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First of all I'm not sure if this is the right forum, admin's feel free to move this thread if you feel it should be posted on a different forum.
I'm a high diamond player that's trying to make it into master but I've got major problems with my gaming stamina. When I play more then 3-5games in a row I start to get what I like to call "brain lag", my reaction time and decision making drops A LOT. If I don't play mass games I find myself beating players on master level frequently but when I try to ladder a lot I get "brain lagged" and just go on a losing streak. If I have a free day I can get 20-25 games in if I make Sc2 the focus for the day, taking small breaks and bigger breaks for meal and such but I feel I could and I would like to play more.
Anyone got any advice what I could do to increase my gaming stamina? Should I just press on and thus gain it or is it just something you need to be born with?
Any advice helps because I'm seriously considering leaving the game since I feel I can't play the amount of game's I need to get to the "the next" level and I feel very frustrated being stuck at my current skill level for a long time.
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Eat food. I'm not even kidding, you're probably hungry. SC2 takes more out of you than most people think. Maybe take a nap. I like to take SC2 breaks when doing homework sometimes if I have the time for it, that way when I get tired of either homework or SC2, I switch, and get both my preferred amount of play time in, as well as completing my homework and studying 
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The immediate advice: When you start getting that 'brain lag' do a break. If you want to use that time for SC2, you can do a 'soft' break: just chill watching an stream, VODs or here on liquipedia, it's the perfect time to review some guides or whatnot. If that 'soft' break isn't enough, step away from any SC2 or even from the computer for a bit to charge your batteries.
Now for increasing your 'battery' capacity: eat well, sleep well, drink enough water, do some exercise. All this is important for your energy levels for anything you do in life and of course in gaming. I used to be a competitive chess player and one big advice you got from Great Masters on how to prepare for a long tournament was to do regular physical exercise, so don't underestimate this for your brain stamina in general.
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My opinion is:
This will always happen. To pros, to "newbies", to everyone. It happens differently depending on how trained you are, and how much time you've been awake, and a lot of different factors. Pros train on a daily basis a lot, so they get used to playing more games on a row; but when they play like 30 games or something like that, they also "brain lag" or in other words, their brain gets tired. It is Pretty normal.
What happens to me is that my eyes begin segregating more of that liquid that lubricate your eyes, so i begin getting wet eyes, and my vision reduces from game to game. So by the time i do 10 games, i see blurry.
It might happen differently from person to person, and some persons just can't stand even 3 games, some can stand almost 40.
Hope that helps,
Yours Truly,
James Lake
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I would suggest eating something. What I do is I eat something while I play a custom game every 5-6 games. I can play about 30 games in a row without decreasing in skill (my eyes never blur as I was raised to be on a computer, but I get bored and can't think about starcraft; only mindless micro and macro) if I have just woken up, taken a shower, and eaten a healthy breakfast; however, if it is late at night I can only do 5-6 games in a row without playing terribly badly. Be well rested; treat starcraft like you treated a chapter test in High School.
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You need to eat certain foods.
I have a large tub of trail mix right beside my computer. Between each game I would eat a handful. That stuff is amazing for keeping your stamina high.
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Some people can chain more games than others. It's the way of life. If you start toget this brain lag, you must take a break. It's like when you want to get a few more victories before go sleep, but you are tired. Don't do that, because you are not going to have good time and you are not going to play good. The only moment where you chain games even if your brain is destroyed, is to train very hard.
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Honestly if you keep thinking of how you'll get better by playing this extra game you can play for hours longer.
The key is to have fun and not rage when you lose, also try to find out what you could have done to win the game.
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Don't play the game if you aren't enjoying playing the game.
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It's because if you're not used to keeping your brain going for 100% for a good period of time, your brain thinks it can go on cruise control. Some good ways to counter that are to:
-Intake some caffeine, not too much, or you'll be twitchy for a bit. Drink some tea or something
-Eat good food. Eat stuff like trail mix, certain fruits (I think foods high in antioxidants are good?), bagels (preferably w/ cream cheese), toast, yogurt; energetic foods in general
-Practice going several hours once in a while. If your brain knows to stay at the top of its game, it'll do so, but like everything requires time and training
-Stand up and stretch between games. It helps relieve stress
-Watch some replays. Keeps your brain going :D
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Take a 30 minute power nap, or just let your brain muscles relax~
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To increase gaming stamina is to on a consistant basis play when you feel too tired. When you start pushing your limit consistantly, you will in turn increase it.
