Mate, be careful. You can injure yourself this way.
This is different for everyone. Some people can whack away at the keyboard for hours and hours every day, others can't.
I got some serious RSI years ago while I was on a programming spree (12+ hours of coding / day for several days). Worst of all, my body position was counterproductive. It took years to get myself back to full shape, and I had to stop playing the piano completely.
Now, I'm fine. This is what I do: - At work, I use a tool called workrave to make sure I do breaks. I often stretch during micro-breaks (which are short breaks, around 30 secs). - I spent a lot of time setting up my desk, keyboard position, screens etc. correctly. I use ergonomic keyboards for working (they're useless for gaming because of the keyboards layout). - When playing SC, that's obviously not an option. I try to do some stretches between games (of course, when the bloodlust comes, I just click 'find match' as soon as the last game was over... but that's not really what I should do). - I do a fair amount of sports, mostly rock climbing, swimming and running.
Going to the gym can help, but it can also make matters worse. RSI stands for 'repetitive strain injury', which means you get it because you do some movements repetitively, and often, which is what you need to do for some of the typical gym exercises. I find rock climbing helps, as it strengthens the tendons in a very irregular manner. Swimming while feeling the effects of RSI doesn't help (same as with the gym), but when I'm feeling OK I do it a lot because it strengthens your upper body overall which improves your posture.
That said, you're doing it right: Spam lots, then rest. It's similar to what you do in piano lessons with finger exercises. But you can still hurt yourself permanently this way, and if so, you should ask yourself if it's really worth it.
TL;DR: Spamming OK, but you can hurt yourself this way and not everyone is able to do 200 APM average.
make sure that when you have your hand over your keyboard it's planted on the table in a way that doesn't cut off any circulation, warm up your hands with stretching before you start playing and do some wrist strength exercises.
Potentially forearm strength may factor into this some, you can improve it by progressively working out your arms, either at the gym or at home with some dumbells, or trying one of those hand gripper things while you are not playing. I've heard people complain about mech KBs with black switches and how they make their fingers tired, but if I use anything else it feels super light and weird. So yes it will just take some time and maybe a strength toy like a ball or gripper. Not that I'm the strongest person ever or that my APM is super high, but I usually spam a lot and my hands don't get tired.
As that Day9 guy explains in his video, about the 'Golden bone' is absolutely necessary for a stable hand. This is what I tell users which experience RSI at my work aswell and have been doing this for the past 10 years. You should only use that little bone while moving your mouse.
Furthermore, your hand position compared to the keyboard should be so that you don't get complaints on your wrist. It differs per person, but try and change the height and placement of your keyboard while gaming. Your wrist should lean on the desk aswell for more endurance (just like with the mouse). Chair/Desk height will also be a factor in this scenario, so test the differences in height with your desk chair (assuming your desk chair is adjustable).
For an overall good experience you will need to test your own style, for what feels good for you. I.E. some users like to have their keyboard almost vertical, and some users need it to be mainly horizontal. Try some of this stuff and see with which setting your hand doesn't hurt.
The reason that pro-gamers can play all day is because their hands are on the desk as if it is natural for them. I've been playing RTS on a decent level for years (Red alert 2, CnC3, now Sc2) and I work all day with a computer, so for me it is really important I don't have wrist and/or hand problems after a while of gaming. At work and at home my setup is practically the same, it also differs alot from my colleagues, but it works for me.
Find out which 'setup' works for you and get used to it. After this you can try and spam APM without getting wrist/hand problems after 1 or 2 games. You shouldn't force yourself with difficulties on your hands, because that may result in getting RSI, which is a gamer's worst nightmare.
On October 11 2012 00:23 wo1fwood wrote: Part of what you need to learn in spamming APM is not just improving your speed, but reducing the force necessary to complete those tasks. I would guess that your hand is becomming fatigued much more so and faster because when you spam, your hand becomes tense and that your motor movements are using waaaay to much force.
So 200 APM of spamming tired more than 200 APM of real game logic ?
I'm not sure I understand this question, but if I'm guessing your asking if you get more tired spamming than with real in game apm?
Either way, the answer is no. APM is APM regardless of how or where it is used (or effectiveness), and all it comes down to is the movement of your digits and how that is accomplished. The reason pro players can have multiple games where they have 300+ APM and not get fatigued is because they have learned to refine how they use their keyboard hand to the point where they are only using what is necessary to produce those actions, which in turn allows them to be faster as you are less in the way of yourself physically.
Edit: anyone can reach 200 average APM, regardless of who you are (unless you have some disability that precludes that). 200 is not terribly fast, but may seem that way because you have to link your actions to meaningful uses. That isn't a physical property per se, but a mental exercise that has to be practiced with the involvement of a physical component. Physically getting to a 200 average is possible for everyone, the process of making that 200 average mean something is a little more difficult.
Edit2: I feel like I should to a comprehensive writeup of APM from a musicians perspecitve (practicing 'scales' etc...)
The reason my APM is pretty high (around 190-210 most games) is because I used to play Guitar Hero competitively. Being one of the best Guitar Hero players meant that everyday my hands were moving crazy fast playing it for hours on end. Because of that my hands are naturally fast. But, the only way to utilize those fast hands for playing starcraft involved 3 things.
