How can professional sportsmen be “ unfit “ ?

zzzzz said:
And its not just that. It's also the short high intensive movements which again requires specific training
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That's very true I suppose. 5 aside I found much more draining than 11 aside as you don't get the breaks in 5 aside.
 
zzzzz said:
And its not just that. It's also the short high intensive movements which again requires specific training
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Absolutely. At the age of 44, I can still cover more distance in 45 minutes than most players will cover in 90 minutes. What I can't do is the high intensity stuff, the changes of direction, or any of the technical stuff in a state of exertion (or, in my case, at any time).

One other thought on this: peak fitness is very close to being injured. Being in top condition is like being on a cliff edge: push it just a little to far, and injuries occur. So, there are risks as well as benefits to pushing fitness too far.

I was listening to Dion Dublin yesterday making the interesting point that player collapses are becoming more common BECAUSE fitness levels are more extreme now than they were in the 90s.
 
The_Big_Woodowski said:
You can only train at what you want to do. I'd say a guy who can run a marathon at 26mile is 'fitter' than Bolt who runs 100m.

Watched bolt on sky , something I had recorded months ago.(the Olympic sprinter not the Disney’s dog) It was suggested he did 400m but laughter it off as not for him ax training was to hard.

Can’t say he was unfit been the best in world for 12+ years over 200 &100m.

But that said to play professionally football u must be near your piers.

Can’t imagine powell or Gatland only training for 90m or 180m.

Get the point about style and fine margins but you have to be fit enough to combat these different styles.

Never managed to reach these levels but done a lot of sports / fitness over years, on or off and within a few month I can always get my self in to “top of class “
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All athletes are super fit, Bolt isn't built for or trained for a marathon. You can say exactly the same for a marathon runner, they're not built for or trained for spinting.

The average man in the street thinks a marathon is super human, it isn't...anyone with average fitness could run a marathon with a bit of training, that doesn't mean to say an average man could run a quick marathon.
Its easy to think the 100m is easy because we all did it in PE, training to run a fast 100m is just as demanding as distance training, they won't do the mileage but they still train hard with explosive exercises and weights that a marathon runner couldn't do.

They are all absolute machines at what they do and as FH said they are fit for purpose and light years ahead of the average amateur athlete.
 
S7DiscoDown said:
A bit of a daft analogy......

Different types of fitness. The issue maybe they press or run when they don't have too etc. Also individual mistakes are a nothing to do with fitness. I mean we didn't lose on Tuesday because we weren't 'fit'.

I doubt a Warnock side is 'unfit'. It's also an easy slate for any new manager. To be fair Wilder has been pretty positive about what he's inherited.

Fitness is all relative. I mean a you'd think a champo or prem footballer is very fit? Yet they wouldn't pass a Para or Royal marine new entry because its a different 'fitness'. Stick an 18 year old final week para or marine against Salah and see who's 'fitter'.

I'm confident the young lad could do Salahs none football training yet Salah wouldn't last a day in P company.
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Warnock complained himself about the players fitness and energy levels on multiple occasions.

Also individual mistakes can be due to fitness. As you tire your motor skills start to go and it can be harder to concentrate.
 
festa5 said:
Warnock complained himself about the players fitness and energy levels on multiple occasions.
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Its a commonly used excuse made by new managers as well, as if to say they are the only manager in the game who knows how to get a squad fit.

Its just a case of buying a bit of time with the fans, with the way sports science is used at the top level there's no way players are unfit unless they are coming back from injury. Most of them come back fit at the start of preseason now as well.
 
I played squash 6 days a week and on occasions more than once a day so was super fit for squash.

One of my regular opponents decided to train for a marathon during the summer. When the leagues started again in September he was much harder to beat because he has gained stamina from running longer distances. It made little difference to how he played technically except he did not tire as much over the 40 minutes so was more effective than he used to be towards the end of the game.

The players won't be unfit but they may not be fit enough for 90 mins of a different style of play.
 
Millbrook said:
I played squash 6 days a week and on occasions more than once a day so was super fit for squash.

One of my regular opponents decided to train for a marathon during the summer. When the leagues started again in September he was much harder to beat because he has gained stamina from running longer distances. It made little difference to how he played technically except he did not tire as much over the 40 minutes so was more effective than he used to be towards the end of the game.

The players won't be unfit but they may not be fit enough for 90 mins of a different style of play.
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And conversely I ran marathons and gym fit in shifting decent weights. A mate asked me for a game of squash and I was blowing after 15 mins.
It's all about targeted training, as simple as that
 
zzzzz said:
And conversely I ran marathons and gym fit in shifting decent weights. A mate asked me for a game of squash and I was blowing after 15 mins.
It's all about targeted training, as simple as that
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Agreed and interesting how training for a marathon gave a squash player more stamina but an existing marathon runner found the short bursts needed for squash a different demand on fitness.
 
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