As I drool over many an athlete, for many a reason, not the least of which is my over active imagination, attributing various naughty activities to pure, Godly men like Mark Brunell, I must take pause…
and wonder…
What is (in your opinion) the athletic body that most perfectly illustrates physical fitness? I’m not talking about a specific person, but rather, what sport creates a body that is most like what a healthy, prime human being should look like…
The disclaimer is: Of course we should all look different, we all are different, we’re all gorgeous, we’re all to be loved and admired for our insides. Everyone’s great, everyone’s imperfect. But for argument’s sake I’m talking about muscles, skin and bone coming together to create the ideal human being.
Football players can get away with being slightly or sometimes RIDICULOUSLY overweight…so can pitchers in baseball…Basketball players are lean and cardiovascularly fit, hockey players also have proportionately strong upper and lower bodies and great lung capacity…runners are healthy, swimmers are beautiful ;), gymnasts seem out of proportion, speed skaters are also lopsided…
So I think I may say that Basketball players represent the best all around health and athleticism, although I’m sort of biased towards swimmers. (count the spelling errors in this post and I’ll buy ya a beer!)
I think basketball tends to skew the perception towards the extremely tall, for obvious reasons. It’s kinda hard to picture how serious basketball training would change my look, seeing as how I’m 5’9" tall.
I used to think karate defined some kind of physical ideal, based off of what I saw in the movies. This changed once I started taking karate classes and found people who were really good didn’t necessarily look like anything special… my sensei looks like a wino, his sons look like Jim Morrison and David Lee Roth. Go figure.
Whenever I watch male gymnasts performing an iron cross on the rings, I find myself hip deep in envy. The definition in their arms and torso, I pray for the kind of self discipline that it takes to achieve that level of fitness.
Of course, my wife doesn’t think it’s a bad idea, either.
Now that really puts a difficult spin on things. From my perspective professional and Olympic athletes just don’t get included. There are too many instances of people doing harmful things to their bodies to compete more strongly in their chosen sport for me to feel they are really good examples of overall physical fitness.
I think that those who are in the top 10% of rock climbing always seem to have wonderful fitness levels. (Either gender)
I think swimmers and gymnasts, college level, are often very physically well rounded. Though gymnastics is tough on the joints, and there is, even at college levels excess stress on being thin for women.
I think most college basketball & volleyball players seem to in good shape, but both sports are a punishing on the joints.
I think I’m sticking with rock climbers. Though there are those wonderfully curvy soccer babes (The soccer guys look to be in pretty darn good shape too, now that I think about it)
Well, I think that’s why I didn’t ask for a specific guy or girl, although I understand your point. Not every pro athlete is a steroid freak…some are just naturally healthy.
Well, as a swimmer, I must say that they can be lopsided…strong upper body and sometimes long, stick like legs…upside down triangle…and gymnasts, especially women, are grossly out of proportion…in my opinion. I’m not speaking of simple heart health…I mean overall APPEARANCE as well as cardiovascular.
Rock climbers though…I never thought of that!
Strong upper body; strong lower body; extreme cardiovascular fitness; no body fat; amazing mental discipline; total addiction to their way of life. I vote for the triathlete.
I happen to like women with some meat on their bones, so that excludes distance runners and rock climbers, both of whom tend to be too lean for my tastes. Female swimmers don’t quite do it for me either, given the broad shoulders. Gymnasts certainly have the musculature, but they also tend to look too much like little girls (because that’s exactly what they are, in general). Female tennis players may do it for me - yep Anna Kournikova (sp?) is just about right. Ah, to be a tennis ball that Anna Kournikova sticks up the back of her skirt. A man can dream can’t he?
One of the best compliments I was ever paid by a friend of mine was that she thought I should be one of those guys. Now, I doubt I could get much further than 45 degrees into an iron cross, and I know for a fact I wouldn’t last ten seconds on a pommel horse, but it was still nice:-)
I don’t know if you all would count it as a sport, but I think Ranger Challenge produces some of the most physically fit people I have ever seen. For those of you that don’t know Ranger Challenge is an ROTC competition where only the very best from each batallion get to participate. I’ve never gone myself, but to look at the people who have I wouldn’t last long. These are the people that often max the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test). As fas as recognized sports go, I would have to agree with rock climbing.
I’ll chime in for rock climbers too. They have the muscle defintion w/o the bulk,braod shoulders,etc. I don’t go for the bulked up guys in general-my friends say I like them wiry.
Perfect example…my celebrity crush Jeff Hardy fron the WWF. Nice tight body with great tone but not beefy. The blond hair,green eyes and full lips don’t hurt either.
(The soccer guys look to be in pretty darn good shape too, now that I think about it)
