Oh, they're definitely in shape.......for football. But I'd like to see some of those lineman out on a hunt with me.
I wouldn't use most of the military fitness testing as ANY comparison to fitness.
There was a sheep guide on here awhile back who mentioned having guided some NFL clients. I seem to recall him commenting that many of them seemed to have legs that were too big for climbing and they would have trouble with their thighs rubbing together. I assume that was more linemen sized players than receivers and RBs. He also said that many of them did quite well out of the gate but tended to burn out after an hour or so of sustained activity, which, again, is not surprising since they are not conditioned for sustained exertion. Any olympic sprinter might not be able to finish a marathon in a time faster than a weekend warrior. (NFL players) I would speculate that they are in overall MUCH better general shape than the average person who shows up for a guided sheep hunt.
These type of comparisons once again go back to the almost futile debate of defining fitness. I know a guy who is an accomplished competitive cyclist. He's a stick on a set of legs. To him, being in shape means being able to ride fast for a long period of time. That being said, the guy cannot do one single pushup. Not even one! To me, a lot of distance runners don't look like or seem to be in very good shape. They look terrible and they are pathetically weak. They can run and that's all they can do, but they consider themselves to be "fit" and, by their standards, if you can't run 15 miles at an >8 min pace then you aren't fit. Once you hit specialization, you are going to compromise some level of fitness. Strong shoulders won't help you run 50 miles, but runner's legs won't help you stop a 300 pound Samoan from ending your QB's career. and really, if you had the opportunity to have a 4-10 year career, potentially making tens of millions of dollars and be retired in your early 30s, who wouldn't give up sustained endurance for explosive bursts and figure out how to be in the best shape possible for that sport?
Its very advantageous to be in shape for hunting. It is even fun to effectively train for hunting shape. But, let's face it, the physical skill sets to be a good, "fit" hunter are remarkably simple, especially compared with complex skill and movement sports. A good athlete can make for a good hunter, but hunting, unto itself probably doesn't make a person a very good "athlete" unless were talking hunting, backpacking or peak bagging.
