[Paper_Cut]

Whether you win or lose a match boils down to the three E's.
1. Experience
2. Equipment
3. Endurance

Lets break each one down:

1. Experience: there isn't a thread you can read, there isn't a video you can watch and there isn't a drill you can do that will make up for actual game experience. Knowing when to make that move, when to stay where you are, what to do in those "oh ****" moments and knowing what the other guy is thinking all boils down to how many welts you have, i.e. how many games you have played. Practice is all well and good, but working on things such as snap shooting and breakouts will only get you so far, you have to learn to compensate for all those times things don't go according to plan(no plan survives first contact the with enemy) and the only way to do that is to experience it not going according to plan. So, go as often as possible, even if you have to go to the field alone because your buddies don't want to go, if you want to get better you have to get out there and play.

2. Equipment: I'm not just talking about your gun, sure having an electro instead of that beat-up rental is going to do something for your game, far more important is what you're wearing.

• Pants: there is no substitute for paintball pants, spend the money and get yourself a nice pair of pants. Make sure to get them a few sizes too big, you want them as baggy as possible if the waste is too big don't fear, that is what they make belts for. A nice pair of pants will effect your game a lot more than you think.
• Pack: Your pack is another article that makes a lot of difference. A good pack will give you nice back support it and helps you hold what I call "paintball posture" a bit more without tiring out your back. A good pack will not only support your back but it will keep your pods from putting a strain on your back. With a good pack you won't even notice the weight of the 3-4 pods. If you're a smaller guy with a thinner waste, I suggest the NXe pack, you want a pack that squeezes your torso and doesn't bounce around, the NXe is a bit smaller than most packs and it isn't too expensive. Good bang for your buck.
• Mask: Most important piece of equipment you will ever own. It isn't just for safety, if your mask is foggy or limits your perephrial vision, your game is going to be greatly affected. Buying a nice mask that lets you breath, fits your face and gives you a good field of vision is a must. A mask will make or break a good player, if you gave a pro player a bad gun he can probably still do really well, if you give him a bad mask, he probably won't have a decent game all day.
• If you wear glasses, invest in some contacts. I normally wear my glasses day-to-day however when paintballing I've got some one-day contacts that are disposable. I've got 45 pair that I can take out and throw away at the end of the day. Contacts will improve your peripherial vision and is a hell of a lot more comfortable. They don't really make masks that are glasses friendly, so IMO, a set of contacts is a must.

3. Endurance: Lets face it, your body is going to hit a wall at some point in the day where your body just tires out. Once this happens your response will be slow, your mind will get fuzzy, and you won't be able to put 100% into the game. Your body will run for awhile and push past your normal limits with adrenaline, but eventually even adrenaline won't be able to keep you moving. So, you need to keep your body in shape to try and put off that point where your body says "enough, we're stopping now."
Jogging is just one part, that will keep your heart in shape and allow your body to better use oxygen, but people often ignore the endurance of your muscles.
Lifting weights WILL NOT help you all that much, you want endurance, not strength, there is a difference. Sure, you may be able to bench twice your body weight, but how long can you hold that? Muscle's tire out very quickly, if you don't believe me, take a full soda can and try and hold it at arms length for just two minutes... hard isn't it? That is what you need to build up, those slow twitch muscles. I wrote a thread on how to work out the muscles that are normally very weak, but you will use most in paintball. https://www.pbnation.com/showthread.p...1#post74323521 If that is the only exercises you do, that will be enough, however, the healthier you are, the more it's going to show.
However, working out won't do you a bit of good if you don't have the energy to fuel these nice new muscles of yours, and surprisingly a lot of your nutritional needs should be met the day before.

