So today I got into an argument with a couple of my friends about athlete fitness levels. The argument was that Athletes such as F1 drivers arent nearly as fit as say basketball players (who they chose to compare it with). They kept going on and on that the top basketball players are way for fit than F1 racers. And i kept disagreeing with them saying what they have to endure in a F1 car. But they kept denying the fact that its not that hard ( not to be good at driving but go through physical stresses that F1 racers go through)

I just wanted to know what you guys feel about this. An F1 drivers fitness compared to that of other athletes( doesnt have to be basketball players).

Ohh and if you dont agree with me at first, read this

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3...dered-athletes

Im sure when it comes to strength training most basketball players are stronger. But when it comes to running and other cardio workouts F1 are much more fit for those, and my friends just would not agree with me. I wanna know what responses they throw at me after i show that article.

Anyway what do you guys think?

 

race car drivers and their teams are athletic also. They need to be to last 2-4 hours in a race car and perform pit stops carrying a 75 tire and heavy jack.

It's a different stress that the drivers are under so i would think that they would think that they are with a personal trainer for a good part of the week.

 

drivers and pit crews spend several hours every day working out. Almost every large race shop has a full gym in it.

While Im not knocking drivers and the fitness level they need to be at to be at the top of their game, I would have to give the edge to Basketball

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXy7-...eature=related

 

They're fit, but not like basketball players.

F1 drivers can't do what basketball players can do.

But, basketball players can sit behind the wheel for hours on end. I'm very confident of that.

 

apples and oranges...

i know this argument oh too well: i'm the car guy, and my brother is the sports enthusiast. we have argued many times about this, and i have since surrendered. can't really compare the two.

 

^
True to a certain extent, but I still stand by my statement:

 

I disagree. If you watch the video I posted, there's a segment on neck muscle strength, something basketball players dont really need to worry about. A basketball players neck wouldn't be able to handle more than a few laps at true F1 speeds.

The Forumla 3 driver in the Youtube video could only last 10 laps when he first started out.

 

Trying to define one as "more" than the other is stupid. Pro basketball players and F1 drivers have highly specialized skills and fitness. Neither would be all set to go in the other's world.

 

Best Athletes: (Talent over Fitness)

1) Texas Hold-em Players
2) Fisherman (Bassmasters)
3) Professional Eaters
4) Bowlers
5) Billards players
6) Golfers

 

Drivers aren't athletes.

 

There's an aspect to motorsports fitness that most people who aren't racing enthusiasts just don't understand. That being the amount of mental focus it takes. Not just the "quantity" of concentration required, but the effort it takes to keep it up lap after lap after lap.

Where I'm going with this is that in racing there's not only a level of fitness required to physically endure the task, there's an even higher degree of fitness required so that your body "goes away" and allows you the degree of mental focus that's necessary to compete. I liken this to the fitness requirements for being a fighter pilot. How fit do you have to be to endure high g turns vs. how fit do you have to be to endure high g turns while successfully fighting with your plane?

 

Umm, yea, well, that's where I'm going kinda to have to disagree with you Bob.

Can you drive 500 miles without a bathroom break with only left turns at 3g's pressure on the body without stopping in a 130 degree cockpit? (NASCAR) They are picking up car movements at 180 mph like baseball hitters pickup 95 mph pitches. You have to have some sort of eye-hand coordination to be successful.

 

Agree. The level of mental focus is something that other athletes dont have to have.

And i fully disagree with princelybug. There is no way a BB player could endure any where close to a full race behind the wheel and and be consistent from the first lap to the last. Their level of conditioning is nothing compared to a race car driver. There are no breaks (in a typical race) for penalties, half time or time outs in racing for the racecar driver like in basketball. Then there is the heat. No other athlete has to endure 120+ deg temps for 2+ hours with all the other physical and mental stress on the body

 

True story: Dale Earnhardt was driving with his wife in the front seat and a reporter in the back seat of a Chevy station wagon back in the 80's. He was busy talking to the reporter often looking back at him while talking.

He's headed down I-85 outside of Charlotte going about 75mph, driving with two fingers on the wheel and the other arm thrown across the seat towards his wife. While talking and looking the reporter, traffic suddenly comes to a stop ahead of him in both lanes. Without flinching (and no time to stop) he whips the stock wagon into the grass on the left side, rides pass the stopage, and pulls back onto the pavement at 75 mph... all without lifting his right arm from its perch or even saying a word.

A few miles down the rode, he looks at the reporter and rolls his eyes and smiles. He knew how close his was to disaster.

 

THERE'S YELLOW FLAGS!!!!

 

not many sports will keep your heart at 200BPM for over 2 hours. Basketball sure as shit isn't one of them.

 

pretty ignorant of you.

 

You have to have great hand-eye coordination to play red hands, too.

Anyway, that's why it's called an opinion.

 

You'll get over it.

Ignorance implies a lack of understanding or experience. I do have experience racing, and in more than just cars. When I think of athletes, I don't think of drivers.

 

Have you ever played competitive basketball? just curious.

 

Roger Murdock: But just remember, my name is
[showing his nametag]
Roger Murdock: ROGER MURDOCK. I'm an airline pilot.
Joey: I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense.
[Kareem's getting mad]
Joey: And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs.
Roger Murdock: The hell I don't. LISTEN KID. I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

 

Best movie ever.

 

Do you think professional downhill skiers are athletes?

