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Question How Much Time Do You Spend In The Lab? + How Much Time Is Necessary In The Lab?

FanTalk

The 5th Yonko
The longest I've ever spent in practice mode was 2 days (Eating snacks and watching guide videos while I was in the lab too) but my usual run time in the lab would be 3-5 hours.

Now many of you know that over-training exists and should somewhat apply to fighting games, do you think 3-5 hours in the lab is not enough? I remember a FGC documentary or a pro player saying they spend 10 hours in the lab and the next 10 hours online/offline fighting. The 2nd question can have universal answers but what do you think is the natural time you should spend in the lab?
 

FoughtDragon01

Ask me about my Mileena agenda.
When it comes to learning a new character, I typically fall in that 3-5 hour range. Just enough time to get a feel for their buttons, find synergies, formulate game plans, and to convince myself that I'm actually good at the game before hopping online and getting bodied.

Otherwise, it's just 30 min-1 hour to warm up.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
If you take a look at the article I just made, I ask a similar question to tournament players: https://testyourmight.com/threads/insight-into-the-minds-of-tournament-players.69111/

For me, with MK11, I’m gonna spend a ridiculous amount of time in the lab. Minimum of 1 hour for each character. Find about 4 I really vibe with, then spend another 3 hours on those characters each. If you check out my MK11 notes/training schedule you’ll see a little more detail what my plans are. https://testyourmight.com/threads/my-mk11-training-schedule-notes.68928/

Basically, you get out what you put in. Practice as much as you can via training mode but also VS other players.
 

VSC_Supreme

TYM's #1 L taker.
Around 5 hours at first I think is a good start. Learn the buttons, practice some combos, get a feel for your block strings and what you can do when applying pressure.

Then go online, get bodied, and lab out responses to the things you had trouble with. Rinse, repeat ad infinity.
 

Wam-Zlay

Reptile / Noob
Sometime I think I should fucking live in the fucking lab. I’ve just played agains a guy called Boki. He bodied my Buzzsaw with his Buzzsaw 12-1. So fucking salty it hurts. Haven’t played for about 3 week before today.
boki is actually pretty good. he was in the mkx esl finals top 16 once (or twice)
 

Vslayer

Juiced Moose On The Loose
Lead Moderator
I think it also depends on people, to me, 1 hr is enough to learn a character's buttons and combo strings. The rest I figure out as I play against the AI but mostly against human players. But every time I play I warm up by going in training mode and figuring out midscreen and corner combos and/or practice the ones I know.
 
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CrimsonShadow

Administrator and Community Engineer
Administrator
I think counting hours is the wrong approach.

You spend as much time practicing as you need to. Instead of thinking of how many hours you were there, if you're serious, you should be thinking about what you need to learn or get done. And then spend as much time as you need to get it done.

That's going to vary for everyone, and situationally. That's why saying "Well it should be X or Y hours" really doesn't get to what actually helps someone become better.
 

HGTV Soapboxfan

"Always a Pleasure"
I know in particular Tweedy argues the exact opposite but for me it is much more about efficient practice than actual time. I come from the classical music field so the concept of practice is a big part of my life and I have never gotten results from just grinding for hours and hours. I am a big fan of watching lots of footage and taking notes while you are playing for things to lab. So often at least with my sparring partners I will be beating them with something and the next day we play again and they never figured out their answer for it! Imo you want to not only expose yourself to everything that different players are doing, but also have a strategy against it. So when you see something you are ready and aren't caught off guard. I try to do 1 hr a day in the lab which is partly just warm up and practicing set ups and whatever tech and combo, and then the rest of it is I have an itinerary of specific things I want to test and come up with solutions for.

For match footage it is a bit different now because a lot of players stream so there is a lot more than just tournament sets to watch. But I am still in favor of focusing on tournament sets a lot of the time and doing a close analysis. I remember Pig of the Hut I think had a notebook where he had like percentages of times people would go for an option in a mixup or something. That seems a little extreme and maybe not helpful to me but the idea of really gaining an understanding of what someone is trying to do in a match seems helpful to me.

It also depends on the game. I spent a lot more time in the lab for injustice 1 than mk9 because a lot of characters had really wonky set ups and cross ups. Mk9 although it was glitchy as fuck mechanics wise once we knew the frame data was pretty straightforward. Nobody was going to cheese you out in that game with a mixup you had never seen before.
 

Tanya-Fan-28

TanyaShouldBeInMK11
Sometime I think I should fucking live in the fucking lab. I’ve just played agains a guy called Boki. He bodied my Buzzsaw with his Buzzsaw 12-1. So fucking salty it hurts. Haven’t played for about 3 week before today.
Same, by the time I memorized all attack strings for ONE character in any fighting game, its like a year later and there are barely any players to use that skill in ranked matches. Well that was my experience in Soul Calibur 6. It could be that I suck at fighting games or just my low ass IQ playing a role lol.
 

