I challenge anyone to say that the 400 Meter hurdles and steeplechase aren't "tough."
Edit: Although one could also claim that the hurdles and steeplechase are single events, events that constitute the sport of Track and Field. Thus, while Track and Field is not "tough" as a whole, individual events such as the hurdles may be far more demanding.
Yes, all the way to single digit handicaps at one point. Notice I said "team sports".
Quote:
I say toughest physically, rugby hands down....
Again, "North American"... Rugby is more a dominant sport in Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa, and parts of Europe I think. But were it to be American, I would list it as #1 on the "Sport Requiring the Most Physical Toughness" category. Probably near the bottom of the list in toughest to master.
Basketball is a much easier sport to master than Hockey; have no idea what the Toronto Star people were thinking. If I had to rank North American team sports, it would be something like this. . .
Yeah. . . Hockey takes like two years AT LEAST just to figure out. But what AN AWESOME TIME! Wow. It must be the most fun sport I've ever played, and I've played a lot of sports competitively.
The two most intense sports I've played are ice hockey and steeplechase. Both can require major recup time. Rugby does too, but not ALWAYS. IIRC auto racing was up there on some of the metrics. For sure there's a lot of mental fatigue. Hell, even winning the 787B in GT3 takes a lot of mental fatigue!
Baseball has absolutely no place in any list containing the word "tough".
Except when you get beaned in the helmet like Sammy did last year...or even Edgar Martinez in the All-Star game.
Or when you're a catcher and you spend your entire career crouching, standing, crouching, standing...get run-over at the plate by a guy determined to knock the ball out of your mitt.
Or when you're a pitcher and the hitter slams a come-backer at 130+ mph right back at your head.
Or if you're junior Griffey, hurting your shoulder while making a leaping dive for an uncatchable ball.
Or if you're Johnny "Jesus" Damon, so focused on catching a ball that you run into your own teammate at full speed and knock heads.
Or Alex Cora who dove headfirst into another player at second base and was lying unconscious on the field for about 15 minutes.
Or Ray Durham who mistimed a feet-first slide into third base, had his cleat catch on the bag while his body flew over it.
Or Marcus Giles + Mark Prior colliding...
Or...
Baseball's pretty unforgiving over time. Just ask Vladmir Guerrero, Mo Vaughn, Kirby Puckett, Dave Dravecky, etc.
The first thing that came to my mind was a triathalon ... I helped a friend train for one last year.
But in looking at the list, I see they list swimming, clycling, and running as separate events... and as such I wouldn't include them in the top 10 either ...
Put them all together, though ... I'd think the triathalon would be right up there with boxing. Especially that handful of atheletes that WIN triathalons !
We should probably have a list for individual sports and competitions. Iron Man is brutal, as is the Tour de France, Decathlon, etc.
As for baseball, there are brief moments that require toughness, but getting hit by pitches, or steam-rolling catchers at home plate or slamming into walls... those things do not happen every game. For most players they don't even happen every week.
Baseball's difficult parts come into play with hitting curve-balls, sliders, knucklers, etc. Snagging hard grounders on the run, pivoting and throwing accurately in one motion, is also difficult. And of course pitching itself is very hard to master.
But hockey is harder still. Until you've tried it a few times, you really cannot appreciate just how difficult it is to do all the things these guys do, on skates, at relatively high speeds, and with other skaters trying to knock you around. It's DAMN difficult to get good at it, to the point where you have real confidence all the time.
For what it's worth, while I wouldn't claim it to be amongst the toughest per se. Ultimate Frisbee is a burly sport. It's all running, jumping, colliding, falling over and throwing. All with no special gear to speak of, all very fast paced. That said, for me, Soccer is burlier, as is hockey, as is Basketball, but ultimate is definitely worth mentioning.
I played some indoor soccer not too long ago, it was intense! loads of fun, but tough!.
First off, sorry to bring this back from the dead, but perhaps some new opinions would be found a few years later, on a subject still quite relevant?
First off, pretty odd how I found this. I just heard about ESPN's hardest sport the other week and, as a swimmer, was pretty disappointed by how it ranked. So I googled "swimming hardest sport" to see if anyone else agreed that it was at least up there...low and behold, second hit is AppleInsider, a forum I've been coming to for my tech news...
Secondly, I would like to say that swimming definitely deserves more credit. Of course, this would be expected from a swimmer, but I have to ask how many people actually know how precise of a sport swimming can be. Whether it's angling your wrist a bit more so it's inline with your forearm (allowing you to use not only your hand, but your arm as a paddle) or perfecting your streamline, the technique involved in swimming is often overlooked.
Besides technique the training is also extremely difficult. Currently, I'm on a highschool team, and though we don't train at quite the intense levels as I do the other nine months of the year at my club team, we still often times swim more each day than the cross country team runs. Then theres the different kinds of training...i could go on and on.
I would also like to mention Martial Arts lower rank than Boxing...doesn't seem quite right. Martial Arts allow for much harder beatings. Muay Tai (sp?) for example...most of those athletes retire quite early as their body can no longer take the beatings. and by early, i mean as early as 2 years after they go pro.
Just my 2 cents, hopefully this topic will bring in some new opinions
I did a half back in October at a 6:54 pace, which is decent for an amateur such as myself, but nowhere near the 5-ish that some guys get to. Left me sleeping/throwing up for the rest of the day.
And if you want the most physically gruelling competition at all?
