When people talk about athleticism or athletic endeavors. They tend to lump up everything the utilizes physical activity. Most people consider any team sport, martial art, weight training program or conditioning program to be an activity that develops or exemplifies athleticism. However, not all activities that require one to apply themselves phyhsically exemplify athleticism.

In actuality, athleticism is the ability to utilize muscular strength, speed or explosiveness with a sophisticated skill, requiring one to utilize (to varying degrees) coordination. An example of this would be a gymnast. The gymnast must use his (or her) explosiveness  and strength to do sophisticated flips that also require lots of coordination. And just as some people are born with higher levels of coordination than others, there are limits to what people can accomplish in gymnastics. You either have what it takes to be elite or you don’t. The same thing can be said about football. Most kids can learn to basically catch a ball however, some people will never have the coordination to go after long passes the way that a wide receiver does. Moreover, many people will never have the combination of coordination and speed required for playing corner back. That’s just what it is.

That being said, many people confuse someone who is athletic with someone who is well conditioned. These two are different things. A Crossfit competitor is often well conditioned, but that doesn’t make him an actual athlete. This is because the skills that a Crossfit competitor may exhibit don’t necessarily require sophisticated coordination beyond doing a snatch or clean and jerk. While a boxer, for example, has to find a rhythm, feint, calculate distance, time and counter his opponent and do all of this with good form and head movement. This is a lot more sophisticated than it seems and is definitely more difficult than doing a Crossfit WOD.

Moreover, there are different types of athleticism. The athleticism required for a gymnast will not be the same as the athleticism required for a baseball player. These are two different things that require vastly different skill sets.

So in conclusion, it is a little misleading for a person to say that bodybuilding is an athletic endeavor and then say that golf isn’t. Look at what is required of the athlete. If the sport requires that the athlete utilize skills, coordination, power and speed then it is definitely an athletic endeavor.