• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 18:49
CEST 00:49
KST 07:49
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway132v2 & SC: Evo Complete: Weekend Double Feature4Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy9uThermal's 2v2 Tour: $15,000 Main Event18
Community News
Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris31Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again!13Weekly Cups (Aug 4-10): MaxPax wins a triple6SC2's Safe House 2 - October 18 & 195
StarCraft 2
General
#2: Serral - Greatest Players of All Time #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time I hope balance council is prepping final balance Geoff 'iNcontroL' Robinson has passed away Aligulac - Europe takes the podium
Tourneys
Esports World Cup 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris WardiTV Mondays RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast Mutation # 486 Watch the Skies Mutation # 485 Death from Below
Brood War
General
BSL Polish World Championship 2025 20-21 September BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL Season 20 Ro24 Groups Flash On His 2010 "God" Form, Mind Games, vs JD No Rain in ASL20?
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro24 Group F [ASL20] Ro24 Group D [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [IPSL] CSLAN Review and CSLPRO Reimagined!
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting Muta micro map competition
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread Dawn of War IV Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The year 2050 European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
High temperatures on bridge(s) Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment"
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale
Blogs
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Breaking the Meta: Non-Stand…
TrAiDoS
INDEPENDIENTE LA CTM
XenOsky
[Girl blog} My fema…
artosisisthebest
Sharpening the Filtration…
frozenclaw
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 3132 users

Training and the Principle of Individuality

Blogs > Ero-Sennin
Post a Reply
Ero-Sennin
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States756 Posts
July 11 2012 22:22 GMT
#1
Why hello ladies and gentlemen! I'm vGEroSennin with Complexity Academy.

I know this blog may look long, but it's nothing longer than average let me assure you. If it still doesn't tickle your fancy, there's some Day9 in here somewhere, so if you read the whole thing you'll find it and be even more intelligent than when you came in here. Guaranteed or your money back.

So in this blog I want to talk about how one should go about improving in Starcraft, and why the principle of individuality is important in this process (and something team manager's should have a good understanding of). This is more tailored towards a structured team, not necessarily in a team house, but by all means can be.

First off, what is the principle of individuality? Basically, it's a training principle that is based around the fact that everybody is different. Shocker, right? But you'd be surprised at how, even at the pro level (let's take the NFL for instance), they will just design a basic workout program for a group. Well, what if one individual has an inherent weakness? That won't be addressed and thus they won't reach their full potential.

So, the take home point is that no two individuals will respond in the same way to a given training program.

Is this already clicking in your heads? Already we can cross of statements such as, "You need to practice like a Korean to be good at this game." I can't tell you how many people I knew in BW who would play 8 hours a day and still suck really bad. Like, embarrassingly bad.

Team managers should realize that each player is different. If player X enjoys practicing from 9 AM - 2 PM, 2 hour break, and then back at it from 4 -9 PM, that's fine. Even if player X shows fantastic results.. this does not mean what works for player X will then work for player Y, Z, etc...

However, it's important to keep in mind that even though a player may not practice that exact schedule (maybe they want to practice 2 PM - 12 AM), you may also have a player who plays very little, say ~3 hours a day. He may be a Stephano, but I doubt it. And it's on the team manager and I'd say, even the teammates, to push him and get him motivated in some way to practice more, or just be done with him.

Obviously there are many things that would go into the decision, it would not just be, "Well he doesn't like to play that much so let's off him,"

So let's get down to how to actually improve!

Practice. And I'm done, thanks for reading!

No I'm kidding.. but the answer is practice, but with proper feedback. What does this mean? Let's put it in golfing terms. A man could go to the driving range every day and hit two bucket of balls, and still not break 100. There are also people who have never picked up a club and could do better than him. It's just the way it goes sometimes.