My best run has been 58 (63 if I include five 6-pool games I did), I averaged about 5 games an hour for a total of a little over 12 hours PLAYING. (To note, that is not like saying you spent 2 hours playing, where 5 minutes goes to loading screens and so on, the combined time of every game was a bit over 12 hours.)
I ate like normal, 4 meals a day that is for me, but an important thing for stamina is water. Untill you start massing up the 20+ games a day you can go by the rule of 1 glass (not a big glass) of water after each game.
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The only way I've ever been able to mass game (30 or more in one day) is by taking my adderall prescriptions. Definitely helps, but without this is something I definitely also struggle with.
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On September 04 2011 05:04 Dazz3 wrote:
Anyone got any advice what I could do to increase my gaming stamina? Should I just press on and thus gain it or is it just something you need to be born with?
Any advice helps because I'm seriously considering leaving the game since I feel I can't play the amount of game's I need to get to the "the next" level and I feel very frustrated being stuck at my current skill level for a long time.
I think it'll come with time. When I first started SC2, I could only put in 1-2 games a day. Now I can play 3-5 a day ^_^. Seriously, just play until you feel satisfied or until your brain tells you "no more". I suppose you could push yourself for a couple extra games; that might help increase the rate at which in acquire gaming stamina, but it's a game. Don't stress about it.
Also, I am confused about why you're considering leaving the game entirely.
I don't understand what you mean when you say you can't play the amount of games to get to the next level. I assume by "the next level", you mean "Master league".
It only takes about 200 to 300 1v1 games to get into master league starting from bronze (from my experience). It should take a little over 2 months at 4 games per day to go from Bronze to Master.
From the point where you get promoted to diamond to where you get promoted to master should take roughly 2 weeks if you average 4 games a day. However, you said you're currently high diamond. I can't imagine it taking longer than 1 week at a rate of 4 games a day for you to hit master league.
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A lot of people in this thread are telling you to eat but its not as simple as that. You should have a meal thats high in complex carbs. And you should wait 30 minutes or so after eat to begin playing. After a couple hours of playing if you feel sluggish you should eat something small with simple carbs.
The difference is complex carbs take a long time for your body to break down into glucose (energy) so they release over time. Simple carbs are the opposite. If you get to much glucose in your system your body releases insulin to remove the excess from your blood stream. So the key is to supply your body with enough glucose so that you remain alert but not so much that you overproduce insulin and crash.
Oh and when you're looking for food that has a lot of simple carbs don't pick up candy bars and coke. There are plenty of healthy foods with simple carbs such as fruit. And make sure your portions are small gaming is not as intense as exercising.
The other important factor in how long you're able to sit and play is your interest level. Most people have trouble really focusing on something for more then 30 or 40 minutes. So you are definitely not alone. Like it or not as soon as your brain loses interest you will perform worse. There's a few things you can do to combat this. Number 1 most effective thing you could do is take a break. Doesn't have to be long but it has to be non starcraft related. Another thing you could do is find things to peak you interest. If you've just played 5 ladder games in a row go find an interesting forum post to read or talk to a friend about your strategies. Watch a replay from your favorite pro player. I'm sure if you brain storm for a while you can find many other things you can do to stay interested and not be a zombie clicking the mouse buttons.
So summary. Eat right, exercise, take breaks, have fun, stop if you're no longer interested in the task at hand.
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On September 04 2011 06:30 Hikari wrote:
Take a 30 minute power nap, or just let your brain muscles relax~
Your brain muscles?
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one thing I found out is real great to "reset" your mind and restore energy is doing some physical exercise.
I for ,example ,like to go to the gym for some cardio and wights , but i guess everything that makes your heart go faster is good.
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Just take a 20-30 minute break, and then go back to playing. Also, being in shape and staying hydrated help a lot.
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okay, here is how it works:
you go team management, click your players name and set all three training goals to endurance. in a view days you shouldnt lose that much stamina while playing.
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EPT
