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Professional Videogamers Are Working Out (wsj.com)
Hoping to avoid injuries, gamers get physical training; squat jumps, ginger smoothies and yoga. From a report: Esports, the world of professional videogaming, is looking more and more like other sports, with big sponsors, prize money, fan bases -- and player injuries. In response, teams are educating players on ergonomics, hiring personal chefs and sending gamers to the gym [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled]. Sweden's Ninjas in Pyjamas, one of esports' most accomplished teams, distributes an illustrated fitness guide to players with nearly two dozen recommended "core" exercises like burpees, Superman lifts and squat jumps. It has also instituted a "no pizza" rule before morning matches and mandated teams take pregame walks.
Before matches, hand-warming packets are doled out to its two dozen players. "If you have warm hands, you reduce the risk of injury versus cold hands," says Hicham Chahine, Ninjas' chief executive. The potential for injuries -- most frequently in the wrists, hands and fingers -- is rising due to the popularity of the $900 million esports universe. With new leagues and a proliferation of competitions, for some games, tournaments are popping up nearly every other week. "Everyone is susceptible to injuries in everything that is done to an extreme," says Veli-Matti Karhulahti, of Finland's University of Turku, who along with co-author Tuomas Kari, has published peer-reviewed research on physical activity in esports.
South Korean team KT Rolster hired a nutritionist two years ago who dictates breakfast, lunch and dinner. Brown rice was substituted for white rice. Players craving fast food or instant ramen must now make a special request to do so, says Jeong Je-seung, KT Rolster's coach and a former professional gamer. In his playing days, Mr. Jeong says low salaries meant "if you could eat three times a day as an esports player back then it was enough." Top players can now earn millions of dollars annually in prize money and sponsorships. The 2018 world championship for "Dota 2," a game where teams raid opponents' bases, carried a purse of nearly $25 million.
Before matches, hand-warming packets are doled out to its two dozen players. "If you have warm hands, you reduce the risk of injury versus cold hands," says Hicham Chahine, Ninjas' chief executive. The potential for injuries -- most frequently in the wrists, hands and fingers -- is rising due to the popularity of the $900 million esports universe. With new leagues and a proliferation of competitions, for some games, tournaments are popping up nearly every other week. "Everyone is susceptible to injuries in everything that is done to an extreme," says Veli-Matti Karhulahti, of Finland's University of Turku, who along with co-author Tuomas Kari, has published peer-reviewed research on physical activity in esports.
South Korean team KT Rolster hired a nutritionist two years ago who dictates breakfast, lunch and dinner. Brown rice was substituted for white rice. Players craving fast food or instant ramen must now make a special request to do so, says Jeong Je-seung, KT Rolster's coach and a former professional gamer. In his playing days, Mr. Jeong says low salaries meant "if you could eat three times a day as an esports player back then it was enough." Top players can now earn millions of dollars annually in prize money and sponsorships. The 2018 world championship for "Dota 2," a game where teams raid opponents' bases, carried a purse of nearly $25 million.
If you have warm hands, you reduce the risk of injury versus cold hands
I bet the soda companies are displeased. 'Grab an ice-cold Dew' has to be replaced with 'slurp an ice-cold Dew through a straw without touching it'.
No pizza before morning practice seems odd, they're not specifically prohibiting pizza for breakfast. Also I guess pizza is popular in Sweden?
I wonder if the article talks about RSI, but can't find out because it's paywalled.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Majora's Mask was actually the first Zelda game I did not complete; after getting about halfway through and resetting the world I don't KNOW how many times I realized ... I wasn't saving anyone. Nothing I did mattered. It was a sad day, honestly.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
... brain performance: Physical excersize.
This isn't all that new an insight. Anecdotal point-in-case: I just went surfing for a week (first time, lessons). Surfing meaning - for beginners - swallowing 10-20 liters of seawater and lugging a triple-e class freighter into the ocean while big waves keep coming at you and the huge surfboard you're trying to control only to paddle like your life depends on it and then be so exchausted you can't even stand up for the remaining 1.5 seconds of whitewater when the instructor says so. ... I lost 4 kg of weight in less than a week, maxed my cardio-vascular system out and learned about new muscles I never felt before. They're still hurting.
On the plus side I feel as awesome as I haven't felt in years and coding is easyer and more fun than it has been in a long time.
Going to pick up Yoga again. And I'm not quite done with the surfing thing either. :-)
Bottom line: If you want to perform as a computer person, regular physical excersize (at least 3x a week!) is a must.
My 2 eurocents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
way before it was labelled "e-sports" I regularly went for a jog to help keep my concentration up during our hour-long online simracing events (mostly Grand Prix Legends back then, now rFactor2).
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
I seem to recall complaints about holding the DS or 3DS with one hand hurting people's wrists at one point. A guy talked about how he ended up in a wrist brace from one of the games.
All I could think is maybe it'd work better if they lifted something heavier than a cheese burger a few times.
Everyone should be working out.
Geez. Well... I'd hope the game at least showed you that you were doing *something* by breaking the rules of time: ie. gathering a shitload of items you didn't have on the first day before. It may seem like a worthless slog, but you *are* making progress. If it feels like you're doing "nothing", go out of your way to beat every boss you've beaten before (you possess their mask), THEN start on the new area you've unlocked.
Most of the fun in that game isn't obvious progress... it's making lives better one at a time. (Or, just beefing yourself up with golden swords, getting loads of rupees and beating ass-hard optional sidequest challenges and shit... whichever comes first... ;)
GMAFB!
News for nerds, indeed.
I can vouch for this. I used to be mostly sedentary, then I started walking everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. I'm on a low income, so skipping the bus fare saves a lot in the long run for me. (Helps I'm in a city where many things are available mere kilometres away.) Avoiding sidewalks and being able to take nature trails partially downtown is a big bonus, because concrete will always kill your feet in the long run no matter what shoes you're wearing.
