How staying physically fit helps Red Bull and NASR eSports star mentally alert

Sport360 staff 08:19 30/08/2018
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  • Keeping fit: Adel Anouche hits the gym to stay on top of his game

    The latest member of the Red Bull family is 20-year-old Adel ‘Big Bird’ Anouche, the UAE’s rising star in the world of eSports. For the first in a series of exclusive articles with Sport360 the Street Fighter player talks about how keeping fit benefits his gaming.

    As an eSports player it’s beneficial to stay fit and healthy because a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. When you’re out there playing in these big tournaments you’re going to have a long day of playing video games so you need to be in the right place mentally to ensure you can endure the whole day. Basically every eSports game you play, especially competitive games, can give you mental exhaustion as there’s so much riding on the outcome.

    I do some form of exercise every day as it releases endorphins, which make me feel good and I find I’m able to concentrate for longer. I do cardio activity usually twenty minutes a day and maybe some weight lifting too. When I don’t exercise I find myself getting tired a lot quicker and I need more sleep because I’ve got less energy.

    eSports has evolved so much over the past ten years; it’s a big business now. Video gamers used to be seen as fat and lazy people who needed a hobby but back then competitive gaming wasn’t that popular. People didn’t play in tournaments for hundreds of thousands of dollars and there wasn’t a load of travelling involved. It was more just people playing in their bedroom against friends or maybe online, but it wasn’t a job.

    I actually do wrist exercises as well because there’s a lot of strain on them from holding the controller for so many hours a day. I’d say even when I’m playing with friends we don’t play for less than three or four hours at a time, so that’s a lot of fast, repetitive, movements in your fingers and hands to have to get used to. Plus there’s a whole season throughout the year so it’s a lot of game time. We play in major tournaments to gain points to qualify for the final tournament in December, which has a prize fund of $250,000. Only 32 players get to the finals, it’s a serious game we’re in now so it’s great that brands like Red Bull are getting behind it and taking it seriously.

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