I think they hold up just fine. 1 of the reports I read was that since camp the schedule is no where near as grueling with them generally only hitting on gameday. This leads me to believe that any issues that would lead to injury due to contact were handled with the preseason contact level.
It was Baas’ foot I think that had always bugged him that broke and is better now than ever. We’ve got a hardened team that frankly appears to hold up really well on the injury front. How much of that is luck we may never know, but I’ll take our camp style and results over the Seahawks current situation any day.

Perhaps it is the psychology of someone that has been a Niners fan for too long, but I have reasons to think this success will not continue. After all, we did the same thing under Nolan last year. Many football experts, in explaining our wins, put emphasis on physical defense and mental toughness, while ignoring signs that the offense was seriously dysfunctional. Shaun Hill has not displayed even the signs on someone that is going to even be able to “Trent Dilfer” us into the playoffs. We are a Frank Gore injury from disaster.

This concept of a ‘tough camp’ in July/August wearing the team down in December is kinda laughable.

It didn’t hurt Lombardi’s Packers. It sure didn’t hurt Singletary’s Bears, who not only had a tough, physical camp but probably had the toughest practices during the season.

It didn’t hurt Jimmy Johnson’s SB winning 1993 Cowboys, when he ran an even tougher camp after they had just won the SB in 1992.

It does help explain why they outplayed Arizona and Seattle (both of whom had ‘soft’ camps).

Sorry.

In the “Americas Game” episode chronicling the 2008 Super Bowl winning season, the Steelers mention the tough training camp Mike Tomlin put the team through in 2007, and Troy P. as well as Tomlin admit that the hard camp wore them down to the point where they “had nothing” in the playoff again against Jacksonville. They also credit said camp with establishing it as Tomlins team, and helping them prepare better and be more conditioned for the 2008 Super Bowl winning season. Just something to think about

I think Niners need to play a perfect game to beat the Vikings. One turnover, one stalled drive caused by a flag. The margin for error is tiny. Did anyone watch the Vikings last 2 games. They were awful for the first half, then suddenly decided to start playing in the second half, and totally crushed those teams, won by 14 in both. 60 mins, play ever second of it.

MMA Fighters. I watch a lot of fights and unless a fighter gets that quick knock out or submission, its going to come down to cardio. Most fighters can no longer win with just their talents. They have to be in top physical condition. I think the mental aspect is just as important as the physical. They build on each other.

Does the team have the mental toughness in those late two minute drives in 4th on both sides of the ball? Because of the tough camp, the team was able to become physically and mentally stronger and I think that is what will carry them through those tough times.

Like people have mentioned before, every team breaks down at the end of the season. It’s the mentally tough that win games down the stretch. The last few years, we have done pretty well in December, in 2006 we won like 2 out of our last 3, or something like that, and last year, we were 3 and 1. Maybe we need to worry about the middle stretch of the season, where it seems we falter every year.

I was so tired once in a submission (jujitsu) match that I wanted to quit. The match was tied and I felt I had no energy. After all the guy had me by 60 lbs. But in overtime, after 10 minutes of grappling, my apponent asked the ref for a water break. It was not till he said this that I thought I had a chance. I realized that he was feeling the same way.
Why do I say this? A team mentality is the same way in many aspects. In those tough moments, a player or team has to do the Jean Claude Van Dam reflection on his past training and conditioning in order to pull off the win. Conditioning is huge. I’m all for it. In fact, baring injury, it will only serve us more and more as the season goes on. I will venture to say that there is always room for improvements including improvement in stamina and conditioning. Of course there is an optimal point. But this is for Sing to decide.
I agree with crevis. It is very much mental. That’s why you need a coach to let you know that you can do it. Even though your body says it can’t. Anybody who has competed understands this.