Also climb the stairs of my mid-rise to the 10th floor from the basement while lifting some kettle bells. I'd gotten out of the habit of doing it recently and I can't do it easily anymore, but even doing it ONCE reduced my typing RSI significantly overnight. All those arm muscles do actually DO something for typing!
The walking/climbing really gets my legs strong and it helped me stand at the standing desk, which, while still not good for you is at least better than sitting. I can do it for hours (with some padded sandals) when it used to hurt standing only one hour at a time. The exercise also helps with your mood and stamina.
The worst part? It can get addictive to exercise because you keep feeling so good while pushing your body past its former limits. I think it's a natural high you get from exerting yourself sufficiently (within reason, not to the point of severely straining/tearing muscle.) Pain *is* gain, but you get the mood-boosting "reward" chemicals by moving past it to a degree that you start to recognize.
In short: exercise is good for everyone, even in small doses. You don't have to do something amazing or pay for a membership anywhere, just seek out ways of working out that work for where you live, your budget and your own abilities/interests. So long as you've worked up a sweat, whatever you did, it's good exercise for you.
Protip: the first place you go surfing shouldn't be Portugal.
And exactly why I started playing vidya games.. to take it all too seriously and destroy whatever fun it once held for me!
The big glowing yellow death ball in teh sky! It's evil gaze will be cast unto me! Even the small white death ball in the darkness is scary!
!?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Video games used to be fun alternatives to the sportsball my peers were up to in school. Hours, maybe days were invested in things like Ultima, Monkey Island, Space/King's Quest, etc.
Now you have 30 million FPSs, each one sucks. RPGs are FPSs with experience bars, and RTSs move at the speed of light. I want the old days back, days that were less about competition and more about fun.
This is not a surprise. People often make jokes about sports where it seems like you don't need to be in shape: golfing, bowling, curling, etc. But, when you look at the participants at the professional or international level, they are almost always quite fit and have nutrition and exercise regimens.
Long live the Speaker Bracelet
Rolo D. Monkey
Healthy at every size! This sounds like bigotry. I'm triggered!
Literally shaking right now!
It's called being a decent human being!
Yeah even my kids think the E-sports term is such a new-speak falsehood. Of course physicist like ot remark that any discpline of science that actually has the word science in the title, isn't really science. (e.g physics and chemistry don't need to be called science, but for some reason "computer science" needs to state it's aspirations in it's name".)
Somehow the term Computer Engineering just wasn't good enough? What's to be embarrassed about engineering?
And likewise Esports is not sports. Sports is not simply playing a game. The game in Sports is just the platform for the competitive aspect whereas in Esports the game is the the whole thing.
Why isn't it good enough to call them "gamers". Why is that an embarrassing term?
Maybe we could call them "athletically challenged"? Or "self-esteem overrated"?
Calling them "Esports" is basically branding them as people you don't want to call by another word because it's politically incorrect.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
How soon before mandatory drug testingN
Why isn't it good enough to call them "gamers". Why is that an embarrassing term?
They are called gamers, but the expressions used is "competitive gamers". Since pretty much everyone in the audience and their mothers are gamers too they need an expression to distinguish them from regular gamers.
What you are getting your panties in a twist over isn't what they call the players, it is what they call the event they participate in.
I guess you could call it "competitive gaming", but that is used for the unorganized online gaming too.
It is also quite a mouthful to say compared to e-sports.
Sure, you can cut it down to call it c-games, but that isn't the established word and is just as wonky as e-sports.
It is simply not worth finding a new expression just because you are offended about something you shouldn't care about.
There's a lot of ravine trails all over my city, some of them with no concrete, instead opting for gravel or no coverings on the dirt at all.
Yup. Try Ireland.
(Captcha: Inundate)
Another game where progress is only measured by how much crap you accumulate...
for a bunch of pixel-gathering faggots. Typical aspergs who just can't "put down the stupid toy"
MANCHILDE: "but but... I'm doing YOGA and WHEATGRASS too! "
Wow! Now you're an obsessive nerd AND an emasculated bitch! stunning improvement
So your logic boils down to
1. It's shorter and easier to say
2. The slang has a buzz to it right now.
So any short buzzy word should do not one that borrows cache from real sports.
How about "paddle whackers" or "zombies". You could calll the event a "parade" or a "cotillion" or a "thumb fight"
What is pretty much the only way to make your brain worker better? Feed it more oxygen. How does one do that without oxygen masks? Increase your VO2 max. How does one do that? Hit the gym, lift heavy (total body exercises like squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc), plus cardio.
Tired of my customary (Score:1)
Work in construction as your day job, get paid to carry heavy shit around all day. Play games at night.
excersize
Well, someone clearly hasn't been getting any
I don't think the portable computer I have in my pocket is more phone than anything else, but we still call it a phone. It is fine to point out that silliness, but to actually care and get upset about it is not worth it.
Tried to RTFA but couldn't, due to paywall. So why is this news on Slashdot in the first place, if there are no other sources?
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
Ur a real MF aren't you
Then stick with the old games.
I used to be a big gamer, but quit cold turkey about 15 years ago. Still have the games on CD/DVD however. Over the last few weekends, I've been busy transferring *everything* I still have on physical disc to hard drives (since they're so dirt cheap nowadays). This included my stack of old game CDs. As I was copying stuff over, I rediscovered titles I had completely forgotten about, but remember spending countless hours on.
I've installed a few - if there's one thing Microsoft does well, it's backwards compatibility. 15-20 year old games still install just fine on Windows 10. Bonus - even your oldest hardware is probably more than good enough to play those games. Other bonus - many are available for dirt-cheap on things like Stream.