Ulta-marathons:
100+ miles or just the 'run as far as you can in 48 hour' ones. Perhaps the Death Valley one where it's 135 miles in >100° heat. Fun.
But as that is a niche sport, I would say Rugby, Boxing, and Ultimate Fighting.
Comments
Most Physically Punishing: Boxing
Most Physically Draining 400 Meter hurdles
I challenge anyone to say that the 400 Meter hurdles and steeplechase aren't "tough."
Edit: Although one could also claim that the hurdles and steeplechase are single events, events that constitute the sport of Track and Field. Thus, while Track and Field is not "tough" as a whole, individual events such as the hurdles may be far more demanding.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
have you ever played golf????
Yes, all the way to single digit handicaps at one point. Notice I said "team sports".
I say toughest physically, rugby hands down....
Again, "North American"... Rugby is more a dominant sport in Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa, and parts of Europe I think. But were it to be American, I would list it as #1 on the "Sport Requiring the Most Physical Toughness" category. Probably near the bottom of the list in toughest to master.
Originally posted by Moogs
Basketball is a much easier sport to master than Hockey; have no idea what the Toronto Star people were thinking. If I had to rank North American team sports, it would be something like this. . .
Yeah. . . Hockey takes like two years AT LEAST just to figure out. But what AN AWESOME TIME! Wow. It must be the most fun sport I've ever played, and I've played a lot of sports competitively.
The two most intense sports I've played are ice hockey and steeplechase. Both can require major recup time. Rugby does too, but not ALWAYS. IIRC auto racing was up there on some of the metrics. For sure there's a lot of mental fatigue. Hell, even winning the 787B in GT3 takes a lot of mental fatigue!
Originally posted by rageous
Baseball has absolutely no place in any list containing the word "tough".
Except when you get beaned in the helmet like Sammy did last year...or even Edgar Martinez in the All-Star game.
Or when you're a catcher and you spend your entire career crouching, standing, crouching, standing...get run-over at the plate by a guy determined to knock the ball out of your mitt.
Or when you're a pitcher and the hitter slams a come-backer at 130+ mph right back at your head.
Or if you're junior Griffey, hurting your shoulder while making a leaping dive for an uncatchable ball.
Or if you're Johnny "Jesus" Damon, so focused on catching a ball that you run into your own teammate at full speed and knock heads.
Or Alex Cora who dove headfirst into another player at second base and was lying unconscious on the field for about 15 minutes.
Or Ray Durham who mistimed a feet-first slide into third base, had his cleat catch on the bag while his body flew over it.
Or Marcus Giles + Mark Prior colliding...
Or...
Baseball's pretty unforgiving over time. Just ask Vladmir Guerrero, Mo Vaughn, Kirby Puckett, Dave Dravecky, etc.
But in looking at the list, I see they list swimming, clycling, and running as separate events... and as such I wouldn't include them in the top 10 either ...
Put them all together, though ... I'd think the triathalon would be right up there with boxing. Especially that handful of atheletes that WIN triathalons !
I also thought that more people died while fishing than any other sport
As for baseball, there are brief moments that require toughness, but getting hit by pitches, or steam-rolling catchers at home plate or slamming into walls... those things do not happen every game. For most players they don't even happen every week.
Baseball's difficult parts come into play with hitting curve-balls, sliders, knucklers, etc. Snagging hard grounders on the run, pivoting and throwing accurately in one motion, is also difficult. And of course pitching itself is very hard to master.
But hockey is harder still. Until you've tried it a few times, you really cannot appreciate just how difficult it is to do all the things these guys do, on skates, at relatively high speeds, and with other skaters trying to knock you around. It's DAMN difficult to get good at it, to the point where you have real confidence all the time.
I played some indoor soccer not too long ago, it was intense! loads of fun, but tough!.
First off, pretty odd how I found this. I just heard about ESPN's hardest sport the other week and, as a swimmer, was pretty disappointed by how it ranked. So I googled "swimming hardest sport" to see if anyone else agreed that it was at least up there...low and behold, second hit is AppleInsider, a forum I've been coming to for my tech news...
Secondly, I would like to say that swimming definitely deserves more credit. Of course, this would be expected from a swimmer, but I have to ask how many people actually know how precise of a sport swimming can be. Whether it's angling your wrist a bit more so it's inline with your forearm (allowing you to use not only your hand, but your arm as a paddle) or perfecting your streamline, the technique involved in swimming is often overlooked.
Besides technique the training is also extremely difficult. Currently, I'm on a highschool team, and though we don't train at quite the intense levels as I do the other nine months of the year at my club team, we still often times swim more each day than the cross country team runs. Then theres the different kinds of training...i could go on and on.
I would also like to mention Martial Arts lower rank than Boxing...doesn't seem quite right. Martial Arts allow for much harder beatings. Muay Tai (sp?) for example...most of those athletes retire quite early as their body can no longer take the beatings. and by early, i mean as early as 2 years after they go pro.
Just my 2 cents, hopefully this topic will bring in some new opinions
I did a half back in October at a 6:54 pace, which is decent for an amateur such as myself, but nowhere near the 5-ish that some guys get to. Left me sleeping/throwing up for the rest of the day.
And if you want the most physically gruelling competition at all?
Ulta-marathons:
100+ miles or just the 'run as far as you can in 48 hour' ones. Perhaps the Death Valley one where it's 135 miles in >100° heat. Fun.
But as that is a niche sport, I would say Rugby, Boxing, and Ultimate Fighting.