Page 7 - Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ?

06-05.-2004, 08:38 AM

#91

injunandrew

Junior Member

Join Date: May 2004

Posts: 5

Quote:

Originally posted by tomdavis80
If you haven't done those sports then you can't say that they might or might not compare to rowing. Same thing with cycling, no offense but you have to try those sports before you can make those judgments. Don't automatically presume that boxing or wrestling is not as demanding as rowing or cycling just because there is so much pain involved in the training sessions. If you haven't tried it, you can't possibly make a good comparsion.

Thomas Davis

I have tried many sports. Including the ones I listed, and also track and field, football, and soccer, to name a few.

06-05.-2004, 08:45 AM

#92

injunandrew

Junior Member

Join Date: May 2004

Posts: 5

Quote:

Originally posted by Carrera
"From the cycling I have done, it just doesn't seem possible to exert myself that much when all I'm using is my legs."

The furthest I've ever been into the so-called pain barrier has been on my bike. I just started a new phase of fitness-training that involves cycling all the way up a mountainous road, standing all the way and fighting to complete each downstroke of the peddle. I can't imagine any activity that would be physically more demanding (with regard to fitness/endurance).

I have a lot of respect for all sports but I think cycling is the most physically demanding of anything I tried so far (running included). The fact you use the legs so much means the biggest muscles in your body are working which is why the demand on the body is so high.

You are definitely grossly underestimating how much work your legs do in rowing. Imagine hitting that pain barrier on your bike, then imagine that your arms and back are also throbbing in pain, and your hands are blistered to the point of bleeding.

Cycling is really tough...and actually very similar to rowing in many respects. That's why I've decided to take it up now that I can't row anymore.

06-05.-2004, 12:08 PM

#93

tomdavis80

Registered User

Join Date: Sep 2003

Posts: 149

Quote:

Originally posted by jhodder
I find the SI ranking really funny...

Swimming (sprinting) vs
Track & Field (sprinting)

The ranking for "Speed - The ability to move quickly.".....

T&F scored a 9.88
Swimming scored a 7.88

What the heck is the difference in speed between the fastest runner and the fastest swimmer in the world? Either way, they have more speed than anyone else in the world?!?

Also...

Tennis scores 3.0 for Nerve?
You go stand in front of a 147mph Roddick serve.

FUNNY

Keep in mind the SI's purpose in being is to keep people reading SI. Maybe that's why the top 4 are Boxing, Ice Hockey, Football, and Basketball?!? Bet they would have ranked baseball higher if they could have ever made the case.

Oh, btw, did you even look at the panel of "experts", they had a baseball player on it so don't tell me that it wasn't biased to baseball, it just goes to show that the baseball player, Brian Jordan, probably was pretty honest about his assessment of his own sport. Look before you speak.

Thomas Davis

06-05.-2004, 04:45 PM

#94

zaskar

Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2003

Location: AZ

Posts: 863

Quote:

Originally posted by tomdavis80
Oh, btw, did you even look at the panel of "experts", they had a baseball player on it so don't tell me that it wasn't biased to baseball, it just goes to show that the baseball player, Brian Jordan, probably was pretty honest about his assessment of his own sport. Look before you speak.

Thomas Davis

Nice going in the TBC!

07-05.-2004, 03:15 AM

#95

tomdavis80

Registered User

Join Date: Sep 2003

Posts: 149

Quote:

Originally posted by zaskar
Nice going in the TBC!

You don't know the half of it. It was just an awful day for me.

Thomas Davis

08-05.-2004, 04:37 AM

#96

Carrera

Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2004

Location: Staffordshire

Posts: 4,816

I agree. When I was younger and used to squat heavy I'd be basically terrified of hauling the weight on my shoulders in case of failure. I put up with the fear that involved for some years but never bottomed out. As I got older I chose the option of squatting light but (as a consequence) I had to do very high reps to justify the drop in weight. Both options made me feel anxious I guess.
As for cycling I'm nervous about tearing down hills for fear of a crash. I would really hate to come off and think I must be a bit of a chicken on that score. Those guys who tear downhill at 70 mph must have nerves of steel.