 

I too have had this argument many times, being a die hard Nascar fan.

Race car drivers have a level of finesse that other athletes do not posses. They withstand temperatures up to 130-140 degrees for hours on end, with no bathroom breaks, and little hydration. Their bodies are under 3.5 g's of force through each and every corner, and at 195 mph, things happen quickly, in which you must think and act instinctively, yet smart.

People tend to say that racing is not a sport, however I say otherwise. The driver is not the only one holding the key to success...Often times its the pit crew that gets the car out on the track full of fuel, 4 tires, and adjustments to the track bar in a mere 14 seconds...Track position wins races....Or its the crew chiefs decision on what adjustments to make that allows the car perform to the drivers liking.

And for the physical aspect, granted basketball players run for the entire game, they are playing indoors in a air conditioned arena with timeouts to cool down and catch their breath, while racers are in incredible heat, even under cautions...Football players are in action for 6 seconds per play and then have up to 40 seconds between plays to re-coop.

Drivers and pit crews work out hours on end, all week to stay in shape to hurl heavy tires, 18 gallons of fuel, heavy jacks and other equipment over the pit wall, a number of times per race, in a timely manner.

Nascar drivers, and team members are amongst the elite of athletes, and definitely put on one hell of a show. If you haven't been to a nascar or other racing event, I'd most definitely recommend it.

Oh, and for those doubters of racing being a sport...I quote this straight from dictionary .com...The very first definition of "sport" is as follows:

"an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. "


In the end, racing is just as physically and mentally demanding as ANY other sport you will ever come across, period.

 

I doubt you have F1 experience, and that's what this thread is about. So your comment is ignorant, because it's dead wrong.

 

I really doubt that basketball players avg heart rates that are 170-180 bpm. Yes im sure at times it reaches that high, but the only other sport that comes close to this is cycling. They also avg around the same bpm and they go through the same physical endurance. Basketball players get rest, and when they are playing without the ball i really doubt they're heart rate is running that high. Ohh and basketball players only play about 35 min, the good ones that is. Not 2 hours.

Today's F1 drivers need to train like that of marathon runners and cyclists on top of their special training for neck, strength and mental training. In the off-season they train 4-6 times a week for four hours. Jenson Button ran a triathlon in 2 hr and 22 min. 35 min behind the olympic record. And he doesnt even train for this. His workout is designed to drive a car round and round. And yet he can fit in with most professional runners and cyclists.

Yes iknow its really difficult to explain this since F1 drivers have a different type of fitness needed to drive. One which includes a strong mental ability, probably more than any other sport out there. But yet physically they are also up there among the elite athletes.

 

Different type of fitness IMO.

Dealing with the kind of stress and endurance F1 (and other) drivers face will make them fit quickly. In addition, weight is an enemy to speed, so they'll want to be trim.

A fighter pilot is going to generally be in great physical shape but he is not going to be in the same shape as someone in the infantry.

 

I don't think you can really compare the two. Neither can play in the other's court (or track) They're both athletes.

Physical strength-wise, sure, bball players are probably stronger.

Endurance-wise and mentally, F1 drivers have the edge (and by a lot too, I'd say)

Not to mention the focus that drivers have to maintain to not make that tiny mistake that could kill them...

 

Would have to say Texas Hold-em Players have to be fit in their own way to. Anyone who plays seriously would know that it takes a lot to sit at a table for 12+ hours and still think straight. Anyway, I don't think you can just compare such different types of "fitness". It would be like comparing the coupe to the SUV, it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

 

Yea I agree, physical strength i have no doubt basketball players are stronger. F1 drivers cant have to much muscle size.
But endurance wise F1 drivers would have the advantage. See my friends were saying that even endurance wise basketball players are better than F1, that was what our main argument was, over endurance. They even went so low that shaq, even though he's big he can run long distances better than an F1 hahahaha thats when I knew they didnt know anything about F1 drivers, which they dont. Some people just dont understand

 

Exactly, they think its just like driving on the interstate at a little bit higher spped.

 

all i know is i was go karting yesterday for only 25 minutes and now my back and biceps are sore as fvck!

 

And what's your experience in a F1 car?

No? Then I'm just as entitled to my opinion as your are. I'll choose not to be an ass and call it ignorant, though.


Indeed. People are confusing the term 'athlete' with 'physically fit.' Never said drivers of that caliber weren't the latter.

 

Regardless of what sport we are talking about, the top level guys are extremely "fit" for what they are competing in.

This argument could be among any sport.

Whose a better athlete?
A marathoner or a basketball player?
A baseball player or a triathlon?
A weight lifter or a F1 driver?
A cyclist or a footballer?
An apple or an orange?

 

A MAC or a PC?

 

^

 

I think there are different definitions of 'fitness' depending on the situation/sport.

 

I will address part of the OP's post... His friends are fucking dumbasses for saying that it's not that hard to endure the physical stresses of driving an F1 car. A couple of years ago I watched a show that explained the kind of things that F1 drivers go through. Ever since then I gained even more respect for the already incredibly difficult job that they have.

Here's a journalist's experience of sitting in a 2-seater F1 car for three laps. If you're too lazy to read, after three laps of just being a passenger, he can't even get out of the car and stand on his own without assistance.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...017921,00.html

I say get your friends to strap in for 5-10 laps in an F1 car and wait for them to shit their pants, then laugh in their faces.