I'm wondering how pro StarCraft 2 players practice. I mean if compared to something like a physical sport there might be some calisthenic, run some drills, etc. It seems like one might also want to re-run certain engagements over and over again (how would somebody do that?) like drills.

  • Only doing that of their lives. Nah just trolling. But I heard some of them do play up to 12/14h a day – Fredy31 Dec 4 '11 at 4:21
  • I don't have enough info to make a proper answer, but pros do many things similar to pro athletes: practice an awful lot, do specialized types of gameplay to focus on certain skills, research their opponents and the metagame, watch game videos, and have coaches that help them train and plug holes in their game. – Wikwocket Dec 4 '11 at 6:00
  • Fun question! Mods should put this one out on Twitter see if we can get someone knowledgeable in on this. – Jeroen Dec 4 '11 at 10:09

I never considered pro-gaming myself or know anyone closely who live of it, but since I watch (maybe waaaay too many) videos, interviews and listen to podcasts (mainly State of the Game) I'd like to give some ideas around training in video games, especially StarCraft.

First of all: Stay healthy

Whenever a progamer gets asked what is important besides playing huge amounts of game he states something like your body is very important, you need to be fit to be able to think fast, play fast and grind endless games. As far as I know, nearly every player in e-sports does some workouts or runs to stay in shape, e.g. the guys from Evil Genius go to the gym and lift weights regularly (Geoff stated this in some SotG episode).
Youtube video: "Evil Geniuses: Bench Press"

Training houses

Especially (but not only) in South Korea most (all?) of the teams have their own training house. It makes things much easier when you have an environment where you can focus at your work with other people that do the same job. Also it is important to have someone around you can talk to if you have some problems, discuss ideas and test things. Usually they also have a dedicated coach who helps with certain problems, keeps an eye on special people and all this - like its known from every other professional sport.

Although specific methods may alter from team to team.

I heard in the oGs-TL house players have an house-intern league: Everyone has to play almost everyone else once a day. This not only gives you motivation since you want to improve your position but playing many different opponents gives you some wider vision and experience than only training over and over again against one specific person and matchup.
Back in November 2010, Giantbomb.com made a Video tour through the oGs-TL training house and also got some players and the oGs-coach for some interviews. For me its pretty interesting what they say about training and life there.
I think most team-houses have more or less strict schedules when players have to get up, hours to practice and relax and workout. At least 8-10 hours training each day should be really common, maybe it goes up to 15-16 hours before important events for some players.

Training at home

This should be the case for most American and European players.
They usually live on their own and make their own schedules without a coach or sth. The training is different for everybody. I consider every pro player also has some "closer" training partners for each match-up to discuss and try out certain strategies/builds, even if he is not in a team (White-Ra).


  • Laddering - grind as many ladder games as possible.
    This gives a wide variety of opponents and strategies, especially some cheesy plays and gimmick tactics your teammates maybe never consider. It also helps to keep up/improve mechanics.

  • Test/Improve Build-orders
    It can be done against computer opponents, in custom maps (YABOT anyone?) or against practice partners. It is purely time dedicated to make a build perfect for a strong early/midgame or against certain cheeses/all-ins.

  • Special Preparation
    Before important events or matches where they know their rival in advance, players most of the time concentrate on the enemies styles. They analyze replays, think of ways to encounter the playstyle and maybe abuse it. Commonly one of the training partners tries to play the same way as the opponent so you can practice especially against that.

I heard in the training houses of Brood-War teams they usually had one coach for each race or even match-up. Coaches were also there to create new strategies/build and teach them to the player so he could focus on making the execution perfect.

Artosis made quite a couple tours through pro gaming houses and uploaded them to youtube - if you're really interested also watch some interviews with players and coaches.

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