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is this healthy for the sport

Buddha 3

Hamfist McPunchalot
Puh-leeze.
Most of the so called athletes in this sport would not be able to pull their weight in any other physical activity. Have you seen how scrawny the Dynasty boys are? And they're pretty indicative of the ideal paintball player.
Face it, you play a game for smurfs. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not kid ourselves.

How many paintball players do you know hit the gym on a regular basis? This is partially due to the fact that it doesn't help to be big and muscular in this sport, makes you a bigger target, but a good proportion of our "heroes" look like they get picked on at school.

I always find it interesting to see that most of the full timers on the Russian squad seem to be much more blocky and powerfully built than their opponents.
 
May 14, 2003
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lincoln
i said 'fit and agile' not 'big and muscular' - which you are putting in my mouth.

i just think that you need to be fit to be able to play points after point and not get worn out easy, and agile, well that probably explains itself.
:)
 

Buddha 3

Hamfist McPunchalot
eddiecsd said:
i said 'fit and agile' not 'big and muscular' - which you are putting in my mouth.

i just think that you need to be fit to be able to play points after point and not get worn out easy, and agile, well that probably explains itself.
:)
If you want my honest opnion, I ain't impressed with the level of athleticism in paintball. And that includes the top leagues (A few teams and players excepted).

I can go on and on and post a long-assed post about why that is, but suffice to say that when I see what many teams consider practice and the way they conduct themselves around the tournaments, I just laugh when people call themselves athletes. There is hardly anybody in this sport that is phenomenally fast, unless you compare them to other paintball players. The level of fitness is so-so at best for most. Sh*t, how many of the top ballers still smoke? (and many of them more than just ciggies)
Really, I could go on and on, but the only reason why many of the top players are considered fit, is because they get compared to other paintballers. The Russians get it right and I think XSV is picking up on it too.

Having said that, there is nothing wrong with this state of affairs, if that's the sort of thing that floats your boat. But most pointmen in paintball will be outrun by the huge hulks known as linemen in the NFL. And these cats weigh about twice as much as your avarage pointman. How is that possible? Practice, practice, practice, practice during the season, and when the off-season comes along, you hit the gym HARD. 95% of the paintball teams could do with booking a track coach during the off season.
So unless you are willing to put in that kind of effort, you are a paintballplayer at best, but not fit enough to call yourself an athlete.
I think that when people realise this (as the Russians have done some years ago) and the real paintballATHLETES start to become a regular monster, the level of play will skyrocket. Imagine cutting 25% off the time it takes you to make it to your bunker....hmmm....

Oh, and as far as the fit and agile vs big and muscular goes, I was just using an example. Like I pointed out in my post, it doesn't pay to be huge in paintball. But you will find that the blocky guys on the Russian Legion are more agile than the lanky characters on Dynasty. Agility takes an effort from your entire body, including your arms and shoulders. Once you start working on your agility, you will find that you also become a little more squat in build.