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Hi, BugRancher here, I am a Diamond Zerg (perhaps Masters if i laddered more, well see). I study Zoology at my University and absolutely love the applications of biology to everyday life. For those unfamiliar zoology, microbiology and biochemistry are typical undergrad majors for anyone who intends to enter any of the related fields (no i don't intend to be a zookeeper.) I am interested in doing an informal and partially scientific study on increasing APM using biological principles.
The concepts:
The human body is an incredibly complex and sophisticated system. It is also a system with many hormonal and metabolic feedback systems. Many body mechanism's metabolic process are up or down regulated (intensified or lessened) by many external environmental and environmental factors. One important concept is that when a body is stressed to a certain point it will try to adapt to that sort of strain the next time around. However, the body does not tend to try and adapt to any stimuli unless those stimuli are driven towards an extreme the body is not readily used to. Your body and cells only want to use as much energy as they have to, so if you go for long jogs, you might get really used to jogging but won't do so well at sprinting.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857-1,00.html
examples of adaptive mechanisms:
If a certain smell or sound is present in your house or your environment for a long period of time, your body tends not to notice it after a while.
When you go to the gym, lifting much weight over a short amount of time is more effective in increasing pure muscle strength rather than lifting a small amount several times.
Many people that bike many miles a day are more physically fit, but it is usually because of the few hills in between their destination that drive their heart rate to new limits as oppose to the flat level easier terrain.
Astronauts in space don't experience much stress on their bones, as a result they must do much resistance and shocking exercise on the shuttle just to be able to walk when they get back.
Studies have shown hardcore bikers tend to have accelerated bone loss compared to non-bikers, this is thought to be due to the lack of impact and resistance in biking compared to running.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/is-bicycling-bad-for-your-bones/
The Point: Use it or lose it.
Now how can I increase my APM, the hypothesis?
People who spam APM and drive their hand-speed to the limits will have a better APM long term compared to those who stick to the hand speed their "comfortable" with.
The important thing in translating hand-speed to better game play is "effective hand" speed. Faster hand speed doesn't mean your playing efficiently.
see Day9 daily #252 http://blip.tv/file/4712303
So when trying to push yourself to the limit, don't spam uselessly like clicking 600 times to get a zergling to a watchtower(that's likely to develop bad habits), try to keep a sense of urgency when getting things done. DO SPAM when its on the keyboard. PUSH YOURSELF TO THE LIMIT, if this concept is correct only 15-30 minutes a day should be needed as long as you are pushing the envelope of what you can do. You don't need to do this every game. I suspect this is something many pro players have already figured out without really knowing it specifically. Spamming at the beginning is great not because it may help you late game, (in the short term your hands might be tired) but because it will help you next weekend or next week by reinforcing your hands biologically to understand they need to be faster.
The APM improvement challenge:
1.load your last 3 replays, X8 through and record THE AVERGAE APM AT THE END OF THE REPLAY take the 3 average APM's
add them together and divide by 3.
AvgAPM1+AvgAPM2+AvgAPM3/3 = 3 game average apm
Record your player name:
race
league
3 game average APM
Example:
Player name:BugRancher
Race erg
League:Diamond
AvgAPM:125
1.Push yourself to the absolute limit! Spam like you've never spammed before, except DO NOT SPAM with mouse clicks, maintain control and prescision with your mouse. SPAMMING SHOULD BE CONFINED THE THE KEYBOARD. SPAM LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SPAMMED BEFORE! your fingers should be physically a bit sore after. Try spamming production structures to check on injects or completion so you don't have to queue. also spam your hotkeys furiously. the point is not to win the game but condition your fingers to react quicker. Do this 3 times a week for approximately 30 minutes worth of playing each time. Doing this for 5 hours may not be good if you don't let your nerves and muscles recover.
THE MAIN POINT IS SPAM FOR LONGER AND HARDER THAN YOU USUALLY EVER DO!
After 4 weeks do the same thing as above and reply to this thread with your average 3 game APM after 4 weeks. After two weeks we can all look at the results and speculate. All the pro's know that even a small speed improvement can be a game winning improvement. Good Luck!
Initial results:
Bronze:
Silver:
Gold:
Platinum:
Diamond:
Player name:BugRancher
Raceerg
League:Diamond
AvgAPM:125
Player name:Idonthinkso
Race:random
League:Diamond
AvgAPM 4
Masters:
Final results:
Bronze:
Silver:
Gold:
Platinum:
Diamond:
Masters:
Btw if you are planning to flame this thread, comment without reading, get off topic, or comment in an nonconstructive I will be ignoring those comments and insisting the mods deal with them, lets keep this thread clean! We are looking at this in a scientific matter, debate about the effectiveness of this should be added AFTER the experiment is over.
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Awesome thread man, I'm studying bio too, this info will help a lot of us I believe 
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I don't see how spamming at will can be detrimental to one's ability. Afterall muscle memory is a key component, if I spam 123 123 123 all the time, chances are when it comes to use 123 for army I will do it better than the one who hasn't been spamming 123 123 123 for the last 20 games.
