eSports, Stretching and Syndromes

In every professional sport you see people running around taking care of the athletes to make sure they are warming up and cooling down properly and getting stretches in.  I am of the mind to say that the same should happen with eSports.

A lot of people don’t think of gaming as a dangerous thing when it comes to your health (unless you read about the random person who died from too many hours of some game) but it IS important.

I suffer from mild carpel tunnel issues from working the Information Technology field and from being an avid gamer.  I would say on a work day I may spend 10+ hours in front of a computer.  I first noticed major issues when I wasn’t able to open a jar of pickles one day and it had seemed that all my strength had left my hands.  I gave the jar to a friend and they opened it with no problem.  It scared me and I started looking into things to correct the problem.

If things get really bad like they did with me you will feel the pain in your fingers, wrists, forearms, shoulders, neck and even your back.  I had a massage therapist tell me she couldn’t imagine that I was even able to type with how bad things were.  Let me tell you, the pain I felt when she was getting the toxins out of those muscles might well have been gunshot wounds because it hurt that bad.

Anyways, let’s get on to a few things you can do to make this better.  I am in no way a medical professional and you are following this at your own risk.  I would recommend that you do stretches for 5-10 minutes when you start/end any long period of gaming.  I would also say some light massaging of the pressure points and muscles I’ll show you between matches or during break won’t hurt either.

Stretches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pressure Points/Muscles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also ended up getting splints that I wear at night that force your wrist and forearm into a position where there isn’t pressure on the muscles.  This has helped a LOT.  I’ve also read that a low gluten/dairy/sodium diet can reduce swelling and help with the pain.

The above charts are things that I do and they help me but with all medical issues please be sure to see a doctor or medical professional about your problem.  Also remember that proper posture and ergonomic gaming additions will lower the risk of you having any problems.  Stay healthy and Frag well!

Rage System

I’m starting to try and cut down on the intake of carbs, sugar, salt and caffeine that I’m consuming.  So far this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be initially… I’m finding myself a tad bit on the crabby side.

The cravings are insane… I just about kill for a Mountain Dew or Cola right now.  I’m starting to wonder if that is the real inspiration by Stan Lee for the Incredible Hulk… dude craved his green liquid energy and couldn’t have it and turned into a fucking monster because of it.

Sigh… anyone have any thoughts on the Avengers Movie?  It’s pretty awesome that it was filmed in Cleveland (they need the money and exposure right now) and it doesn’t look half bad either.  I’m quite impressed actually by the trailers but you and I both know how really terrible multiple superhero movies really are.  Here’s hoping we don’t have nipples on the Thor suit.

Lavea – The Vondun Eshu

Lavea grew up as most yordles do, in the family workshop helping out with the days work.  Her Father disappeared one day when he left to go searching the Crystal Scar for a rare mineral said to give life energy to machines.  Years passed and Lavea found herself unable to shake that feeling that he may be alive still… if he had perished maybe she could bring him back to life if she only could find the mineral her father was looking for, she thought.

After a exhausting search that lasted months Lavea was in a cave and she saw a strange glow coming from one of the caverns below.  She followed the glow and discovered a strange rock that glowed green and then purple and back.  Taking her hexpick she removed the rock and put it into her backpack which she designed specifically to harness the energy of minerals and pressed the button turning it on.  Suddenly the ground started to shake around her as the device tapped into the power of the mineral and a large burst of energy darted out from her pack knocking her to the ground.  The energy was so strong and the impact so hard that is shook her to the very core.

She stood up, dusted herself off and slightly confused stared at her wounds as they started to instantly heal in front of her eyes… she thought “how is this possible?” and a dark voice whispered back “it’s ours and they can’t have it” she looked around shocked and started to call out to this voice but there was no answer… no sound to be heard.

Lavea is a female support/caster yordle that uses a combination of healing/buffing and damage/debuffing spells powered by the fractured energy that has absorbed into her body.  She can switch between the heal/hex energy as she needs to with a short duration cooldown.

She would be a yordle with a hextech backpack containing the crystal and it would be connected to a glove allows her to use that energy and focus it.  She also has a walking staff (also hextech and energy runs through it) with a bottle that hangs from it.