But the bottom line is practice does not make perfect. Practice with proper feedback (so that you can realize what you're doing wrong and what you need to do to correct yourself) makes perfect. Practice without fatigue is also more beneficial than with fatigue, as with fatigue your reactions slow, mental processes are slower, finger accuracy/mouse accuracy can decrease, things of that nature. This is also why staying hydrated is important as well. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't practice at all with fatigue, because you need to be familiar with it so that you can cope during an MLG-like tournament, for instance. I've played in them, they're long, enough said.

Something outside the game a player can do is increase their aerobic fitness, as that increases mental alertness so that you're not as tired after your Winner's Bracket RO4 match at 2 AM.

Now coming back to the game, knowing what you want to do in the game before it starts, and knowing how to adjust certain things in your build order based on what you see is huge. The former starts off a plan in your head, a general flow on how you want the game to go, and the latter is based off many games of experience or an educated guess.

Nerves is another big issue, but one that is sort of glossed over. For example, how many times have you heard, "Yeah this guy is really good in practice but get him in a big game and he seems to choke. I just think he needs to play more games to get use to it."

I've heard the above a few times and I've witnessed it with teammates and friends through BW and SC2. While the advice of playing more games to get use to it may work for some, as we've learned at the beginning of this beautiful blog, this is not helpful advice for all people.

What happens when a person chokes? This is something I talked briefly with Day9 about 3 years ago, but the more stressful an event is (say, a World Series game, or a game to make it to GSL Code S finals), the more a player regresses back to their ingrained training. So what you'll see is, let's take a 16 year old pitcher pitching in a state playoff game. They'll start pitching like they would a year or two ago, and you'll see some more obvious faults than they had in the past. The reason being is because it's human nature to regress to what has been ingrained in you during the most stressful times. This is how our ancestors survived.

Applying this to Starcraft II, let's say you've practiced (what you thought was good) for a couple of months, but it turned out not to be as good as it could have been, then the last month you practiced great, and then you had a relatively big tournament. It's not to say you'd totally regress, but there would definitely be those kind of elements in there. And obviously to combat that you need proper focus, mindset, positive affirmation, a game plan, a back up plan (not thinking you're going to fail, but studies show that individuals who know what to do in case the main plan doesn't work out deal better than those who don't [common sense, right?]), all that good stuff can help counteract that.

Day9 responded by saying, "The brain functions surprisingly similarly to a computer. The frontal lobe holds 'registers' that can carry unique bits of information or can point to bits of memory/learned material. When you're feeling very nervous, the number of registers drops fairly significantly and, as a result, you have a lot of trouble accessing what you've learned. Instead, what your brain has automated tends to take over and, hence, the EXACT outcome is what you described: you play the way you played a while ago instead of how you've been playing recently."

Again, this goes back to proper training. Are you starting to understand how important this is yet? One thing to keep in mind though is why do they feel so nervous? Perhaps it's their first big event, or they're doubting their skills. Whatever it is, it's a friend's job, a teammate's job, a manager's job to snap them out of it. You know your player better than I do so you do what you think is best for the situation.

One thing I can suggest is to get the player in the habit of positive self-talk. "I WILL win this game. I WILL make it out of my group. I CAN DO THIS!" and things of that nature, because positive self-talk is good, and negative self-talk, "I don't know how well this is going to go, I hope I don't lose too horribly , I hope I don't let my team down," is obviously bad.

If you start thinking that way, you have more of a chance of that happening. Thus, think positive, things will go good for you! Not always, but you will have a better chance, it's proven, you will have a better chance to succeed.

Thanks for reading!

Complexity <3

**
Luck makes talent look like genius.
puppykiller
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States3128 Posts
July 11 2012 22:32 GMT
#2
money back
Why would I play sctoo when I can play BW?
supernovamaniac
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States3046 Posts
July 11 2012 22:33 GMT
#3
money back
ppp
Ero-Sennin
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States756 Posts
July 11 2012 22:45 GMT
#4
Damn you Max! And some other person I don't really know.

