What Are the Most Physically Demanding Sports?

It takes a special kind of person to become a professional athlete. Top-tier sportsmen and women competing in individual sports or team events are supremely talented in their chosen sport and often at the peak of physical fitness. Sometimes, being fitter and stronger, both physically and mentally, than an opponent is enough to close out an all-important victory. Not all sports are created equally. For example, golf is not overly impactful on your body, but the following sports are considered the most physically demanding and require elite-level fitness to become successful.

Soccer

Soccer players are among the fittest athletes on the planet thanks, in part, to the distances they cover during a typical game. The average English Premier League player covers between six and 8.5 miles during a 90-minute match. Not only do soccer players run several miles per game (and often play two games per week), they spend a significant amount of time twisting and turning, going from a steady jog to fully sprinting repeatedly.

American Football

American Football is the most popular sport in the United States and one of the most physically demanding and violent games on the planet. Millions of football fans tune into games every weekend and head to the leading online sportsbook BetOnline to make their predictions, although many do not consider the demands the game puts on players while they enjoy watching the game unfold.

The average NFL play only lasts four seconds, yet players are at full tilt for that brief period. Defensive and offensive linemen and linebackers are mountains of men, often weighing 300 pounds or more. The energy all the players expend during the intense plays is phenomenal, and it is easy to see why players wear helmets and padded protection.

Boxing and MMA

While American Footballers get to wear protective padding, the only protection boxers and mixed martial artists use are some lightly-weighted gloves and their ability to avoid being hit! Professional fighters require strength, striking power, stamina, and the ability to withstand being punched, kicked, and wrestled, all while keeping a clear head. They battle through the pain barrier, which is energy-sapping, with boxers often fighting through up to 12 three-minute rounds with only 60 seconds break between rounds. Oh, and that does not consider that most boxers and MMA fighters spend three-to-four months in training camps before a big fight, pushing their bodies to the limit.

Tennis

Many see tennis as a leisurely game, which is true if you are just hitting balls to your friend. However, professional tennis players are ridiculously fit and strong and probably have the most stamina of all athletes apart from long-distance runners. Tennis involves short but frequent bursts of energy, with players needing to perform brief sprints and rapid direction changes, all while hitting the ball hard and with laser-like precision.

Although tennis players have frequent breaks between sets, their games often last two hours or more, and anyone that reaches a final will play five or six games in the space of a week or ten days. Furthermore, tennis is a summer game, meaning players take each other on under the baking sun, which saps their strength and stamina.

Motocross

You are forgiven for scratching your head and wondering why motocross is on this list. Why would riding a motorcycle be physically demanding? Motocross is off-road racing with tracks full of challenging turns, corners, and sections featuring death-defying jumps. Riders race for around 30 minutes while seeing their heartbeats reach 160-200 beats per minute, thanks to the adrenaline flowing through their veins. In addition, they have to throw their motorcycles around the track at high speed, which generates massive G-forces, while the jumps need to be performed perfectly; otherwise, they risk crashing out and breaking several bones!