped off one, landing totally straight legged. It was the Houston 500 of ACL injuries; fucked in every which way.

So now, I can only reminisce. I probably sound like I was shit at it, I wasn't great, but I was inspired by my own personal moments of greatness while on that toy.

I respect sportsmanship to an extent, the dedication people can show to their physical wellbeing whilst maintaining a healthy competitive spirit (even by competing with their personal bests), but none of that could ever haunt me like a cackling old bitch in the back of my head.

There is nothing doper than a level, floaty kickflip down the street. It wakes me up at night.

[cookiepuss]

Hockey. that shit is difficult and dangerous

and I'm also gonna have to say Jockey. it is incredibly hard to stay on a horse that's running full speed ahead. just try it some time.

[jabumbo]

i would say golf is one of the hardest sports to master

a triathalon, or any long time thing like that would be my pick for toughest though, becuase you have to phsically be able to perform while mentally keeping yourself ready to adjust to all the possible things that could happen during a race


any individual competition is by far harder than a team one, its just mentally exhausting

[mickill]

I agree with the people that said chariot racing.

[Ace42X]

I'd say darts. Other things can be learned. The angles in pool, how to shoot a gun. Other things can be endured. How to push through the burn, how to keep giving when you have given your last ounce. The infamous 110%.

With darts you are relying solely on your pure skill. No equipment to constrain or dictate the pace of the game. No interference from other players, no reliance on the talent of team-mates.

Hell, maybe I just really enjoy darts.

[TonsOfFun]

I picked up darts pretty easy. Thrwoing them at the board was harder :p

[icy manipulator]

the tour de france would have to be the hardest sporting event in the world to complete.

although the running of the bulls at pamplona would be some scary shit too :p

[enree erzweglle]

the tour de france would have to be the hardest sporting event in the world to complete.
I thought the same thing because most types of cycling are hard for me. I can't sustain speed/power on the hills, and I can't fathom cycling through mountains. People do it for fun. I met someone last month just like that who trains year-round for grueling cycling trips through the alps.

I still stand by my vote for ultramarathon trail running for endurance and mental discipline and I'd probably add the tour de france or some of those spring classics. Maybe in terms of versatility, technique, ability, I'd vote for the decathlon or, as others have said, Ironman.

[icy manipulator]

I thought the same thing because most types of cycling are hard for me. I can't sustain speed/power on the hills, and I can't fathom cycling through mountains. People do it for fun. I met someone last month just like that who trains year-round for grueling cycling trips through the alps.

I still stand by my vote for ultramarathon trail running for endurance and mental discipline and I'd probably add the tour de france or some of those spring classics. Maybe in terms of versatility, technique, ability, I'd vote for the decathlon or, as others have said, Ironman.
yeah, over 200 k's a day for about a month is the ultimate endurance test. i wonder how hard the Le Mans 24 hour race would be?

[Tzar]

i wonder how hard the Le Mans 24 hour race would be?
2 people race, you know
no way could 1 person drive for 24 hours.

i think the two blokes swap every now and then.

[icy manipulator]

2 people race, you know
no way could 1 person drive for 24 hours.

i think the two blokes swap every now and then.
SOFT! 24 hours for 1 guy would be pretty nuts then

[Tzar]

SOFT! 24 hours for 1 guy would be pretty nuts then
they have 2 drivers for bathurst in the v8 supercars too.

[icy manipulator]

they have 2 drivers for bathurst in the v8 supercars too.
EVEN SOFTER! then again, bathurst is pretty intense, the drivers have to watch out for kangaroos on the track........... :rolleyes: