Is cycling the most physically demanding sport ?

Carrera

Hi,
An interesting response to my question. I guess I agree with everything you said in your post.
I've never boxed myself and usually only watch the fights where Ali or Foreman or Frazier boxed. Having said that, I do watch the old Chris Eubank bouts and I was really impressed by Tyson (before he threw it all away and deteriorated.)
The bout I referred to shocked me (the one you picked up on). The 280 pound guy didn't have a glass jaw and had been in with some quality heavyweights. However, the small 200 lb plus boxer was incredibly powerful and he hit very hard (a bit like Rocky Marciano). I think this really proved to me that power and size are 2 different things.
I find it interesting that boxers do so much aerobics. Boxers will jog and do road-running almost on a daily basis as well as lots of skipping and sparring. Their aerobic activity is pretty advanced and, to my knowledge, most boxers don't use weights.
At any rate, your take on cycling was informative. I'm presently reading Lance Armstrong's book "Every Second Counts" and it seems the aspect he developed most was climbing since he relies on making big gains in the mountains. Apparently he lives in Girona and spends hours up in the mountains. So maybe it would be correct to say that Armstrong is more of a climber where training is concerned. He seems to have a slight edge on Ulrich in the mountains but I note that Ulrich beat Lance in the Olympics.

tomdavis80

Hey, guys, remember this thread and how it died out, well, guess what, ESPN did a study of which sports out of 60 sports was considered the most difficult sport to excel at. Guess what got the top marks? Boxing, like I thought it would. It's so hard to be any good at boxing and the physical demands on the body are incredible. That's why I took up cycling because I wanted to keep my brain intact when I was 50 years old. This is the results of that study. Enjoy analyzing it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page...total_rank#grid

Thomas Davis

Michuel

Hi Thomas

I agree with you about boxing being the hardest but ESPN's definition of "difficultness" doesn't correspond to my idea of hardness: thus they rate figure skating as marginally harder than cycling mainly because of its high agility, flexibility ratings. But look at a figure skating at the end of an event - they aren't collapsed in a heap, under an oxygen mask or looking like 80 year old men with all strength drained away.

What ESPN does not consider is competiteveness of sports. Certain sports because of their financial rewards may also be incredibly competitive and be able to be practised by a much higher % of population than the aerobic/anaerobic sports which can only be contested really by a small % of population because of physical demands. Thus sports which are easier physically may be much more difficult to excel at because they're so much more competitivefrom the greater population who can participate.

In addition the ESPN survey just adds up the difficulty factor in each category eg flexibilty + agility + "strength" + power etc (why not "psychology" also) while there's a case for weighting each factor differently.

For my idea of hardness I'd like a physiological measure like perceived pain, heart rate, stress considered with duration of activity. There's the TRIMP measure with I think measures intensity * duration which some use for rating effort within cycling. Also to be considered is running enables higher heart rate than cycling so is running harder than cycling.

DarrylZ

Hi All
Just having come in at the end of this thread, having myself participated in a number of sports over the years, and ironically my cycling career starting as merely a part of a training regime for another sport. Have any of you given consideration to motocross and some of the similar off road motorcycle racing such as Paris to Dakar.
From personal experience whilst racing motocross for 11 years of my life before the 5th knee operation ended any aspirations, i can tell you that it is probably (similar to Boxing) one of the most overall body workouts you can imagine, and to add to the difficulty is the concentration, required for this kind of activity.
It is not uncommon to do a 40 minute race with your heart rate in the 90+ zone for the entire period.
Whilst it may not have the endurance requirements of a cycling event lasting a couple of hours, my personal experience is that when racing the intensity is far greater to what i have experienced in an overall exhaustion manner than anything i have experienced in cycling, and have had more than my share of 'hitting the wall' in my last 8 years of cycling.

Just thought it would be interesting to hear anyone else's comments, as i have in the past seen comparisons that it was considered one of the most physically demanding sports around.