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I could use some clarification on how you think we can improve our APM. Your saying just try really hard?
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I am not sure 2 weeks would do anyting. The reason I say this, is because most people will tell you that once you hit your peak APM, no matter how hard you practice their APM will not increase significantly.
I think Moon (a WC3 player said it best when asked how to increase your APM): "Some people pray to idols, or do special exercises. But the only way that works seem to be slow and steady practice."
I got from this thread that practicing really hard would increase your APM. But you didn't give a hint about to how to practice hard? Do you know what I mean? Come to think about it, there is a lot of uncontrolled variable, like your potential APM. I am not sure what you are trying to test? We already know that practicing make you better. And what does it mean to practice intensely?
There is also something wrong with testing your average APM at only 3 points in the game. Do we choose the 3 points, is it random?
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On February 27 2011 15:33 Wayra wrote:
I am not sure 2 weeks would do anyting. The reason I say this, is because most people will tell you that once you hit your peak APM, no matter how hard you practice their APM will not increase significantly.
I think Moon (a WC3 player said it best when asked how to increase your APM): "Some people pray to idols, or do special exercises. But the only way that works seem to be slow and steady practice."
I got from this thread that practicing really hard would increase your APM. But you didn't give a hint about to how to practice hard? Do you know what I mean? Come to think about it, there is a lot of uncontrolled variable, like your potential APM. I am not sure what you are trying to test? We already know that practicing make you better. And what does it mean to practice intensely?
There is also something wrong with testing your average APM at only 3 points in the game. Do we choose the 3 points, is it random?
Yeah...this guy's got it right. I was stuck at 120 apm playing in the top 200s for at least 6 months. Only recently have I been able to bring it up to 160~150. Two weeks isn't nearly enough to accomplish much of anything.
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Ok, edited to be less vague on how to do this. Youll be spamming extremely hard on the KEYBOARD! I updated this to be over 4 weeks also! Also I will be asking you to add your id so i can contact you on the NA server at least if you forget to look at your average after 4 weeks.
I don't see how spamming at will can be detrimental to one's ability. Afterall muscle memory is a key component, if I spam 123 123 123 all the time, chances are when it comes to use 123 for army I will do it better than the one who hasn't been spamming 123 123 123 for the last 20 games.
If you reread it now, i've clarified that a bit better. Spamming is great and muscle memory is the primary thing were focusing on!
On February 27 2011 15:33 Wayra wrote:
I am not sure 2 weeks would do anyting. The reason I say this, is because most people will tell you that once you hit your peak APM, no matter how hard you practice their APM will not increase significantly.
I think Moon (a WC3 player said it best when asked how to increase your APM): "Some people pray to idols, or do special exercises. But the only way that works seem to be slow and steady practice."
I got from this thread that practicing really hard would increase your APM. But you didn't give a hint about to how to practice hard? Do you know what I mean? Come to think about it, there is a lot of uncontrolled variable, like your potential APM. I am not sure what you are trying to test? We already know that practicing make you better. And what does it mean to practice intensely?
There is also something wrong with testing your average APM at only 3 points in the game. Do we choose the 3 points, is it random?
Yeah...this guy's got it right. I was stuck at 120 apm playing in the top 200s for at least 6 months. Only recently have I been able to bring it up to 160~150. Two weeks isn't nearly enough to accomplish much of anything.
fixed, updated to 4 weeks! Thanks
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I am not sure 2 weeks would do anyting. The reason I say this, is because most people will tell you that once you hit your peak APM, no matter how hard you practice their APM will not increase significantly.
I think Moon (a WC3 player said it best when asked how to increase your APM): "Some people pray to idols, or do special exercises. But the only way that works seem to be slow and steady practice."
I got from this thread that practicing really hard would increase your APM. But you didn't give a hint about to how to practice hard? Do you know what I mean? Come to think about it, there is a lot of uncontrolled variable, like your potential APM. I am not sure what you are trying to test? We already know that practicing make you better. And what does it mean to practice intensely?
There is also something wrong with testing your average APM at only 3 points in the game. Do we choose the 3 points, is it random?
Not at 3 points, average apm at the end of the game!
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i play random diamond
zerg
avg apm 120
terran
avg apm 90
protoss
avg apm 70
i already spam at the beginning of games and i try to tap (pressing hotkeys fast to see if unit x is finished already) as much as possible spread out ovis out as much as possible, keep track with larva spits and creep spread, making extra hotkeys for upgrades or a spotter overlord and stuff like that -but my apm didnt really improve much the last 150 games or so. When i started playing starcraft 2 i had like 30 apm with all 3 races.
/e its also hard to tell how much apm you have, when i play Muta/Ling vs terran my apm will be higher than playing roach/hydra vs protoss. It really depends on the style you play how you engage and what you are focusing on in a fight. For example i wouldnt a move a tank/marine army vs zerg but roach vs roach a click and macro is fine for the most fights.
