# Gymnastics v. Volleyball - Hotter women? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172 "2010-09-18T04:51:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/1 "2010-09-18T04:51:49Z")
I was thinking about athletic women and how hot they are. I wondered which athletic body type is hotter… A taller than average woman with a bigger frame, maybe like a volleyball player (some may say Amazon) or A shorter than average compact frame, maybe like a gymnast. I can’t decide. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/2 "2010-09-18T06:52:54Z")
Volleyball - specifically \*not \*beach volleyball. Those ladies are too stringy and lean compared to their indoor counterparts. Indoor volleyball players are (on the whole of course) fit, athletic, yet still curvy and not ripped like gymnasts and beach volleyball players. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/3 "2010-09-18T07:07:27Z")
have you checked out the kind of ass women develop with all that jumping? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/4 "2010-09-18T07:23:28Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > have you checked out the kind of ass women develop with all that jumping? All muscle, and that’s not for me. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/5 "2010-09-18T09:21:31Z")
Aren’t most gymnasts mid-teens and no older? I’d definitely rate a volleyball player hotter, especially if we’re talking beach volleyball (and why would we talk about anything else?) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/6 "2010-09-18T09:56:39Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > > [@Critical1](#): > > > > have you checked out the kind of ass women develop with all that jumping? > > All muscle, and that’s not for me. [http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/07/13/1089694357118.html](http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/07/13/1089694357118.html) :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/7 "2010-09-18T10:17:32Z")
I appreciate what you’re getting at with the gymnastic thing but I can’t get my head past the typical age of a competitive gymnast so it’s volleyball for me. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/8 "2010-09-18T11:38:45Z")
Yes, the age of a typical gymnast is rather problematic. There really isn’t anything sexual there. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/9 "2010-09-18T15:16:13Z")
Also, with Gymnasts, don’t you have the same problems as with young figure skaters- you get a delayed puberty effect, so if you’re dating them while they’re still training and such, you’ve got someone whose body hasn’t really fully matured yet, in terms of breasts, hips, and figure, and so it just seems a bit… creepy to want to date someone simply because they’re old enough, but they \*look \*like they’re 5-6 years younger. Unless you’re talking about dating gymnasts who are in their later 20s and such, but even then they’ve got all sorts of issues and problems with early onset osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/10 "2010-09-18T15:50:58Z")
I like laptops. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/11 "2010-09-18T16:10:50Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Yes, the age of a typical gymnast is rather problematic. There really isn’t anything sexual there. Women who look like they are gymnasts or may have been gymnasts at a younger age is what I had in mind ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/12 "2010-09-18T16:29:24Z")
So, little spunky hard bodies with moderately sized breasts? I’d go with that over a volleyball player. I’m not really into tall women. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/13 "2010-09-18T16:47:23Z")
I like older figure skaters. Ok, gymnastics is problematic because the best gymnasts are often very young, with undeveloped hips and broad shoulders. Maybe they become sexy when they grow up into women. Volleyball players are hit or miss, but at least most good volleyball players are quite a bit older. [Soccer players](http://images.ussoccer.com/Images/Gallery/669_327751_600_md_USWNT070508111.jpg) are the sexiest athletes. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/14 "2010-09-18T18:45:37Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Ok, gymnastics is problematic because the best gymnasts are often very young, with undeveloped hips and broad shoulders. Maybe they become sexy when they grow up into women. unfortunately, for whatever reason, they often don’t. I’ve no doubt they can, but for whatever reason, by their mid-twenties, the extremely competitive ex-gymnasts often seem misproportioned and slightly overweight. OTOH, I suspect if they had competitive gymnastics for twenty somethings, they would be ultra hot. They just wouldn’t be doing the amazing tricks that the younger gymnasts can do, and IMO would devalue the sport. Gymnastics is about power and control, it should not be sexualized. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/15 "2010-09-18T19:21:58Z")
[Volley](http://www.sportingbabe.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Logan_Tom.sized_.jpg) [ball](http://simsnews.site90.net/beautywoman/tomlogan.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/16 "2010-09-18T19:29:18Z")
If there are women who (still) actively participate in gymnastics, I haven’t seen them, but I imagine the little fireplug girls who train in their teens become simply larger fireplug women. Plus I think all that training right at the onset of puberty screws with their hormones, to an extent, permanently. Volleyball players are sexier, by a country mile. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/17 "2010-09-18T20:12:25Z")
I find it cheering that most of the responses are squarely in favor of real (and healthy) women with some curves, but surely there’s some guys who’d make the most of a gymnast’s legendary agility and her ability to do splits, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/18 "2010-09-18T20:32:11Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > I find it cheering that most of the responses are squarely in favor of real (and healthy) women with some curves, but surely there’s some guys who’d make the most of a gymnast’s legendary agility and her ability to do splits, etc.? Can’t think about that without associating it with the fact that during their peak athletic prowess they’re kids. Bleh. Nope. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/19 "2010-09-18T20:51:27Z")
Just an FYI, what prompted the thread was a server in a restaurant who looked to be in her early to mid 20s. She was short and quite fit. I have no idea who she is or if she was ever a gymnast. The OP is asking about a body type of an adult woman perhaps like a gymnast, not a girl or a gymnast _per se_. Although perhaps confusing, the poll language of “volleyball v gymnast” is asking about the typical body type generally and not about players _per se_. So don’t worry about gymnasts’ bad knees and things like that. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172/20 "2010-09-18T20:59:06Z")
Perhaps “fireplug v. amazon” would be more accurate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gymnastics-v-volleyball-hotter-women/554172.md?page=2)