__________________
If your not bleeding, it's not hurting

ItalianStallion

Hmm... It doesn't really sound that much......

Marathon runners will have theirs up to 130-140 for the whole race.

Cyclist (I am taking a bit of a guess here) will be around 110 for most of their races......

Rowers (and I should know this) do training sessions for 2 hours in the 140-150 range, and up to 1 hour in the 150-170 range....

Motocross, however, probably requires a lot of concentration, even during training. Possibly more than most sports.

Back to the ESPN chart, I think most values are a bit (and a fair bit) out. As a former rower, and someone who's tried lots of sports, I think those values simply do not reflect reality.

Example: I used to do 1 hour stretching every day, plus 30 minutes of core stability exercies. How come is it that rowing only scored 4.00 in flexibility? Nerve: 1.75. I guess the writer never found himself racing side by side another crew with his heart rate at about 180 bpm!!!

And rodeo..... come on.......

I'm sure there will be people here that disagree with my views, but one of the reasons I stopped rowing is the little recongnition it gets. I hope you can understand this is a bit of a touchy subject for me.

Have a great day everyone!!!

tomdavis80

I think you misunderstood, he was probably referring to heartrate as percentages of maximum and I'm sure that the heartrate for motocross or motorcycle racing would be higher than 90 bpm and I promise you racecar drivers have the same thing because they are under tremendous amounts of stress going 200 mph where there is the chance of any slight mistake in depth perception could mean the difference between life and death.

Secondly, it wasn't necessarily writers who decided those numbers, it was a panel of journalists, sport scientists, kinesiologists who made those judgments. You should have checked on the link of who comprised that panel before saying they were just writers, all of them had pretty vaunted credentials but you're right, a couple were sport journalists.

Thomas Davis

tomdavis80

Also, about the nerve issue, you need to look at the definitions of each category, and nerve associated with rowing? Not a whole lot in my opinion because you do have the threat of losing a race if you lose the nerve and cadence, but you don't have the threat of losing your life if you screw up. That's why those sports that have signifcantly higher values for nerves require intense concentration with the possible threat of dying for f---ing up.

With rodeo, I'd disagree with you on rodeo. I know you probably have a vendetta against rodeo due to the fact that it gets more coverage than cycling does on OLN. But I respect those guys for having the balls to ride a 1000 to 1500 lb mammoth that's trying to buck them off and crush their heads in the process.

Thomas Davis

ItalianStallion

Having read the definitions (which I missed the first time around) I'm a bit more inclined to believe the rankings appear a bit more realistic. However, looking at the definitions, I believe many parameters that make a sport "hard" or "tough" or "difficult" have been omitted (in my personal opinion).

It's all fair to say that the most difficult sport is the one you get beat up most. Or that the most difficult sport is one that involves the biggest animal. A sport is about dedication, commitment, and a degree of talent. Assuming that you can't grade commitment, you'd have to grade the different talent aspects involved. And a sport requiring a great deal of physical and mental strentgh (talent) would be the winner.

Now, I don't consider risking my life riding a bull a talent. I consider the fact that you need to read the animal's reaction, adapt you position and hold, etc. That's talent. It's their choice if they decide to apply their talent to a dangerous sport. The same can be said of motorsport, and, to a certain extent, cycling.

One final point: in my opinion, if you want to provide a great and comprehensive analysis of 50 odd sports, you'd have to ask to a bit more than 10 journalists, professors and coaches. You have to ask the athletes themselves, find out what are the requirments of each sport and at that point have a panel analyze the results.

One more thing: I've said it before in this discussion and I'll say it again. I respect and admire any person who is actively or passively involved in any sport. It's the passion and commitment that make sports what they are, from a 20 years old risking his life to old men watching tv. And I am proud to be able to contribute to the growth and enjoyment of the sports I am most interested in.

Have a good day everyone!!

injunandrew

I haven't done that much cycling, but I thought I would chime in and vouch for rowing as possibly the most pysically demanding activity on earth.

