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Which sport do you think is best for overall fitness?

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Originally posted by: James3shin
Which sport do you think builds a persons overall fitness? Fitness, I guess would be overall strength, agility, speed, and endurance? I think they are as follows (not in order):

Soccer
Boxing
Swimming
Running

I know Boxing doesn't seem to fit, but man, those guys are running, working on footwork, hitting the bags as well as lifting weights. I'd say that a Boxers overall fitness is pretty darn good. Any other sports?
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For staying in shape I think basketball is a good workout,fullcourt pick-up games that is.
 
Swimming is probably the best. that being said I am trying to do alot of biking to loose some weight. I wish I had access to a pool for cheap but there is none around. I am thinking about taking up tennis though...

-spike
 
Football.

It really all depends on the look you want. Swimming, long distance running, soccer, and tennis athletes all have a very lean physique that's geared more towards cardio and efficiency. They won't be very built, muscle wise.

Football, rugby, and wrestling athletes have much more muscle on their body. They look "jacked".

Boxing is too broad a sport to really put in a category. Lightweight boxers are built more like swimmers because it's highly aerobic, and heavyweight boxers are built more like football players. They throw less punches and move around much less. Also, pro boxing matches can go for 8, 10, or even 12 rounds, while amateur boxing usually lasts only 3 rounds. Because of this, you'll usually see much bigger amateur heavyweight boxers than pro heavyweight boxers, since you need less than half the endurance. Try sticking an amateur boxer in a pro match and he'll be winded by the 4th round, since it would be a waste to have less muscle/more endurance in a 3 round fight. Imagine a long distance runner competing in a 100 yard dash. The lack of muscle and aerobic conditioning helps them run much longer, but they lose explosiveness.
 
Pro tennis players seem to benefit pretty equally from power, explosive movement and stamina. They aren't huge guys typically, but many (not all) I've seen have have been fairly jacked, although not big. I wouldn't say they look like marathon runners or anything.
 
Well since no one bothered to answer me, I'd say the best overall fitness regimen would consist of free weight resistance training with a combination of swimming, cross country running, and boxing for cardio.

However, endurance and strength aren't exactly things you can improve in tandem...you'd get very very slow gains, but they would be all around.

Really, though, what's "best" depends on goals.
 
1. Crew
2. Swimming
3. Cross-country skiing

I rowed in university and hung out with a few swimmers. While they were in damn good shape, and were about equal to us in cardio, we were much stronger. There isn't much leg strength developed in swimming; it's mostly arms and back, but all of your muscles are toned really well. When you row, your legs, back, abs, arms, and shoulders all have to be toned and strong. I asked some of the hkin majors what was sport involved the toughest training, and they said that the three I listed were right at the top.
 
It depends on what you want to look like and be good at.

If you want to be an awesome swimmer, you should probably practice by swimming. If you want to be a good wrestler, you'd want to practice by wrestling. If you want to be good at boxing, you should practice boxing.

All these sports are specialized. You're not going to be a good long distance runner if you're a very muscular wrestler. And you're not going to be a good swimmer if you train to be a powerlifter.

If you want to be a jack of all trades, you'll be a master of none. And if you want to excel at something, you're going to have give something else up. You'll want the precise amount of muscle you need for the sport, and have it in the right places. Otherwise it's just dead weight for what you're doing.
 
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