• Water: a classic yet mostly ignored. Gatoraid or fruit juice isn't a substitute for water. Your body will be able to more quickly use the water because it doesn't have to filter out all of the other stuff that are in these drinks. It can go right into your system and your body can use it as quickly as possible. So, make sure you kick back those bottles. If by the end of the day you haven't consumed at least a gallon of water(around 8 bottles of water), you have drank enough, so get to chugging. Also up to the day you should be chugging water, on the day before you leave if your urine isn't crystal clear you need more water. I know it's gross, but urine color is the best measure of how hydrated you are, the more yellow it is, the more water you need, and if you don't urinate during your day of play, you aren't getting enough water.
• Salt: I know, you may think it doesn't belong, because common thinking is salt makes you lose more water than you take in, but having enough sodium is key, normally your body tries to shed it if there is excess, but if there isn't enough, your body will feel it. If you have a bottle of gatoraid, look on the ingredients, you'll see it listed "salt." Sodium and potassium are what your body uses to produce those electrical currents in your brain, without it you'll lose focus. When you sweat, if you taste it, you'll find it is salty. As you sweat, your body loses that important element of your neural network and you ability to make decisions will quickly decrease. The best way to get salt is gatoraid, but don't drink too much gatoraid, two bottles of water to every bottle of gatoraid.
• Potassium: this is as important as salt, the actual use for it and salt is the sodium/potassium gated ion channels, you don't need to really know how this works, just know it's important. So, make sure you have 1-2 bananas the day before.
• Carbohydrates: If sugar is a surge of energy you can crash from, carbs are the opposite. They take a long time to digest, but will give you a lot of energy that you can use the following day. I am a big fan of Craft Mac & Cheese, I eat a whole box by myself the night before. However, you can also get it from bread(white bread, none of those whole grain breads, that isn't as easy to digest which is why you don't get fat, your body can't use most of the stuff in whole grain bread), any type of noodles or potato chips, which also give you fat and salt.
• Breakfast: you see it a lot, but nobody gives you much detail as to what you're supposed to eat, and eating the wrong thing can be worse than eating nothing at all. Firstly, don't get full, it takes a lot of energy to digest food, and if you give your body too much food, it is going to want to shut down and digest that nice meal. What you want is meat, sausage, bacon, ham, go nuts. Meat is VERY easy to digest and whatever animal you happen to be eating was nice enough to process nutrients for you, they are already broken down into their simplest forms and your body can quickly put them to work.
• Sleep: I know it is hard to fall asleep on the big night, but it is a must. You can cheat the system by taking a nap the day before, turn the lights off and around noon sleep for ~2 hours(no more). Then when nighttime rolls around try and be in bead by 11pm assuming you plan to wake up at 7-8am, but don't go to bed too early, too much sleep can be as bad as too little.
• Stay cool/warm: another thing that goes unnoticed, because not many people know how do do anything about it and assume they will just have to leave it to their body. Your body needs to stay at 98.6*F, it will try and sweat as much as possible, however, it will most likely be fighting a losing battle. If it's hot out, bring an ice pack, you can cheat the system by cooling your blood off. You want to place the ice pack in a spot where a lot of blood flows. Coming down from your head at the front of your neck is the jugular vein. A lot of blood flows through it and it is very near the surface. Place the ice pack on the right or left side of the neck for a few minutes, this will cool you down quite quickly, lowering your heart rate back to normal. It will help you recover more quickly in between games than sitting in the shade. If it is cold out, do the opposite, if you can manage to find a bunch of hand warmers. Also, bring a big blanket or jacket. You want to keep your torso and your legs warm. It is a lot harder to stay warm than it is to stay cool, so if it's a cold day, you're going to have to work at it. And just because you're sweating and feel hot, doesn't mean your body temp is where it should be. The more you move and run, the faster your body will lose heat, and if you do happen to work up a sweat, then you're really in trouble. Make sure to bring a few extra T-shirts to put on when your shirt starts to get moist on a cold day.

On the night before you should be able to tell if you've eaten right if you feel sluggish and tired after dinner and if you're urinating a lot(it should be light yellow to clear in color.) Lastly, avoid 5 hour energy, trust me, it isn't the cure all for your energy worries.

[Paper_Cut]

It seems a lot of people either want to know or think they know what skills it takes to succeed at paintball.

