8 Gamer Stretches to Enhance Your Gameplay

How much time do you spend gaming on your PC or video game console?

Gaming has become such a big part of our everyday lives, from kids playing at home to adults playing after work, that it is somewhat normal to get used to it.

After all, it is a fun recreational activity and improves our mental focus, concentration, coordination, and agility while associated with good habits.

But like many other players, there are also chances you're spending too much time playing games without properly workout your physical or stamina abilities.

So it's no wonder you're feeling tired after long game sessions or getting unexpected pains.

But don't worry!

You can quickly fix that with easy and quick exercises for gamers.

Whether you're a hardcore gamer, a casual player, or an aspiring professional esports pro gamer, these activities will help you improve your health, energy, and even stamina.

The good news is that it also helps you stay fit, healthy and in a good mental state in addition to being fast to do.

In this article, we cover 8 quick exercises we recommend to warm up your essential body parts that contribute to performing better for any long gaming experiences and ranked competitive games.

How Many Time to Make Your Gamer Workout in a Day

There is no specific duration to follow as it mainly relies on your expectations.

A casual gamer has not the same exigence gameplay-wise as a pro gamer in being or an esports athlete.

The hobbyist gamer can quickly free 10 minutes a day to do these basic exercises.

This workout duration is enough to make some games in good condition.

However, pro gamers and eSports athletes should practice a minimum of 30 minutes a day to warm up enough for any long playthrough.

As high-level game matches require all your concentration and best moves, they are also are quickly tiring for many body parts.

Getting additional sports equipment or subscribing to a gym allows them to complete all these following exercises with new ones more intensive.

8 Gamer Stretches to Warm You Up For Long and Ranked Game Sessions

Below are some easy exercises to train your most demanded body parts while gaming: your neck, eyes, and wrists.

Neck Exercises

Let's start with some neck exercises.

These quick healthy stretches are suitable for your head mobility as they will warm up your required muscles to turn your head at left, right, top, and bottom with more ease.

They will help you in-game to properly follow your cursor on screen whether you're on PC or PS5, Xbox Series X, or Nintendo Switch.

They can enhance your aim and accuracy in-game by helping your head move smoother.

Chin Tucks

• Start by sitting or standing tall with your shoulders down and back.
• Then, slowly retract your head backward, feeling the stretch at the base of your head, like if you would make a double chin.
• Hold the position for up to 3-4 seconds, then slowly get back to a neutral position.
• It would be best to make a dozen series of this exercise at the minimum.

For those having difficulties with this movement, you could also use 1 or 2 fingers to gently apply pressure on your chin to guide your head direction.

However, doing it without your finger helpers makes the exercise more efficient for your neck, as your muscles at the base of your head are more solicited.

Neck Rolls

• Start by sitting or standing tall with your shoulders down and back.
• Then, gently lean your head to one side.
• Slowly roll your head back.
• Roll the head to the other side.
• Roll your head to the front.
• Get back to the neutral position for a second.
• Do the same but in the other clockwise direction keeping your head movement seamless and not rigid.
• Repeat this exercise for 4-5 series in both directions.

While doing your series, you should feel the stretch in all directions.

Neck Flexion

• Start by sitting or standing tall with your shoulders down and back.
• Then, slowly move your head down until your chin touches the chest.
• Hold the position for 2-3 seconds.
• Gently move your head up until you feel the stretch in the front of your neck.
• Hold the position for 2-3 seconds before releasing.
• Get back to the neutral position.
• Repeat these series at least 10 times.

Neck Rotation

Neck rotation is an alternative to neck flexion by turning your head in the other directions (left and right).

• Then, slowly turn your head to one side until you feel the stretch in your neck.
• Hold the position for 2-3 seconds.
• Gently move your head to the other side, feeling the stretch.
• Hold this position for 2-3 seconds before releasing.
• Get back to the neutral position.
• Repeat these series at least 10 times.

This neck workout is not easy, as making this move is not something your body is getting used to. Take your time doing it and practice when you're not in a hurry to avoid any troubles. As you're working with your cervical spine, remember that you must make smooth moves and not force anything.

Eyes Exercises

Now, we have to talk about some eye exercises for gamers.

You probably already know the importance of seeing essential details in-game, especially while doing a ranked one.