GLoRToR

Positive Poster!
The longest I've ever spent in practice mode was 2 days (Eating snacks and watching guide videos while I was in the lab too) but my usual run time in the lab would be 3-5 hours.

Now many of you know that over-training exists and should somewhat apply to fighting games, do you think 3-5 hours in the lab is not enough? I remember a FGC documentary or a pro player saying they spend 10 hours in the lab and the next 10 hours online/offline fighting. The 2nd question can have universal answers but what do you think is the natural time you should spend in the lab?
My biggest fault when playing these games is I hate practice mode and I rather take 10 losses than spend 10 minutes practicing.
Not a good mindset, don't do what I'm doing.
 

GLoRToR

Positive Poster!
I like to spend time learning combos in the lab and then immediately go online to get my butt kicked into the Netherrealm. Unfortunately, I decide to play 10 more games until I realize 10 minutes in the lab would have probably won me those games.
My mindset is that I don't care about winning and I don't want the game to feel like a job.
And yes, 10 minutes in the lab can definitely help you get 10 more wins.
 

Tanno

The Fantasy is the Reality of the Mind
Usually, when I get into a completely new game for me it's 6 or more hours for me. Understanding the mechanisms, finding OKI setups and good combos are my forte. The rest is getting experienced in Ranked or VS.

For MK11 it might be 3-5 hours or so with some break times. Why? Look at the variations.
 

LawAbidingCitizen

Bomb Setups & Ball Rolls(Mileena/Cyrax)
I wouldn't say I could put it into hour format or that this applies to everyone but I spend a lot of time in the lab, at least 80% is spent in practice mode.
The reason for this isn't just to get familiar with the character but to learn tech, matchups, range of normals, and what I call normal follow: what moves follow up my starters/pokes. For example Kabals D1 is followed by 111, 22, D4, D3 and his D4 is followed by F22 and B12D2.
To me these are the basics along with frame data what can be done on hit vs on block what staggers and what jails, is there others tools to mix up other than 50/50s? Stuff like that.

But then I spend a good amount playing sets with players I feel are better than me who really challenge my game plan and Playstyle. When i play against players who I win 70% or more against I determine wether it's a matchup or they are making to many mistakes and I inform them and move on to another player so I can grow cuz when I stay playing people who are not challenging me I get worse and develop bad habits.
Along with this I analyze my mistakes and record them and my matches so I can review them and improve upon my faults then it's back to the lab again. Whatever it was that netted me that loss I recreate it in practice mode until I find a way to deal with it better and turn that bad matchup in my favor.

I have spent anywhere from 80% to 90% in practice and with the new features on MK11 I'll most likely be taking advantage of them more.

If others do well playing sets and learning from others advise in a live setting, that's completely fine and viable but I do better taking the time to break it all down.
 

Blade4693

VIVIVI
I get kind of excited and jump in before I really lab out my character but in SFV for example I can literally spend all my time between matches in practice mode which is just such a good thing. Constantly practicing until the game finds me a match, I play the set, then go back to training until the next match. I love it.
 
I honestly don’t spend too much time in the lab. If anything I spend about 30 minutes at most, trying to master my character’s BNB’s and experimenting with different setups and strings. The worse feeling is being in the lab for hours just to get destroyed by someone online lmao
 

DarksydeDash

You know me as RisingShieldBro online.
Before, it was HOURS in the lab for me, but now it's about 30 minutes per character in MK11. Defensive mechanics are universal, so generally I look over frame data for staggers or safety, come up with combos midscreen and corner, and just play. Once I play enough and am struggling with a certain matchup, then I'll take it into the lab to see my options against the opposing character's tools.

In some cases, I'll even learn the other character so I can see what their options are too.
 

FlowerFighter

Pressure
Hours sometimes depending on what I'm doing or trying to achieve. The goal is not just figuring out something, but also burning it into your muscle memory, then going back and forcing yourself to do what you learned in sets over and over until it becomes second nature.

Some people learn stuff faster than others, judging simply by time won't help you, you have to do it until it works for you which could be less or more depending on who you are.
 

BolverkGTM

Dad Beard Connoisseur
I'm only in the lab for about a half hour at a time, but it's always a very focused session. If I'm in the lab, it's because I have something on my mind that I want to try. I used to sit in the lab for hours, just grinding away at the same things over and over, but it didn't yield results in matches. I could only truly improve my execution in the heat of a match, so I stopped labbing combos and setups excessively. Once I've got it down consistent, that's the end of that. From there on, I'll only return to the lab for short stints if I was exposed to some situation that I want to learn how to counter.