The most important skill to have in paintball is raw experience. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, so no matter how much you practice, no matter how many drills you run, nothing will be as useful as the experience.
When playing you'll always have incomplete information, experience will allow you to fill in those unknowns with more accurate predictions. For example, you may be in a 2v1, completely pinned behind your bunker. So, you have no idea what the two guys in front of you are doing, but based on prior experience of what you might do in that scenario, you'll think "okay, that guy is keeping a constant stream of paint so that his buddy can move up and bunker me." So, now you can formulate a plan to counter that without having to react.
Experienced players generally do so well not due entirely to having more skill(though it does factor in) but being able to make accurate predictions about the unknown.

As a general rule, tactics win out over skill. Paintball is very much like a chess game, it's not about having the most aggressive strategy, it's about being able to think two or three or more moves ahead of your opponent. Paintball is much the same, you can be the best snap shooter in the world, but if people don't have a snap battle with you but concentrate on working together to get a cross shot and squeeze you out of your bunker all that skill at snap shooting doesn't help you.
If you don't already think like this, then start looking at paintball as a game of tactics(both personal and team wise), be smart about your moves, and focus on out-smarting your enemy, not giving him a chance to out-play you.


If you happen to have access to a proper gym or a good weight room, this guy have some good advice.

Originally Posted by GetInTheVan

What's with the debate on supps? They actually awesome. Whey protein is great for when you don't hit your macro's, and PWO's, although I've never used them myself, help people focus and achieve better workouts. Don't be afraid of supplements.

For anyone with access to weights / gym, I'd like to provide a short, basic and very effective workout routine for you guys to do.

I did not create this workout, it is an adapted version of Mark Rippetoes Starting Strength routine. I would recommend you have a solid diet to maximize the gains from your workouts.

Workout A:
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Bent Over Row 3x5
Rear Delt Flys 2x6-8
*Optional Bicep Work, 2x6-8

Workout B:
Front Squat 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Over Head Press 3x5
Dips 2x8

The way this routine works is by alternating each workout. So, for example, you workout Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Monday you do workout A, Wednesday B, Friday A. The next Monday you start with B, then A and so forth. On off days you can rest, or I'd recommend implementing some cardio. I like to do some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and finish with jogging a mile or so at a moderate pace.

This is a strength routine, which some of you may be saying is not needed, but think of it this way. When building a house, whats the first thing that is done? Build the foundation. This routine is going to maximize your strength gains, and make you an overall better athlete as well.

[Paper_Cut]

I personally play snake a lot, I haven't been on a team for several years(2008) and during that time I played front dorito, so the transition has not been easy. However, I find myself more and more drawn towards snake and I like to think I'm pretty good at it, I have had several offers by teams as I play as a walk on, however the only reason I don't do tourney ball is due to money. I think I am good at snake because, but you can take this advice for what it's worth, and like every guide, if you have something you want me to add or edit then by all means tell me and I will work with you to make it a better guide.

Now, onto the meat of it, the actual guide:

One thing to know about snake, there is no real "right" and "wrong" way to do it, and even with this guide, while it will make you a better snake player, just reading it doesn't automatically mean you will be tearing up people in the snake.
Lets start with the basics, half the battle is actually getting into snake clean. There are several possible ways to do it

First is shooting off the break:

• Run-n-gun(straight in): this is actually the most risky way to get into snake, since even though it allows you to shoot a lane, you will also be exposed to their lanes, and normally the snake is quite a distance from the starting box and since it is on the side of the field you will be running through multiple lanes. I personally don't recommend you try and shoot an accurate lane all the way to the snake.
• Run-n-gun(to insert): an insert bunker is basically a bunker that allows you to easily jump into snake after the breakout, but is closer to the starting box and you're more likely to be able to get into snake if you have to hold a lane but plan on playing snake. The problem with this is slows down the timeline of snake. As you work up, you will be able to hold down snake and thus keep dorito side from walking up.

Whether you chose to go straight in or to an insert all depends on how well you know the other team can keep their lanes and how quickly you want to get the game over with. It also depends on how well you can keep a lane, if you see the other team constantly getting guys off the break, you may want to try running into the bunker right off the break.

