BadgeIsBack

The old Alpine 'ski and shooters' too are amazing. Whats that sport called?

I quite agree - for what's it worth I think OzTennis 'other half' of the rugby team are good athletes in their own right, strong, fast, capable of anerobic and aeroboic performance with a power to weight ratio better than that of a standard runner and useful with it. A rugby back could bring their strength to uses other than their sport.

It is interesting to see the range of physical attributes in a sportsman or athlete. I used to see it all the time.

Last week I got beaten by a beanpole without even the hint of a muscle - not even the wiry muscle of a long distance runner. It didn't worry me because in just about any other raw physical activity other than running in a (long) straight line I'd beat him. He wouldn't have any upper body strength or power.

Alot of this is very real for me. I've been training for firefighting specific skills (hose dragging, lifting, pulling, ascending stairs with weights etc) and it seems to need muscular endurance - not the brute strength I assumed) - loads of it. I don't think your average tennis player or long distance runner would have that out of the box.

jon and alex

Its called Nordic Biathlon. I lived with a Norweigian at Uni and he was obsessed with it!! Pretty amazing athletes though.

BadgeIsBack

Of course..I thought it was Biathlon - 2 'events'. Have to get your heart rate down for the shoot..they have amazing V02 maxes I've heard.

OzTennis

This actually started out on wearing an England shirt and tattoos - rugby mad made the point that the wearer of such shouldn't be stereotyped and said that he watched a west country local derby (Gloucester vs Bristol) with his mates, supporters of the opposition, and not a hint of trouble.

I came in and said the same couldn't be said about football (i.e. soccer) matches and then I said it's a bit ironic that the, in my view, thuggish game is played by 'gentlemen' and the gentlemen's game is typically played and watched by a different socio-economic group shall we say. I then said that it is further ironic because soccer is a far more skilful game requiring more athleticism (as opposed to brute strength) and I would say skill. I appreciate that there is the odd Jason Robinson type on a rugby field but I see little evidence of speed the way the modern game is played.

I appreciate the attributes of union players and all sports and will just say 'game, set and match' on this discussion. BTW, I'm not just Tennis and watch most sports and play/played a wide variety.

OzTennis

OzTennis

Useless piece of information - Bjorn Borg had a resting pulse in the low 40's when he was in his prime (says he wondering what VO2 maxes are).

OzTennis