Anyone got change for a 100?
Luck makes talent look like genius.
Lumire
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States607 Posts
July 11 2012 22:51 GMT
#5
money back
|| o.o
puppykiller
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States3128 Posts
July 11 2012 23:05 GMT
#6
so are you saying that perhaps the korean pros that are the most successful are exclusive to the few that can benefit the most from the korean training style?
Why would I play sctoo when I can play BW?
Ero-Sennin
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States756 Posts
July 11 2012 23:38 GMT
#7
I'm saying that trying to fit a general plan to a specific individual is laziness on the company (whether we're talking about an NFL-style workout program or a training program structured towards starcraft 2 players).

There are some individuals that, that sort of thing is right up their alley and it works best for them. This does not mean it works best for everyone, or is optimal. Will 6 hours of structured practice benefit more than 12 hours? As I said fatigue is a factor, so if you wanted your players to get that amount there would have to be breaks involved. At what point is there diminishing returns? For some players it may occur sooner than later.
Luck makes talent look like genius.
Lightswarm
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada966 Posts
July 12 2012 02:20 GMT
#8
where do i get this feedback? i rly wanna know since ladder is a piece of shit
Team[AoV]
Ero-Sennin
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States756 Posts
July 12 2012 11:10 GMT
#9
Coaching or help from the forums, combined with what you see other top players do. Ladder is fine for practice. Customs are better when you're focusing on a certain thing or a particular match up, but ladder, especially for the lower-skilled people, is fine for practice.

For example, if you're trying for an immortal sentry all in, but yours is hitting 1 1/2 minutes later than when the pros do it, you can bounce between the replays and determine what is holding you back, or post the replays on the forum asking for advice as to what is holding you back.
Luck makes talent look like genius.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 12m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nathanias 135
UpATreeSC 134
ProTech89
JuggernautJason77
StarCraft: Brood War
Artosis 647
NaDa 38
Beast 2
Dota 2
monkeys_forever639
PGG 38
LuMiX0
League of Legends
Reynor74
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K528
Other Games
summit1g6380
Grubby2342
FrodaN571
Sick164
C9.Mang0153
ZombieGrub109
Maynarde78
ViBE71
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV16
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• RyuSc2 49
• musti20045 33
• davetesta11
• Kozan
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 2
• iopq 2
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22340
• WagamamaTV0
League of Legends
• Doublelift3707
• TFBlade410
Counter-Strike
• imaqtpie951
• Shiphtur159
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
1h 12m
The PondCast
11h 12m
WardiTV Summer Champion…
12h 12m
herO vs MaxPax
Clem vs Classic
Replay Cast
1d 1h
LiuLi Cup
1d 12h
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs herO
Cure vs Rogue
Classic vs HeRoMaRinE
Cosmonarchy
1d 17h
OyAji vs Sziky
Sziky vs WolFix
WolFix vs OyAji
Big Brain Bouts
1d 17h
Iba vs GgMaChine
TriGGeR vs Bunny
Reynor vs Classic
Serral vs Clem
BSL Team Wars
1d 20h
Team Hawk vs Team Dewalt
BSL Team Wars
1d 20h
Team Hawk vs Team Bonyth
SC Evo League
2 days
TaeJa vs Cure
Rogue vs threepoint
ByuN vs Creator
MaNa vs Classic
[ Show More ]
Maestros of the Game
2 days
ShoWTimE vs Cham
GuMiho vs Ryung
Zoun vs Spirit
Rogue vs MaNa
[BSL 2025] Weekly
2 days
SC Evo League
3 days
Maestros of the Game
3 days
SHIN vs Creator
Astrea vs Lambo
Bunny vs SKillous
HeRoMaRinE vs TriGGeR
BSL Team Wars
3 days
Team Bonyth vs Team Sziky
BSL Team Wars
3 days
Team Dewalt vs Team Sziky
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSLAN 3
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
HCC Europe

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20
CSL Season 18: Qualifier 1
Acropolis #4 - TS1
CSL Season 18: Qualifier 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

Upcoming

CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
EC S1
Sisters' Call Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
Roobet Cup 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.