Toughest Sports in the World

af_thefragile

F1.

You're heart is racing at 180bpm peaking upto 220 and 230bpm, you're sitting in a 40c carbonfiber box with your arse less than two inches above the ground. You need to pay 100% concentration throughout and can barely blink a couple of times per lap. Put your body through forces of upto 6G (sometimes even greater) constantly (every time you break, you feel like your head's about to get ripped off your body). And you've got to do this continuously for 2 hours.

I doubt there is a sport tougher than that unless you count in some of those ultra-marathons where you've got to like run for 300miles in 6 days through the desert.

Samich wrote: »

Le Mans 24 hours is tougher.

Its not actually. Firstly the cars aren't as fast as F1 cars so you're subjected to lesser G-Forces and because its an endurance race, you're not going at 100% all the time so it requires lesser degree of concentration and commitment.

Kevin Duffy

Basketball tough? Me shíte. It shoulda been heaved out of the top 10 in favour of MMA, or maybe rockclimbing - constant concentration, huge skill, have to be very, very fit to take it to a high level, have to make potentially life or death decisions, work well with a partner and understand the mechanics of protecting yourself v pressing on when that's not possible. Like chess with the possibility of falling off the board and breaking your bollix.

af_thefragile

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

Basketball tough? Me shíte. It shoulda been heaved out of the top 10 in favour of MMA, or maybe rockclimbing - constant concentration, huge skill, have to be very, very fit to take it to a high level, have to make potentially life or death decisions, work well with a partner and understand the mechanics of protecting yourself v pressing on when that's not possible. Like chess with the possibility of falling off the board and breaking your bollix.

Tbh, rockclimbing is not that though, just requires a lot of upper body strength. Its pretty safe too now with all the safety harnesses and ropes and all... Unless you're this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZpmngOFxOc

Kevin Duffy

af_thefragile wrote: »

Tbh, rockclimbing is not that though, just requires a lot of upper body strength. Its pretty safe too now with all the safety harnesses and ropes and all... Unless you're this guy:

Dan Osman, who is dead now, 'cos the ropes you so wildly incorrectly say make it safe failed on him. It actually doesn't "just require a lot of upper body strength" as you put it. You don't know jack about climbing just 'cos you've seen a vid on youtube.

cocoshovel

E-sports.

kfallon

Horse racing, the only sport where an ambulance follows you around as you perform!

summerskin

Can't believe rugby union is on the list! I started playing union when after 20 years of rugby league my knees were fcucked and my fitness was shiite, and still played for 8 years!

Its a fun game and great to play but my god it's nowhere near as physical or as tough as league

Da Shins Kelly

Hurling has got to be up there. It's amazingly skillfull, and requires a great level of fitness. Those lads are well able to take a hit too.

Cycling and boxing both seem incredibly tough too.

af_thefragile

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

Dan Osman, who is dead now, 'cos the ropes you so wildly incorrectly say make it safe failed on him. It actually doesn't "just require a lot of upper body strength" as you put it. You don't know jack about climbing just 'cos you've seen a vid on youtube.

Sorry, I do climb and I know what it takes. It does take concentration but I wouldn't consider it to be the toughest sport out there. It can be a bit like playing chess at times planning your route and such but once you've gotten over the fear that you're hanging in mid air suspended with just a rope, you learn to trust the equipment and your belay partner and its pretty safe. Just wrecks your hands pretty quick but as I mentioned, it about upper body strength. The stronger your arms and fingers are, the better holds you can get and the longer you can go before you wreck yourself.

And that was more than 10yrs ago. Also he had left the ropes out exposed to the weather for a couple of weeks which degraded their quality. Modern ropes and devices are pretty safe. Millions of people climb all the time and you rarely hear of someone dying or getting injured due to an equipment failure.

Littlehorny

The reason boxing is third is because they gave it only 5/10 for agility and 4/10 for skill. To hit and not get hit takes great skill and a lot more agility than this reporter thinks, also boxing is one on one with no where to hide and no sub to take over. The training thats covers every aspect of fitness and the fact you have to make weight and then ther is a guy waiting to pummel the ****e out of you!! Boxing defo no.1 imo.

El_Drago

They include mixed martial arts,cycling,competitive bodybuilding and professional wrestling.

mikemac

American football

Some of the best athletes in the world and the game is intense, it's like a game of chess on a field with designed plays, trick plays, attempts to find mismatches and deception

kincsem

The title says Toughest but then everyone talks about skill.

I thought cross-country skiing was the toughest - long distance at peak effort. Cycling must be tough as there is a RAAM race each year (Race Across America) that is about 3,000 miles and is continuous (no sleep or sleep if you can't continue.)

I was very surprised to see American Football listed. There is big physical contact, but the players have body armour and helmets with faceguards. And about 50% of the game is ad breaks.

Motorsport requires concentration and skill. G forces are big but their necks are supported in F1. They don't suffer from Shermer's neck.

Kevin Duffy

af_thefragile wrote: »

Millions of people climb all the time and you rarely hear of someone dying or getting injured due to an equipment failure.

#5 here and that's without discounting no's 1 and 4 which are elevated because of their poularity with older participants rather than the inherent danger. You still know jack about climbing.

af_thefragile

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

#5 here and that's without discounting no's 1 and 4 which are elevated because of their poularity with older participants rather than the inherent danger. You still know jack about climbing.

That list put Golf at no.3 sorry...

