If we’re going with VO2max as the criterion, it’s hard to beat cross-country skiers. A classic study by Saltin and Åstrand in 1967 measured maximal oxygen uptake in Olympic-caliber Swedish athletes competing in 19 male and 9 female events. Cross-country skiers came out on top for both sexes, ahead of runners, swimmers, speed skaters, cyclists, and rowers.
So maybe for Olympic level athletes biathlon represents the top? VO2max and all over body of cross country skiing along with the fine steady control of distance rifle shooting. Very different skill sets combined.
Possibly. It’s a simplification since even someone like a hockey or football player would also need several skill sets - strength, speed, endurance, technical skills… guns require very fine motor control, quite different from the endurance of cross-country skiing. It seems pretty difficult. Swimming is also tough but in fewer domains, possibly. Once at the elite level, winning is a matter of (milli)seconds in almost anything.
Whether that makes the healthiest, I’ve no idea. My dog can run up and down the stairs at full speed for an hour. I wish I had his energy.
Well high vagal tone(being able to put the brakes on elevated heart rate quickly) is a strong positive health indicator and I’d WAG is needed to have in spades by biathletes.
OTOH it is solitary sport. Tennis has benefits from the social aspect apparently as well.
I had much the same thought – a decathlete or heptathlete trains in a range of events, including sprinting, middle-distance running, jumping, and throwing. Though, the note about cross-country skiiers having the best VO2max is also an interesting take on it.
Yes, that might be, too – I’ve read about this in a few places. But not sprinting. So I’m not sure whether hiking or marathoning or something in between is what we evolved most specially for. Thanks for pointing it out.
Antelope, ostriches, and camels would easily outpace humans over long distances, and dogs would be right there with us. But we’re near the top of the list.
My understanding is that the ability to sweat is a major reason we can have prolonged activity like jogging. Being able to dissipate all that generated heat is important.
And we have essentially no fur. At least not enough to keep us from dissipating heat.
I just had a cross-training comeuppance. I had to chase a neighbor’s dog that had escaped and he gave me quite a full-tilt run down the street, through back yards and a park.
I’ve been biking a lot, but damn, running takes different muscles… and I was a LOT more winded than I expected by the time I got Li’l Stanley home.
One of the more physically impressive people I’ve met was the dude that did the catching for the trapeze artists in the circus. I don’t know what his endurance was but he was built like Tarzan because he spent his days plucking “Jane” out of mid-air.