Quote:

Originally posted by menglish6
I was actually thinking about that Nerve category a bit. What seems to us like it would require alot of nerve, might not cause the athlete trained in that sport to think twice. I mean, when I first started cross country skiing I usually stopped before any steep hill and had to build up the confidence and "nerve" to go down it, knowing that I'd probably end up falling down at some point. Now, those same hills require no "nerve" at all. I'm sure the same goes for many other sports as well. It would certainly require alot of "nerve" for someone who can't swim to try to get into (let alone race in) a racing single.

On the other hand, there are aspects of every sport that I'm sure never get easier. Boxing or football for example, I'm sure that preparing yourself for the hits you are going to take isn't easy. I know that one of the things that always made my stomach churn before a rowing race was the anticipation of the pain I was going to put myself through.

In my mind that is the kind of "nerve" that is worthy of noting. The kind where you have to deal with the _certainty_ that something painful or adverse is going to happen to you when you compete or train. Not the kind where you have to prepare yourself for the possibility of injury if your skill fails you (especially when that skill has been trained to the point where injury is a very remote possibility).

29-08.-2007, 01:44 PM	#97
dentext Registered User Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 6	Re: Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ? The most demanding sport...suicide bombing. Easy to score, but making the finals is pretty tough.

31-08.-2007, 02:44 AM	#98
POK88 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 6	Re: Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ? This shows how demanding a 50 k cross country skiing race is. He looks pretty exhausted to me Keep in mind that this guy's Vo2 is 96... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAt8K-5tXwo

06-09.-2007, 08:56 PM	#99
chainstay Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 141	Re: Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ? Mountain biking versus road biking......Seems to me that mountain bike cross country racing not only requires at least the same great aerobic system that road racing does, but also requires more overall athleticism to succeed. So I would rank it as more physically demanding sport than road bike racing. And perhaps this is why we have had examples of great mountain bike racers stepping in to road racing and becoming top competitors. Rasmussen went from a world champion mountain biker to a near TDF winner. And Floyd Landis came out of mountain bike racing as well. (Yes, there is the suspected drug thing with those two, but I am assuming the suspected drug thing is pretty much the case with all the top pros.) Ned Overend, at age 53 today, can still beat many pro road racers in a single hill climb road race event. Do we have examples of the reverse happening---great road race champions moving on to become great mountain bike race champions? Maybe we do; I don't follow what the pros are doing closely enough to know.

07-09.-2007, 02:28 AM

#100

blkhotrod

Registered User

Join Date: Oct 2005

Posts: 128

Re: Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by limerickman

Have been reading some stuff about rowing (Steve Redgraves
Biography : 1984,1988,1992,1996 and 2000 Olympic Gold Medallist Rower) and about hard he trained to reach the top of his sport.
This got me to thinking : you read of cyclists doing 30k kilometres
of training BEFORE the season commences :
Is cycling the most physically demanding sport there is ?
If you consider some other sport to be more physically demanding, perhaps you could tell us why this is so ?

after triathlons it is........

07-09.-2007, 06:24 AM

#101

daveryanwyoming

Registered User

Join Date: Oct 2006

Posts: 1,506

Re: Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by blkhotrod

after triathlons it is........

Or try superalpine mountaineering or high altitude mountaineering or ultra-endurance running like the Leadville 100. There are plenty of sports that give cycling a run for its money. Cycling is great, but don't dismiss the training or day of event demands for lots of other sports. Try a speed ascent of a technical route on Denali if you want to see how far the human body can be pushed.

07-09.-2007, 12:52 PM	#102
Pendejo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 528	Re: Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ? There's no answer to this question because there are too many variables. For example, which is more "physically demanding," to be in intense pain for ten minutes or moderate pain for two hours? I've engaged in quite a few endurance sports and I do know this: I've never felt so totally fatigued as after a swimming workout. It's down to the bone and it lasts.

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