Also we're talking about the toughest sport, not the most dangerous sport.
BASE jumping is usually considered the most dangerous sport cuz a lot of people die doing it. But its definitely not the toughest as it usually doesn't take a lot of physical effort to jump off a building and pull a cord to deploy your parachute.

summerskin

mikemac wrote: »

American football

Some of the best athletes in the world and the game is intense, it's like a game of chess on a field with designed plays, trick plays, attempts to find mismatches and deception

Rubbish! Only cornerbacks, rb's wide receivers, tight ends have ANY fitness level that could be classed as near to that of many other sports. 60 mins of action spread over 3 hours, of which time is split between offense and defence!

An offensive tackle in NFL has about 10% the fitness of your average union prop!

And a union prop is about as fit as Pauline quirk.

summerskin

mikemac wrote: »

American football

Some of the best athletes in the world and the game is intense, it's like a game of chess on a field with designed plays, trick plays, attempts to find mismatches and deception

Rubbish! Only cornerbacks, rb's wide receivers, tight ends have ANY fitness level that could be classed as near to that of many other sports. 60 mins of action spread over 3 hours, of which time is split between offense and defence!

An offensive tackle in NFL has about 10% the fitness of your average union prop!

And a union prop is about as fit as Pauline quirke

kincsem

^
so true it was worth saying twice. :pac:

Kevin Duffy

af_thefragile wrote: »

That list put Golf at no.3 sorry...

Also we're talking about the toughest sport, not the most dangerous sport.
BASE jumping is usually considered the most dangerous sport cuz a lot of people die doing it. But its definitely not the toughest as it usually doesn't take a lot of physical effort to jump off a building and pull a cord to deploy your parachute.

It put it at no. 4, not 3, which is why I mentioned discounting 1 and 4. I know the thread is about toughest sports, you're the one who chipped in with the nonsense about climbing being safe, which was only part of why I suggested it as a tough sport.

Show Time

Big game hunting.

Kevin Duffy

kincsem wrote: »

The title says Toughest but then everyone talks about skill.

In the article, skill is listed as one of the scoring criteria, hence the discussion of it where it seems to be underestimated, such as in boxing. Also, developing a skill and reproducing it under pressure is tough.

af_thefragile

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

It put it at no. 4, not 3, which is why I mentioned discounting 1 and 4. I know the thread is about toughest sports, you're the one who chipped in with the nonsense about climbing being safe, which was only part of why I suggested it as a tough sport.

Its mostly safe unless you decide to go climbing in the middle of nowhere without informing anyone about it... That's when most casualties happen. People with not enough experience trying things out on their own or climbers trying out new rock faces.

I'm in my college's climbing club and we go climbing fairly regularly (i don't do it as much anymore cuz I'm getting in my final years and I need to focus more on the studies) and never anything bad has happened... As I mentioned, once you get over the initial fear of the heights and being suspended by just a rope, you'll feel pretty safe, though you're still just human and you do think of the "what if the rope breaks?!!" but its not something that stops you from doing it...

Anyway, here's another one for a tough and dangerous sport which requires tons of skill and balls the size of jupiter!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVXc29ZgutI

But for the toughest I'ld say this has to be up there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_des_Sables

Kevin Duffy

af_thefragile wrote: »

Its mostly safe unless you decide to go climbing in the middle of nowhere without informing anyone about it... That's when most casualties happen. People with not enough experience trying things out on their own or climbers trying out new rock faces.

I'm in my college's climbing club and we go climbing fairly regularly (i don't do it as much anymore cuz I'm getting in my final years and I need to focus more on the studies) and never anything bad has happened... As I mentioned, once you get over the initial fear of the heights and being suspended by just a rope, you'll feel pretty safe, though you're still just human and you do think of the "what if the rope breaks?!!" but its not something that stops you from doing it...

Seriously, stop imagining you know much about climbing, you don't.

af_thefragile

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

Seriously, stop imagining you know much about climbing, you don't.

Ok sir.

yupyup7up

summerskin wrote: »

Can't believe rugby union is on the list! I started playing union when after 20 years of rugby league my knees were fcucked and my fitness was shiite, and still played for 8 years!

Its a fun game and great to play but my god it's nowhere near as physical or as tough as league

League players would generally be fitter and stronger, and you can shoulder charge so yeah in that sense it is tougher, but having a fat 18 stone prop standing on your face in a ruck in union is not cool...

if League had rucks like union it would be tougher.

sock puppet

af_thefragile wrote: »

F1.

You're heart is racing at 180bpm peaking upto 220 and 230bpm

Well 180bpm is hardly racing. If your max rate is indeed 230 then 50 bbm is grand.

af_thefragile

sock puppet wrote: »

Well 180bpm is hardly racing. If your max rate is indeed 230 then 50 bbm is grand.

For 2hrs straight, its quite a lot...
Especially when you factor in the heat, the G-Forces and the concentration required. The car is constantly behaving differently as the tyres degrade, the fuel gets used up and the car gets lighter, the track conditions change etc.

Capt'n Midnight

Cheerleading.

Much higher injury/death rate than American Football and no protective gear.

af_thefragile

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Cheerleading.

Much higher injury/death rate than American Football and no protective gear.

They do have airbags...


/gets coat

sock puppet

af_thefragile wrote: »

For 2hrs straight, its quite a lot...
Especially when you factor in the heat, the G-Forces and the concentration required. The car is constantly behaving differently as the tyres degrade, the fuel gets used up and the car gets lighter, the track conditions change etc.

Didn't actually know how long an F1 race was. But yeah that's tough enough for 2 hours but still manageable. Definitely not unusual.

It's an impossible question to answer anyway unless you've played every sport there is to a high level.