If you do decide to run straight to your bunker, KEEP YOUR HEAD UP: this is the most important thing you can do during the first 10 seconds of the game. You need to keep looking downfield, once you get in you're going to be blind to most of the goings on of the field and while it helps, you shouldn't have to depend entirely on communication, because suppose your back guy who would keep you updated on the people in front of you is taken out? So, even if you aren't laning off the break, you want to keep watching downfield and seeing what bunkers the people in front of you plan on occupying. Dive in as soon as possible,don't run up to the knuckle before you take cover, you want to dive into snake as soon as possible, then crawl up to the first knuckle. So, when you first dive into snake, you won't have the best cover, so you want to dive in then crawl up to S1.

Now, once you get into snake, chance is no longer factored in, now it is all decided by you, make a single mistake and you're out. So, you need to assess your priorites.

• Stay calm- There is a difference between being aggressive and being stupid. Keep your head cool, and make your movments quick but calculated.
• Listen to the game- The last thing you need is to play whack-a-mole with the other team. So, you've got to learn how to know what is going on without being able to see it, this is where experience comes into play. Not only do you have to pay attention to your own team, but also the other team, as well as paint wizzing over your head.
• Shoot at dorito- Your best angles are going to be from across the field, so you want to get those shots on packs and backs.
• Draw fire- If you can't get any good shots, you might as well draw guns your way, if you've got 1-2 people shooting at you that is 1-2 people who aren't shooting at your team.
• Check your tape- You don't want them running you down, however, try and avoid a snake battle and don't keep your head out for their snake-side back player. You can pop our head out every few seconds, but don't bring your gun around, keep posted on dorito side, but be ready to bring your gun around.
• Avoid gun battles- You most likely aren't in the best position to be snap shooting, you want to avoid trying to shoot at any of the back players on snake side. Obviosuly, if they give you the opportunity take them out, but try not to stick your head out.

***Baiting***
This actually works well. What you do is if you get into a snake battle you can end it quickly. You want to pop out a few times and get him to post on you. Then once he thinks he has you, pop up over the top of the bunker and you'll have a great shot on him.

[2nwyka]

Dead on, man! I like your "Endurance" section! I have been doing exercises to get better at both paintball and baseball, like sprints, lunges, and practicing sprinting to and from different types of cover (and sliding...). I'm voting for a Sticky!
Another thing that will help you as a player is the ability to lead other players. I am my team captain, and I've found that if your team listens to you, you'll win more and have a lot more fun. Like Paper Cut said, there is no substitute for experience!
Noah

[DocDriza]

Although this is well said, i think you should add more to the endurance. like staying hydrated and getting food. You may think that this is a given, but not too many people think about this. I may not run every day like i want to, but near the end of the day, I can get a ton of energy and finish the day strong just by bring some sort of energy bar and some Gatorade. there is also this powder that i drink that will give me energy. Its a suppliment you can get at GNC or whatever. It is something you would drink during a workout. and if you think about it playing paintball is a workout. Just my opinion.

[Paper_Cut]

yay updates!

[DocDriza]

If you dont like it, you dont have to add it. it was just my opinion.

[Paper_Cut]

Originally Posted by DocDriza

If you dont like it, you dont have to add it. it was just my opinion.

I have to be thorough

Originally Posted by DocDriza

Although this is well said, i think you should add more to the endurance. like staying hydrated and getting food. You may think that this is a given, but not too many people think about this. I may not run every day like i want to, but near the end of the day, I can get a ton of energy and finish the day strong just by bring some sort of energy bar and some Gatorade. there is also this powder that i drink that will give me energy. Its a suppliment you can get at GNC or whatever. It is something you would drink during a workout. and if you think about it playing paintball is a workout. Just my opinion.

Stay away from suppliments and energy bars. Supplements are for weight lifters trying to build muscle, they won't do anything for your endurance and relying on them in lieu of more important things isn't a good idea. Energy bars are the same story, they are for getting you through a workout, not a day of paintball.

[DocDriza]

Originally Posted by Paper_Cut

Stay away from suppliments and energy bars. Supplements are for weight lifters trying to build muscle, they won't do anything for your endurance and relying on them in lieu of more important things isn't a good idea. Energy bars are the same story, they are for getting you through a workout, not a day of paintball.

