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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sports Coaching: Performance and Development
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1504205
This article is part of the Research Topic Monitoring and Promoting Physical Exercise and Physical Performance in Esports Players View all 5 articles

An 8-week physical exercise intervention for e'athletes improves physical performance rather than short-term esports performance parameters -a randomized controlled trial

Provisionally accepted
Felix Wachholz Felix Wachholz *Nicole Gamper Nicole Gamper Martin Schnitzer Martin Schnitzer
  • University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Esports have been suggested to enhance hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and reaction times. While physical exercise is known to improve these abilities, its impact on short-term esports performance is under-researched. This study aims to evaluate the effects of specific and general physical training on gaming performance, hypothesizing improvements in both physical and gamingrelated variables. Baseline and follow-up tests measured global coordination, grip strength, Aimlabs performance, single and 4-fold reaction times, and anticipation. Participants completed a weekly and an ending questionnaire. Twenty-eight participants (12.3 ± 10.1 hours gaming/week) were assigned to specific (N=10), general (N=9), and no training (N=9) groups for an 8-week intervention. Variable changes over time and between groups were analyzed using a repeated measures ANCOVA. Training significantly improved the overall coordination of those participants engaging in physical training compared to the control group (F(2,25) = 3.858, p = 0.035, η² = 0.236). Grip strength also showed significant improvement (F(2,25) = 6.084, p = 0.007, η² = 0.327). There were no significant time or group effects for the gaming variables, but the hours played by participants positively influenced Grid Shot (F(1,24) = 4.746, p = 0.039, η² = 0.165) and Track Point (F(1,24) = 9.613, p = 0.005, η² = 0.286) performance. The weekly questionnaire indicated a significant improvement in participants' well-being. While training improved physical variables, no effects were observed in suggested short-term performance. However, gaming hours and experience during the intervention positively influenced performance. Future research should consider the amount of time spent playing as it may affect short-term performance. Furthermore, future research should strive to differentiate between various types of esports performance, such as short-term versus long-term outcomes. Participants stated that physical activity in the context of esports and gaming had been beneficial.

    Keywords: physical activity, Overall coordination, Gaming, anticipation, reaction, skill, performance

    Received: 30 Sep 2024; Accepted: 19 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wachholz, Gamper and Schnitzer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Felix Wachholz, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.