Mental Tips

Why Physical Activity?

Get fitter and get better at the game

The pro-path in gaming is a quest full of obstacles that can be mind-blowing. Competitive Gamers are exposed to a series of factors that undermine their results:

• Stress from high-performance demands from teams, fans and media.
• Physical posture and overuse injuries on the wrist, elbows, shoulders and back.
• Low energy and motivation levels, burnout, feeling out of the clutch, easily tilted, etc.

When all of these obstacles (and more) mix, they create unnecessary stress in our lives. As gamers, stress is an aspect that we should be able to control, but it is not always easy. Competition gaming environments make us emotionally and mentally afflicted. When this affliction is left unchecked, we experience negative aspects: we feel physically tired, unmotivated and constantly lose focus. A physically and mentally stressed gamer is a bad thing for teams, fans, and more importantly, you, and your professional career.

This leads us to our main question, how can I remove mental and emotional stress?

The answer is pretty straightforward, call in your support and ask to remove conditions! (jk xD) Maybe one day it will be possible, but until then we can stick to one of the most effective methods for removing stress: physical activity (yes, you read it right). Why? Our mind, emotions and body are all connected;they form a kind of triad (although we like to think about it as a kinda Triforce from Zelda :P).

The central aspect of this Triforce is that their elements are interconnected, meaning that a stimulus or behavior on one of the triads side will inevitablyhave an impact on its counterparts. In other words, it’s good and bad news.

The bad news is that for e.g. when during our gaming performance we get into an emotional tilted state filled with anger, and crazyness, we will make our bodies tense and tired, which in turn will lead our minds to lose focus, doubt ourselves and lack motivation.

The good news is that this process goes both ways,  And just like Link has saved Zelda many times by countlessly defeating Ganandorf, so too can your body save your mind from negative emotions through combat… in physical activity! (Hows that for an alternate theory of Zelda eh?). 

Therefore when we go ‘Link-saves-Zelda-by-defeating-Ganandorf’ with physical training on our bodies, we make a positive impact on our mental and emotional sides. Because of this, at TMC we believe that when it comes to improving your esport performance, training your physical body functions as a great support role.

Our outlook on performance is holistic, this means that apart from training the mind and emotions, we also attend to the physical aspects that positively affect your gaming performance. Therefore, within our programs, you will find easy-to-do exercises that not only improve your physical condition and energy levels but also prevent posture and overuse injuries that occur while gaming. We believe that a healthy, injury free and energetic gamer can deal better with stress and have a long fruitful career!

Photo Credits:

Credits to: Functional Fitness Training, U.S. Army Europe. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyeurope_images/sets/72157634423654582

Leyend of Zelda Ocarina of Time