And THAT is a common misconception. Not EVERY supplement is used for muscle mass. There are some that are used for muscle endurance. The one I am talking about helps support Nitric Oxide synthesis. The one that I specifically use helps muscle mass, but there are some that wont do that. Think about cyclers. there are supplements for them too. I am not saying to go to a convenient store and pick up a red bull or a Monster, you will crash after the first game. Also, I'm not trying to say that you should completely rely on supplements, because after all, they are supplements. they "supplement" what you are trying to get done.

Its worth looking into. It works for me.

So pretty much saying that they wont help at all isn't completely accurate.

[Hinjin]

I liked it. Sticky

[L8r_H8r]

Originally Posted by DocDriza

And THAT is a common misconception. Not EVERY supplement is used for muscle mass. There are some that are used for muscle endurance. The one I am talking about helps support Nitric Oxide synthesis. The one that I specifically use helps muscle mass, but there are some that wont do that. Think about cyclers. there are supplements for them too. I am not saying to go to a convenient store and pick up a red bull or a Monster, you will crash after the first game. Also, I'm not trying to say that you should completely rely on supplements, because after all, they are supplements. they "supplement" what you are trying to get done.

Its worth looking into. It works for me.

So pretty much saying that they wont help at all isn't completely accurate.

Couldn't have said it better myself. The word "supplement" shouldn't be a scary one.

[Paper_Cut]

Originally Posted by DocDriza

And THAT is a common misconception. Not EVERY supplement is used for muscle mass. There are some that are used for muscle endurance. The one I am talking about helps support Nitric Oxide synthesis. The one that I specifically use helps muscle mass, but there are some that wont do that. Think about cyclers. there are supplements for them too. I am not saying to go to a convenient store and pick up a red bull or a Monster, you will crash after the first game. Also, I'm not trying to say that you should completely rely on supplements, because after all, they are supplements. they "supplement" what you are trying to get done.

Its worth looking into. It works for me.

So pretty much saying that they wont help at all isn't completely accurate.

Well, I won't add anything about supplements for a two reasons:
1. I don't know much about them, I'll take a look into them, but unless I know something inside and out I don't normally try to give advice on it because I may end up giving bad advice.
2. I'm at the 10,000 character limit.

Could write up something about supplements? That would be a great help.

[Nuked]

Nice tip compilation, Paper_Cut.

Many of these things aren't thought of by the average player.

[Paper_Cut]

I'm making another right now called "the little things nobody tells you."

[DocDriza]

Originally Posted by Paper_Cut

Well, I won't add anything about supplements for a two reasons:
1. I don't know much about them, I'll take a look into them, but unless I know something inside and out I don't normally try to give advice on it because I may end up giving bad advice.
2. I'm at the 10,000 character limit.

Could write up something about supplements? That would be a great help.

That's respectable.

Ill have to see. I only know about the stuff I use. But i can give it a shot, and do some research.

[Scrappy#13]

Always writing good write ups. yet again good job bro.

[Paper_Cut]

added a bit, still a work in progress.

[Matt Hemm]

Regarding pants i disagree. Too large and they can be uncomfortable to wear or run in. Plus wearing extra large pants to get bounces sounds like a way to not make you a better later. A good player can avoid getting hit instead of hoping hits pants keep him in the game. Just my opinion.

[Paper_Cut]

I updated a section adding a bit of advice for you to take back to a team, it's in it's alpha version, so if you've got anything you think I should add or some points you want to bring up don't hesitate to do so. I do check this thread and any opinions I will add.

[tyskidmore3]

Break out drills- If you for some reason haven't mastered running and gunning for 20 feet then you have no business being on a team. Practicing this is a waste of time and most importantly paint. What you should focus on is what happens after the breakout: the actual game.


I don't entirely agree with this statement. Break out drills help a team see how the break out plays out, not just say it and hope it works. I've called a break out and thought it would do well in my head, but when we went to practice it, it fell apart. Break out's should be practiced but you DON'T need to practice them A LOT.

[GivenRandy]

Some good stuff there.