Your eyes are always highly solicited when playing video games.

But with repetitive sequences and few noticeable eye movements, your eyes muscles are getting lazy, and you need to train them too.

Whether you're playing at a professional level or playing to pass the time, these simple exercises can highly benefit your gaming experience by strengthening your eyes muscles.

They also reduce eye fatigue and improve your reaction time, allowing longer game sessions with many details on the screen, which are handy for long-duration ranked games like in Leagues Of Legends or DOTA2.

Eyes Focus

Eyes focus exercise is great to train your eyes that are being lazy doing repetitive actions on-screen.

• Start by sitting or standing tall with your shoulders down and back.
• Hold one of your fingers a few inches away from your face and fix it intensively with your eyes.
• Slowly move your finger away, holding the focus with your eyes.
• Hold the position for 2-3 seconds
• Get back your finger to the neutral position
• Slowly bring your finger closer to your eyes, holding yet the focus.
• Hold the position for 2-3 seconds
• Get back to the neutral position
• Repeat these movements at least 5 times

By doing these exercises, you're likely to squint at some time.

While it happens, you can simply blink your eyes quickly until you bring your eyes to focus back.

Eyes Side Movement Focus

Eyes following the moving focus is an additional option to the previous exercise to train your eyes following a target in movement.

It is an excellent workout to accustom your pupils to move at the sides and not stick to the usual front view.

• Start by sitting or standing tall with your shoulders down and back.
• Hold one of your fingers a few inches away from your face and fix it intensively with your eyes.
• Slowly move your finger to the left, following the move with your eyes.
• Hold the position for a second.
• Get back your finger to the neutral position, keeping the focus.
• Slowly move your finger to the right, moving yet with your eyes.
• Hold the position for a second.
• Get back to the neutral position, keeping the focus.
• Repeat these movements at least 3 times

By doing these exercises, you're likely to squint at some time.

While it happens, you can simply blink your eyes quickly until you bring your eyes to focus back.

Eyes Diagonals Movement Focus

Eyes diagonal movement focus is another option and a simple way to train your eyes with unusual movement of pupils.

The purpose is the same as the 2 other exercises above.

But instead of making movements to traditional directions, you'll do it by keeping your focus on your finger moving to each diagonal (up and left, up and right, down left and down right).

These eyes training are intensive for your eyes and should be done slowly and done at the right time of the day. In fact, as they are intensive, they are also likely to cause headaches, especially for those not used to doing these kinds of exercises. It's better to make them while you don't have to play video games, go to work, use your smartphone, or simply if you have to be in front of any screen, like before going to sleep.

Wrist Exercices

Another great series of exercises for pro gamers, hardcore gamers, and casual players are wrist exercises that can benefit anyone playing video games.

They mainly help you warm up your wrists to be ready for any competitive matches so you can make quick moves and enhance your aim and in-game accuracy.

They are also handy for losing some fatigue accrued after long series of game rounds like in CS:GO, Valorant, APEX Legends, and Overwatch.

Wrist Rolls

Wrist rolls are fast exercises to warm your wrist up quickly.

It is convenient when playing long game sessions where your hands, wrists, and forearms are solicited.

• Start by sitting or standing tall with your shoulders down and back.
• Place your arms in front of you, trying to stick your elbows together.
• Put the palms of your hands together, then interlock your fingers.
• Tilt your hands to one side as if you wanted to have one hand on the other.
• Slowly rotate your hands with a clockwise move making a 360°.
• Get back to the neutral position.
• Slowly rotate your hands in the other clockwise direction with a 360° move
• Repeat these series a minimum of 20 times.

While doing these exercises, you'll feel your wrists quickly warm-up, which is a good practice before playing any ranked games.

As we saw today, with basic stretches routines added to your gaming lifestyle, you can exercise all muscles required to enhance your overall gaming experience and wellness.

The best of it is that you can practice without any additional equipment and right into your gaming room.

Pretty cool for indoorsy gamers, but still fun for everyone!

Be careful while doing these healthy exercises as you work on sensitive areas of your body with your eyes and neck.

You should train when you have free time to make them, not when you're in a rush.

Furthermore, all your moves should be seamless and exceptionally not rigid for high efficiency and avoid any chances to make a wrong move.

Did you start your gamer stretches routine?

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