In the esports performance world, there remains an unspoken belief – really a system of beliefs – among many competitors. “If you’re trying to improve,” the mentality goes, “Don’t play other games. And definitely don’t change your settings.”

This mindset makes intuitive sense. It is one of consistency. After all – each hour you spend with new settings is an hour where your muscle memory is being overwritten, degraded, and replaced. Each hour you spend playing another game is one less hour of practice. This has the ring of logic to it.

And yet, cross-training is a widely recognized practice in traditional sports, helping athletes stay in shape while avoiding burnout, improve their creativity, or even better develop game-specific skills. However, the esports world has largely ignored these benefits. Competitors may play other games to relax for example – but it’s rarely viewed as a recovery portion of their training regimen, or an additional vector of improvement.

In this article, we’ll assess the benefits of cross-training in esports. In particular, we’ll be looking at how it can be used to better develop skills, build creativity, and help avoid burnout.

It’s important to first note that esports is an incredibly multi-faceted ecosystem, and different titles will require different training regimens. However, by analyzing game-specific examples, we can gain insights into how cross-training can help esports athletes unlock their full potential.

Neymar. A name famous in not only football (or soccer, for U.S. readers), but also in Counter-Strike esports circles. The football legend has won 3 Champion’s League titles, and his impressive scoring and speed have cemented him as an all-time great in the sport.

And yet, most of his youth was spent playing another game entirely. A similar, yet fundamentally different, game called futsal. This was true for other football legends, such as Pele, Ronaldinho, and Xavi. Futsal is at its core a faster paced, more aggressive and technically demanding football, giving each player more opportunities to handle the ball. Esports medicine

Esports are no different, with transferable skills playing a huge role for many titles and competitors. When Riot launched Valorant, many of the best players were former Counter-Strike professional players. When a new Street Fighter title comes out, many players from different fighting games such as Mortal Kombat or Tekken often will shine in the early stages. Esports Performance

This phenomenon can be used to not only excel at new games, but to develop skills for professional and amateur players at their current games. This section dives into some of the ways in which this might be possible.

“Futsal has been very important in my life…in developing my technique, quick thinking, short movements…I think futsal is fundamental in a footballer’s career. It was very important in mine.”

– Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, Professional Footballer