EPT[R] Physical Limit and How to Avoid Lactic Acid - Page 4
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FrogOfWar
Germany1406 Posts
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barkles
United States285 Posts
Since starcraft APM is almost by definition a repetitive and fast series of movements sustained over a fairly long amount of time (~15 mins for average game I think?) it fits under the general umbrella of aerobic, if Starcraft can even be thought of as exercise at all. What you describe sounds like it is caused by being too tense, not stretching properly, bad posture or playing position, or something similar. Just sit up straight, make sure your arm isn't tensed up while playing, get a rest for your wrist, and I think you'll be fine. | ||
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zylog
Canada943 Posts
There is a tendency when you're learning something to devote too much mental focus on controlling what you're doing. For instance, suppose you want to type a very fast sequence on the keyboard. If you are unskilled or unsure of yourself, there's more of a tendency to be aware of each keystroke and guide it on a more individual level. However, if you try to force yourself to speed up, many people will increase the force applied to their actions, and consequently, to control the action, the force necessary to decelerate must increase as well. In many sports there are many who "try hard" but are never really move fluidly. This is all part of the same effect. Conversely, if you look at a "natural athlete" or really anyone who is considered extremely skilled or talented at something with a physical/technical component, you notice that they move fluidly, make things look easy and are relaxed. This is a sign of economized movement, where your body has learned what is the bare mininum number of muscle fibres to fire and in what order to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. So, if your arms are burning up as you play, you have to learn to relax more and yourself to play from that relaxed state. I understand it can be scary sometimes; you have to learn to let yourself go and do things automatically without thinking too much, and at first you'll feel like your not in as good control over your body. However, in the long run it is beneficial to have this level of relaxation in your actions, as it benefits both speed and accuracy. | ||
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Gooey
United States944 Posts
Comparatively, when I play FPS games, I use a more generous surface area and use my arm as a pivot function, which makes for large, broad strokes and only side to side wrist movement. My left hand has always been very active on the keys, so I have not felt any effects in that area. When I broke it down and looked at it, I narrowed it down to two things: I grip my mouse differently, and the mouse I use is not designed for my grip. I use a Razer DeathAdder, which suits my FPS grip flawlessly. It is a little bit heavier for a mouse (also perfect for me in FPS), so it makes for great accuracy when using my arm to track my mouse. However, when I play SC2, my wrist and fingertips become the gripping and pivoting points (both much weaker than the arm and palm setup I normally use). It is just the natural feel for playing SC2 for me to grip the mouse this way. But using this heavier mouse with tendons that rarely got much use in all my years of playing is proving to be a roadblock for this setup. My mouse speed is just as snappy as it is in other games, and instead of transferring the energy to stop the mouse on a specific point into my entire arm, it is going into just one tendon in my wrist over and over again. And that lead me to figure out another contributing factor, which was the way mouse movements naturally occur in sc2. For me, and probably most other players, dragging the mouse from top to bottom to create the unit selection box is one of, if not THE most, used functions in the game (or just dragging the mouse down to click on the minimap, or scroll the screen in general). After really thinking about it, this is a fairly strenuous movement to be doing over and over again, like doing crunches on your abdominal muscles. Compounded with also having the frequently click both mouse 1 and 2, the same tendon gets way over-worked, and eventually loses strength. This is where injury starts to occur. I get to the point where my mouse accuracy diminishes, because the same few muscles in my wrists and fingers that click buttons and provide mouse accuracy are being used as my main support for mouse tracking. I'll start to get frustrated and really concentrate to obtain my high expectations of perfect mouse accuracy, and it starts to cause my muscles to strain. Don't know if this is what happens to you, but I'm sure someone reading this thread might be experiencing a similar thing. The pain ranges from the center of my forearm to the center of the palm of my hand, with most of the strain stemming from the middle finger (right click, imagine that). | ||
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Supamang
United States2298 Posts
im pretty sure the only people who should be worried about flushing out lactic acid are people who are doing strenuous exercise like lifting weights. There is no way that moving a mouse and clicking fast should match the feeling of running or lifting weights. Maybe you should try working out every once in a while. Im not saying that trying to be an asshole, but i think it might help out. When your body is used to moving much heavier weights regularly, im sure keeping up your APM wont be such a big problem | ||
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ROOTIllusion
United States1060 Posts
On February 17 2011 13:02 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Perhaps playing Zerg contributes to this a lot, especially when I need to spam 50+ pairs of lings ASAP and I don't know how to do that while holding down the button (still don't get it!) @heishe I HAVE THE SOLUTION! That mental exhaustion can easily be fixed in almost every situation by simply eating fruit, ESPECIALLY a banana. Omg in 10 minutes you'll feel so good. Not joking, I try to emphasize this so much, but try it out sometime ^_^. @FinestHour Perhaps another part of the problem is me breathing less when I'm playing? I haven't kept track so i don't know if i breathe less. Then, hopefully the main reason why this is happening is because I'm "reaching new heights" in my APM and speed? I remember back then when my APM was around 80 I would start feeling that numb/burning sensation when I pushed to my then-height of 100 ish. Fruit dealer agrees with bananas ^^ | ||
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sluggaslamoo
Australia4494 Posts
Give oov banana, oov macro, oov win. | ||
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Sicky
United Kingdom121 Posts
On February 17 2011 12:45 etheovermind wrote: its about oxygen This makes more sense, I think. | ||
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uSnAmplified
United States1029 Posts
On February 17 2011 14:55 evanthebouncy! wrote: Yes they experience lactic acid, however they have specific training regiments called lactic threshold where they train there body to handle the acid buildup. when I run 5 miles I feel I'm going to get acid melted by those acids I'm wondering, when an athelete is doing a marathon does he also release acids? just practice more man! ^^ and that guy above me is very true too. | ||
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Morphs
Netherlands645 Posts
I've been playing flashflashrevolution, a game that requires very fast keypresses. Up to 600-800 keypresses per minute, although such bursts last for 30 seconds usually, then go down to 300+. Being a righthander, my left hand is always the "weak" side. When playing the intense songs I can start to feel a burn in my arm/wrist that makes it harder to move. It's actually a lack of sufficient muscle relaxation. Fast relaxation is just as important as fast contraction if you want to make fast repeated movements. Play the game, feel the burning sensation. Then after the game, relax. Stretch your hands and make sure you do not overtax the arm. Fix your hotkeys, set them up so you don't have to make really weird finger movements. And for crying out loud, if you're Zerg, please do this: Go to your configuration screen in windows and go to the keyboard settings. Put both the repeat delay and the repeat speed to shortest/fastest. If you hold the z for 1 second, you get this: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Ironically 25 z's, enough to make the 50 zerglings you were talking about. | ||
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