 

Skill 1:  Target a enemy and this will bounce between multiple random targets slowing for a short duration, if target is a ally this will heal and give a short movement speed bonus.

Crack a Bottle:  Throw bottle AoE. Cursed Enemies will take damage over time and will be dealt bonus damage based on how much hp they have lost since the start of the curse. Allies will heal damage over time and be healed for a bonus amount of hp based on how much damage the have endured during the buff.

Skill 3:  Target a enemy with a spell and this will drain mana and deal damage based on mana drained. Target a enemy and it will drain your health to heal the target

Ultimate: Passive that gives a boost to all spells and allows you to switch between hex/buff status with a short cooldown.

Passive:  When Lavea takes damage that would normally kill any normal champion she is revived by the energy that runs through her body.  This is on a very long cooldown similar to Anivia.

Ziggs Review

Ziggs – The Hexplosives Expert

Ziggs is one of those champions that when you first load up the game you just want to play him.  He’s a BLAST! (cheesy pun 1)  I only played him on Dominion but let me give you my impressions of this little guy.

Ziggs has a very high AP ratio of .9 currently and this allows him to do some seriously EXPLOSIVE damage (2) to enemies weak against it.  In Dominion I found that he’s able to control and push the lane very hard and a lot of flexibility in choosing his play style.  I ended up playing him as a defensive juggernaut with a AP/Magic Pen build and some survivability.  I find that when playing aggressive that it’s good to lead with your E and place it on top of the hero, throw down the explosive pack and knock them back towards you at the same time you toss a bouncing bomb.  You can lead with his Ult at it’s an almost guaranteed insta gib.  It’s also important to get a few attacks in there so you get your passive damage bonus.

If you are playing defensive on Dominion his E is good for blocking off paths to lanes and preventing someone from escaping and using the explosive pack to knock people away from the tower is also good.  Use your bouncing bomb to finish off anyone taking tower damage.

Defensive Build This gives you a ton of health, AP and Magic Pen and really good damage.

 

Training Session #9

Stability Ball Wall Squat:

  • 2 x 20

Pushups:

  • 1 x 15
  • 2 x 12

Lateral Pulldowns:

  • 2 x 25 70lbs

Flys on Bench:

  • 1 x 25 8lbs
  • 2 x 20 8lbs

Row Machine:

  • 2 x 30 60lb (15 each)

Lateral/Frontal Arm Raises:

  • 2 x 18 3lb

Tricep Extensions:

  • 2 x 25 30lbs

Bicep Curls:

  • 2 x 25 25lbs

Russian Twists:

  • 2 x 15

Leg Lifts:

  • 2 x 10

Training Session #7

Stability Ball Squat w/ Bicep Curl:

  • 2 x 20 5lb (each arm)

Stability Ball Bench Press:

  • 3 x 25 30lbs

Leg Press:

  • 3 x 25 95lbs

Lateral Pull Downs:

  • 2 x 25 70lbs

Jump Onto Bosu:

  • 8 times down and back

Russian Twists:

  • 2 x 15 each way

Crunches:

  • 2 x 25

Hitmits:

  • 50 left arm
  • 50 right arm
  • 50 cross arms

How do I feel after 3 weeks?

It’s been about 3 weeks now since I started training and I have to say I’m shocked at how much I’m enjoying it.

I’m not enjoying it enough to do it more than twice a week at this point but I’m starting to want to do more and see better/faster results.  I actually feel like I’m going to get the weight off this time so I’m pretty happy about that.  This time feels very different than the other times.

The thing I’m scared of most is after my training sessions are done and I have to go back to relying on myself.  I’m afraid I won’t stick to it.

Training Session #6

Stability Ball Squat with Bicep Curl:

  • 1 x 25 5lb dumbells
  • 2 x 18 5lb dumbells

Pushups:

  • 1 x 10
  • 2 x 12

Walking Lunges:

  • 3 Times Down & Back

Row Machine:

  • 2 x 30 60lbs

Deadlift:

  • 1 x 25 5lb dumbells

Medicine Ball Roll & Toss (digging):

  • 2 x 15 5lb ball

Shoulder Press on Stability Ball:

  • 1 x 30 5lb barbells
  • 2 x 20 5lb barbells

Alternating Supermans:

  • 2 x 10