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Post by Badalight on Mar 22, 2015 15:01:28 GMT -5
I think in general the initial course is very easy. Anyone with a very base level of fitness has the ability to pass. (In broad strokes, not Venice in particular).
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Post by evan on Mar 22, 2015 15:45:24 GMT -5
The conditions for running the initial course are tough though. It's so easy to make a mistake. Just because it looks easy on Tv doesn't mean it's easy.
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Post by Oti on Mar 22, 2015 16:43:29 GMT -5
What Bada is getting at is that you don't have to be super strong or super fit to clear the preliminary course. Some sports actually require that, but ANW is easier in that it doesn't. It is easy to make a mistake, but that's failure because of a mistake, not because the course is too physically demanding. Those kinds of failures come into play much later on.
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Post by c0balt on Mar 22, 2015 19:32:16 GMT -5
Venice finals was physically demanding this year on top of having course killer obstacles. Really interested to see what they do in the other regions.
The reason why it isn't fair though in public eye someone who finishes is better than someone who doesn't even if the person who finished has to climb a 10 foot rope and the one who didn't fell on a 50 foot rope 47 feet up it.
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Post by vaughngk on Mar 22, 2015 22:08:02 GMT -5
I remember It wasn't to long ago when it was a race to the samon ladder that determined the top 15. Those were simpler times what are they going think of next mabey an obstacle with three rumbling dices or even crazier four rumbling dices!
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Post by Badalight on Mar 22, 2015 23:23:28 GMT -5
The conditions for running the initial course are tough though. It's so easy to make a mistake. Just because it looks easy on Tv doesn't mean it's easy. Considering I've ran and tested the course, I'm not basing it off of how it looks on TV. In Denver I didn't even have the stamina to jog for a mile and could do maybe 10 pullups and 30 pushups. Like... someone who was completely out of shape. I also competed at 5 AM, in 20 degree weather, after being stressed out for 8 hours (which drans your stamina like crazy) and not being used to the altitude, and I still almost past the first stage. I'm sure 99% of the people who get chosen to compete on the course have what it takes to beat it. Yes mistakes will happen, but they are physically capable of doing it. |
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 0:10:27 GMT -5
What Bada is getting at is that you don't have to be super strong or super fit to clear the preliminary course. Some sports actually require that, but ANW is easier in that it doesn't. It is easy to make a mistake, but that's failure because of a mistake, not because the course is too physically demanding. Those kinds of failures come into play much later on. Yes, but it goes either way. You can be as ready as you can to run an obstacle course and still fail unexpectedly, especially on a new obstacle. There are so many examples of that in ANW history. In fact, given that nobody ever achieved total victory, it follows that ALL the great ANW athletes have been through what I'm talking about. another good point for discussion: it is rare that a competitor does better and better every year, even though he/she is getting stronger and more experienced. It is more common that people do great one year, poorly the following year, better the next year, and so forth. Yet everyone seems to be expecting to do better and better every year. |
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 0:17:34 GMT -5
The conditions for running the initial course are tough though. It's so easy to make a mistake. Just because it looks easy on Tv doesn't mean it's easy. Considering I've ran and tested the course, I'm not basing it off of how it looks on TV. In Denver I didn't even have the stamina to jog for a mile and could do maybe 10 pullups and 30 pushups. Like... someone who was completely out of shape. I also competed at 5 AM, in 20 degree weather, after being stressed out for 8 hours (which drans your stamina like crazy) and not being used to the altitude, and I still almost past the first stage. I'm sure 99% of the people who get chosen to compete on the course have what it takes to beat it. Yes mistakes will happen, but they are physically capable of doing it. you are describing above the conditions that I was talking about. I think that people should expect to perform 70-80% of their full capacity in anw. Unless you train and are used to these conditions. I think that you almost making it while not being in your best shape and in those conditions doesn't make a point that it's easy to make it. Also, the conditions are part of the ANW difficulty, it's not just the obstacles. |
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 0:20:04 GMT -5
The reason why it isn't fair though in public eye someone who finishes is better than someone who doesn't even if the person who finished has to climb a 10 foot rope and the one who didn't fell on a 50 foot rope 47 feet up it. That's a good point. |
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Post by Oti on Mar 23, 2015 1:14:41 GMT -5
I think that you almost making it while not being in your best shape and in those conditions doesn't make a point that it's easy to make it. But it totally does. He was fat and lazy and out of shape and still did decently. I did the same thing in ANW4 and cleared faster than half of the other successful competitors did. And it took me two tries to get up the wall. We're talking about two different things here. I agree with what you're saying, but what Bada and I are saying that you don't have to be particularly strong or in amazing shape to clear the earlier stages of ANW because it's just not very physically demanding. You can make a simple mistake and fail, like you said, which is absolutely true, but that doesn't make the course physically demanding. It doesn't wear you down and break your spirit. It's not particularly hard work. You don't get very tired at all. It's really just not that physically demanding until the later stages. Having to deal with s***ty taping schedules, bad weather and poorly built obstacles makes the course harder, but it doesn't make it more physically demanding. |
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 1:36:28 GMT -5
Yes, but we are talking about only one specific person at a specific time. We can’t generalize level of difficulty based on one person’s perception, or even two. And I don’t believe that he was fat and lazy. Everyone is competing with the idea that they can do well. Let’s be honest! Why would you put yourself in that situation otherwise?