I once pulled so hard through a 1.5k piece on a rowing machine that I almost blacked out when I finished. Then there were the steady state pieces we did for practice--2 or 3 hours of rowing without pause, 5 or 6 times a week. By the end of the first 2 hour piece of the season, you have skin falling off your hands and your legs are so tired you can hardly stand up out of the boat when you come back to dock.

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.

Not to mention how difficult it is row in perfect unison with 1 to 7 other people.

Wrestling, kick-boxing, and swimming might compare to rowing--but it is unlikely they surpass it.

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.

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

jhodder

What I've always thought as attributes of a difficult physical sport are the combination of dexterity, strength & endurance, mental fatigue, and the overall impact to the athletes body. More importantly the presence of these in training than in the competition.

Based on this, cycling is definitely very difficult, but not as much so as some other sports.

It is not solely the actual competition activity that should be used to determine the difficulty, but more so the training. Most of the time spent pursuing any sport endeavor will be spent training rather than in actual competion (in some cases the ratio may be 1000:1).

While a swimming race may only last a metter of minutes, competetive swimmers will train over 5 hours a day 6 days a week. In addition, there are no spinning days in swimming training, nor long descents.

After long hard climbs, my legs will wake me up in the middle of the night throbbing, but the impact is solely on my legs. Nothing compares to having a similar feeling including not only your legs, but your abs, back, shoulders, arms, and chest.

Then again, the challenges of sustained output at a high HR, requiring the expenditure of large watts of energy may be more critical than muscle groups used to do so.

All that said, the hardest sports to compete in are IMO...

(remember, my focus is on training)

1) Cross Country Skiing
Uses every muscle in your body
Long, intense cardio activity
Incredible dexterity and coordination
Mental stamina and pain tolerance
High average HR
Little or no recovery periods
Requires energy bursts and sustained output

2) Swimming (tie)
Uses every muscle in your body
Intense cardio activity
Incredible dexterity and coordination
Mental stamina and pain tolerance
Moderate average HR with high spikes (over period)
Frequent recovery periods
High strength to cardio fitness ratio
Requires energy bursts and sustained output

2) Rowing (tie)
Uses every muscle in your body
Intense cardio activity
Incredible dexterity and coordination
Mental stamina and pain tolerance
Moderate average HR with high spikes (over period)
Frequent recovery periods
Highest strength to cardio fitness ratio
Requires energy bursts and sustained output

4) Cycling
Long, intense cardio activity
Incredible dexterity and coordination
Mental stamina and pain tolerance
High average HR
Little or no recovery periods
High strength to cardio fitness ratio
Requires energy bursts and sustained output
Uses isolated muscle groups

5) Marathon Running
Long, intense cardio activity
Mental stamina and pain tolerance
High average HR
Little or no recovery periods
Low strength to cardio fitness ratio
Requires primarily sustained output
Uses isolated muscle groups

This is just a small list. of course you can throw any sport in here and see how it compares (speed skating may be between cycling and rowing/swimming)..... this is just how I see it.

P.S. I was a competetive swimmer my whole life (5th in 1996 US Olympic trials) and am now very into cycling. It's my experience that the training for swimming would wipe me out way beyond a hard ride. However, in general it is like comparing apples to oranges.

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.

Carrera

I think the snag is different definitions of "the toughest sport" have been quoted. I agree that rowing and boxing are very demanding but sports such as wrestling or motorcycle riding don't compare in my view. That's because I've been referring to physical endurance related to fitness. I know that in wrestling bones get battered about the ring or you get kicked hard in Karate. However, there isn't the same kind of pain barrier in these sports as you get with an endurance sport (although I'm not saying these sports are easy by any means).
The only sports I can compare to cycling so far that I've done is weights, running and some team sports. I found cycling to be tougher on a personal level although I grant I've never boxed, rowed or seriously swam. I had a friend who swears cycling is far easier for him than running and he says he finds cycling easy. Maybe it varies for different people.