1. Spam during early game, it really does help warm you up and get used to having a higher APM
2. Watching Starcraft is what lets you see how build orders work and how the mechanics of the game work. Watching lots of starcraft = getting familiar with the mechanics which lets you know what to do, and if you always know what to do in game then you can constantly be moving.
3.The simplest one, play. The more you practice the more you will be used to everything and the better you will get
ok first,your estimation of how many games a korean pro is way of,its atleast double of what u said,20 games u can literraly maybe play in 4-5 hours(hense u can do for example both school and gaming) but as far as it comes to u feeling hurt in the hand maybe the most important question is, whats your age? your hands get alot slower from 30+,why do u think there are so few of 30+year olds that are proffessional gamers?but there can also be other proplems like out of shape(doesn't matter to much)they are also very used to it, and well some of them have wrist bans on their hands and alot of them also stretch before starting their gaming session and i forgot something more but well i forgot.
Im guessing the OP doesnt play any musical instrument. The muscles in your hand needed for APM spam have probably just never been really excersized. Just keep at it and it will get easier with time.
Have a piano or guitar around the house? Derp around with that. That will strengthen your hands quickly.
I've watched my roommate of average 200 apm play, and i looked specifically for where his apm is getting boosted in the mid and late game. What I found is actually, that he does spam all of his control groups randomly in between real actions. You can also see pros do this on their streams. I average around 250 apm the first 3 minutes of the game, and by the end of a 20 minute game my average apm usually has dropped to around 110 because I don't do as much cycling of control groups when the game actually picks up. (I play protoss.)
Here is one of my tip. Spam 2 hotkey in cycle where you actually know what two things you are pressing. Example: I have nexus on 1 and my scouting probe on 5 - early game you will constantly jump between them but not mindlessly cos you know you have to watch constant probes and make sure scout lives. Then as the game goes you will have other two things in a spam cycle. Production building + army (for example) - from time to time make sure you have probes... With this logic, where you spam 2 hotkeys (not mindlessly because you are keeping an eye on those 2 things) you will build up muscle memory and get up your apm and this is the way where you will experience lowest amount of pain on your hand. As you become a beast add 3 hotkey cycle or 4, or whatever clever model you can imagine to help you spam hotkeys for awareness, quick reaction and keeping yourself warm while avoiding hurting yourself. Start with two hotkey spam throughout the game - i promise you higher apm, minimal hurt, and really fast improvement on the things on your 2 hotkeys. gl
First off, high APM is a bad thing. I can guarantee you that all of these pros and players with high APM have some sort of Carpel Tunnel or wrist damage. I used to be a master terran that would ladder 30 games a day, every day and I actually started to develop carpel tunnel until I quit playing all together about 2 months ago and it went away (some pain still lingers buts minor).
What I would suggest is instead of focusing on getting such a high apm and playing a ton of ladder games (useless in my opinion) would be to study the game, know all of the builds, all of the units, all of the races (play all of them), and understand the game in great depth that way you con focus on strategy vs playing really fast and spamming which most pros do.
Slow and steady will win the race in the end and I bet if you studied the strategy aspect of the game more and set up a hot key system that is more efficient and played more efficiently you could get up to the pro level with an apm under 100 without worrying and suffering with wrist damage and/or carpel tunnel.
On October 11 2012 01:08 illidan333 wrote: Does everybody have the pain at the same place ?
When I'm typing fast with the horribly not ergonomic keyboards of my workplace my whole hand hurts like hell. When I play a lot at home I don't feel pain the keyboard hand but my mouse hand starts to get that mix of numbness and pain starting from the wrist and going to the whole hand as well. I need a lot of breaks to be able to game a few hours ): .
My hands hurt constantly. It's just become sort of a normal thing for me where it doesn't register with me unless I'm thinking about it. Between work, games and my freelance illustration work my hands are constantly on a keyboard, mouse or pen and I get zero rest for them unless I'm asleep. You get over it eventually, but I remember when it first started to crop up it was really painful.
I'm certainly not an expert, but i noticed some things during play about this subject. Now, i don't know in what way you hand exactly hurts, so i could be totally wrong.
I play classical piano for a long time, and when studying hard parts it is possible to not notice how your 'stance' changes into a very cramped one. For example you hold your shoulders way higher than you're supposed to. After a while, you arm will hurt. The same with your fingers: when practicing a piece were you need your fingers to be spread wide, your fingers might hurt a lot; not because they are spread too far, but because you don't relax you fingers enough.
I understand the urge to be faster and that you have different techniques you accomplish that. But the advice i'd like to give is to be aware of your hand's state during practice. If it isn't relaxed, relax for a while (could be a few minutes, or longer) and then try again.
I don't know if this will help. It helped me during piano practice as well as gaming (sc2 or osu).
Its very simple , play more.. more games youi play better APM you will have. When i was starting playing SC2 my APM was around 70 , now my average APM is 110-120 without bulshit spaminh keys.
EPT![[image loading]](http://imageshack.us/a/img197/9204/hands.jpg)