Nevertheless, I agreed with your point that one does not have to be in the best shape ever to make it at the qualifiers, I only mentioned that it seems to be more common the other way around: be in great shape and fail an obstacle unexpectedly.
It seems that our disagreement is partially based on the definition of “hard work” . From my POV hard work does not necessarily mean physically exhausting to your limit. It’s more specific to clearing an obstacle.
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 1:39:47 GMT -5
Having to deal with s***ty taping schedules, bad weather and poorly built obstacles makes the course harder, but it doesn't make it more physically demanding. my point was also that you can't take the conditions out and talk only about the obstacles, the conditions are part of the difficulty level. I'd argue that it's more physically demanding from the competitor's perspective due to the conditions. (perhaps we are just splitting hairs here) |
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Post by Oti on Mar 23, 2015 2:09:19 GMT -5
Bada and I are just talking about the physical demands of the course, which are not high. You don't have to be particularly strong or conditioned to clear the course. That's it. Stop overthinking it, man.
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Post by higeboshi on Mar 23, 2015 10:29:14 GMT -5
... could do maybe 10 pullups and 30 pushups. Like... someone who was completely out of shape. Sheesh, if that's " completely out of shape," then I was dead in a morgue back in 2011... |
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Post by Badalight on Mar 23, 2015 12:37:00 GMT -5
... could do maybe 10 pullups and 30 pushups. Like... someone who was completely out of shape. Sheesh, if that's " completely out of shape," then I was dead in a morgue back in 2011... That was me after sitting a computer desk being a full time college student and working a full time job for 2 years with 0 exercise, I don't mean very little, I mean actually 0. All of the training I had done in high school to prepare for Ninja Warrior was completely thrown out the window and I had to start from square 1. The only benefit I had was being a pretty lanky dude and not being overweight, so I had a very base level of fitness. Considering I got the call like a week before I had to fly out, there was no time to get back into shape. |
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 15:05:01 GMT -5
Bada and I are just talking about the physical demands of the course, which are not high. You don't have to be particularly strong or conditioned to clear the course. That's it. Stop overthinking it, man. Well, it depends on the course too, I think you are making some generalizations based on your experience. It's the normal thing to do but you shouldn't expect everyone to fully agree with you. I don't think that I'm overthinking it, I'm just interested in discussing these things as a competitor myself and fan of the show. What's the point of these forums? |
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Post by Oti on Mar 23, 2015 15:52:18 GMT -5
No, my statements are based on the simple fact that the course, even with the bad conditions you've mentioned, is not physically demanding until later stages. You're not understanding our point of view. The difficulty you're talking about ≠ physically demanding. Physically demanding is something that wears your a** out. The course does not.
It's hard to be good at golf, but that's not physically demanding either.
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Post by RiderLeangle on Mar 23, 2015 18:00:01 GMT -5
... could do maybe 10 pullups and 30 pushups. Like... someone who was completely out of shape. Sheesh, if that's " completely out of shape," then I was dead in a morgue back in 2011... AAAAH!!! ZOMBIE!!!! RUN AWAY!!!! |
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Post by evan on Mar 23, 2015 21:08:57 GMT -5
No, my statements are based on the simple fact that the course, even with the bad conditions you've mentioned, is not physically demanding until later stages. You're not understanding our point of view. The difficulty you're talking about ≠ physically demanding. Physically demanding is something that wears your a** out. The course does not. It's hard to be good at golf, but that's not physically demanding either. I understand what you are saying and again: 1. it depends on the course, you cannot generalize this just because you FEEL your qualifying round 2 years ago was easy and because you think you were not in good shape (And good shape compared to what/who?) 2. it depends how you define "physically demanding" or "hard work". My definition as I said before is more specific to clearing an obstacle, not running a marathon or max effort to failure. In this context it's even hard work/physically demanding to clear a balance obstacle. So I think we are just talking out of context more than actually disagreeing. |
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Post by Oti on Mar 23, 2015 22:13:47 GMT -5
What you're defining is difficulty, not actual work. They're not synonymous. This is the root of our disagreement. Again, consider golf. It's very easy on the body, but difficult to skillfully master. Heavy lifting on the other hand is very hard on the body, but relatively easy to learn and execute.
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