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Remember if you already spam your pushing yourself to spam longer and harder than you usually do!
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This will increase your APM, but APM is not synonymous with good mechanics. One area of study that you should look at is musical instruction. Take guitar for example; everyone wants to play guitar really fast but to learn to do that you don't just spam actions at the fret board; you start slow and practice each skill as methodically as possible to train your muscle memory.
This "exercise" is really just going to make you play shit....fast. Having a big number in the APM tab on a replay doesn't mean you're multitasking better, being more efficient, or applying good mechanics.
Here is the best mechanics exercise; open up a multitasking map where you have to micro a probe while macroing an army. Play it on the slowest setting until your macro is perfect and your probe doesnt get hit even a single time. Play through like that 3-5 times perfectly and then bump the speed up to the next notch. Practice that until you can do it perfectly and bump the speed up a notch. Slow, methodical, and deliberate practice is the only correct way to improve at any skill. Ask any pro of any sport.
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hella interesting, gonna play till ma fingers are bloody.
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I have no problem reaching 200 in-game APM, been a bw player and then wc3 player, APM is never an issue....
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his will increase your APM, but APM is not synonymous with good mechanics. One area of study that you should look at is musical instruction. Take guitar for example; everyone wants to play guitar really fast but to learn to do that you don't just spam actions at the fret board; you start slow and practice each skill as methodically as possible to train your muscle memory.
This "exercise" is really just going to make you play shit....fast. Having a big number in the APM tab on a replay doesn't mean you're multitasking better, being more efficient, or applying good mechanics.
Here is the best mechanics exercise; open up a multitasking map where you have to micro a probe while macroing an army. Play it on the slowest setting until your macro is perfect and your probe doesnt get hit even a single time. Play through like that 3-5 times perfectly and then bump the speed up to the next notch. Practice that until you can do it perfectly and bump the speed up a notch. Slow, methodical, and deliberate practice is the only correct way to improve at any skill. Ask any pro of any sport.
I agree, that why I want players not to spam with mouse ect.
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Yeah and if I practice my typing for four weeks straight I might get my WPM to 80. This doesn't help me become a master in the arts of grammar/spelling though. I don't see how pointing out the obvious
(spamming apm to help your fingers get used to the apm spam) while using sophisticated words is going to help anyone. Sure spamming apm helps but what people need to do first is improve their play and apm will come later.
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On February 27 2011 15:31 Techno wrote:
I could use some clarification on how you think we can improve our APM. Your saying just try really hard?
Surprisingly that actually works. Generally players don't tend to strain themselves to play as well as they could simply because Starcraft is a game and a lot of the time you don't feel like concentrating really hard.
Cool post by the way.
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On February 27 2011 16:14 Zoia wrote:
Yeah and if I practice my typing for four week straight I might get my WPM to 80. This doesn't help me become a master in the arts of grammar/spelling though. I don't see how pointing out the obvious
(spamming apm to help your fingers get used to the apm spam) while using sophisticated words is going to help anyone. Sure spaming apm helps but what people need to do first is improve their play and apm will come later.
I'm commenting on this because I've had games where I push myself to be as active as possible -- I improved effective multitasking by simply trying to.
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Surprisingly that actually works. Generally players don't tend to strain themselves to play as well as they could simply because Starcraft is a game and a lot of the time you don't feel like concentrating really hard.
Great post and thanks, I feel like 90% of players fall into this category. They spam at the beginning and then do their usual thing, but never push themselves really hard, i mean even your body will get used to your little beginning spam, but only that sequence of keys, which is completely different from the sequences of keys you need to press mid/late game.
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On February 27 2011 16:13 MobiusOne wrote:Show nested quote +his will increase your APM, but APM is not synonymous with good mechanics. One area of study that you should look at is musical instruction. Take guitar for example; everyone wants to play guitar really fast but to learn to do that you don't just spam actions at the fret board; you start slow and practice each skill as methodically as possible to train your muscle memory.
This "exercise" is really just going to make you play shit....fast. Having a big number in the APM tab on a replay doesn't mean you're multitasking better, being more efficient, or applying good mechanics.
Here is the best mechanics exercise; open up a multitasking map where you have to micro a probe while macroing an army. Play it on the slowest setting until your macro is perfect and your probe doesnt get hit even a single time. Play through like that 3-5 times perfectly and then bump the speed up to the next notch. Practice that until you can do it perfectly and bump the speed up a notch. Slow, methodical, and deliberate practice is the only correct way to improve at any skill. Ask any pro of any sport. I agree, that why I want players not to spam with mouse ect.
You guys are missing the point.
The point here is not to improve your multi task / mechanics, its to improve your muscle memory. By spamming hotkeys you are doing just that. When you have the APM (box) down then you can start praciticing micro/macro/multi task(fill in the box)
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EPT
