Stamina Increasing tips

I need help with stamina can some one give me tips on increasing stamina thank you

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Run fast, for a long time. This is a surefire way to increase stamina.

play a lot, no shortcuts here.

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His signature says it all!

Seriously though, where is the stamina wall coming into play? What is the hardest song that is "easy" for you, and what is the hardest song you can pass? Do you use the bar, or play without it?

Easiest hmmm??? Valkyire Demension Diffucult is really easy for a 15

The hardest song i ever passed is delta max expert

Bar yes

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What i do to save stamina for a song is to take VERY LITTLE STEPS, and never breath out of your mouth. Always your nose.

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Learn to bracket and use some balance.

Drink a water a lot. This improves your stamina later on.

Swimming helped me significantly. Also, a proper diet can really come in handy.

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Honestly, the only way to increase stamina is ti keep doing things beyond your current limit. If you always stop playing when you hit your limit, you'll never push it back.

Don't drink any other liquid. You'll have that pain feeling.

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In my experience with stamina, playing songs that push your limit really help, because after playing those stamina draining songs that can soon feel like nothing after playing them a bunch of times. Like for example, when I started playing the song Dead End on heavy, it MURDERED me! But after many plays, I play it like a regular song now.

And as for what other people said, try to only drink water if you can while playing too.

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Adding on to this, avoid drinking anything with caffeine in it. If you drink a Mountain Dew or a Monster or whatever about an hour or so before you play, it might help with energy. Drinking it while you play makes you incredibly shaky, and if you have asthma, it'll make breathing more difficult since it speeds up your heart rate and metabolism. It can also irritate your stomach, and well.... playing DDR with a sore/over-active stomach most likely isn't going to end well.

More often than not, you should just stick with regular water. Things like Vitamin Water and Gatorade can help just as long as you don't take in too much at one time.

Distance running will improve your stamina. Run outside of your comfort zone because if you don't then you won't feel significant results if you're always running at a comfortable pace.

Check your footwork. Stepping on the inner edges of the panels works wonders for saving energy.

Am I like the only person who improved way better on Gatorade (probably followed by water) than just water...? Must just be a nostalgic thing... or that old-scale-10-footer hump around the time of switching to water that I'm still not over but moving on.

Always breathe. Aaaaaalways.

Mmmaybe abuse Nonstop mode? Make a list of just hard songs and see what happens. But a warm up before that is always good, else your body gives up too early, I think.

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^This!!!!
Seriously, after I trained over summer break this year and ran a half-marathon, my stamina really improved. And running may not seem like fun, but cue a playlist of your favorite songs and cruise for miles. (of course, if you're serious about it, maybe look up a training schedule)

Also, yeah like Papersak said, abuse nonstop mode. I used to play endless mode for hours just to keep my energy going.

Honestly I can't say I agree with anyone else about how running is gonna help your stamina, it makes you better at running sure but not necessarily DDR/ITG/PIU or whatever (not saying you shouldn't at all because exercise is good for you, just don't expect it to help with that). xRGTMx is right on keeping your diet healthy though; if you're eating nothing but chips and soda don't expect your body to be properly nourished when playing.

Take what I say with a grain of salt, I mostly play stamina stuff so I guess I know a few things about it.

-Technique. Don't crouch when doing a stream. Keep your weight on your feet and not your arms. Obviously the bar is gonna help most people with saving energy but there are a few a people (cough Prolix cough) who can do some insane stuff no-bar too, so whatever suits you. Keep your upper body still while playing (I see a lot of people jerk around a lot when doing streams, don't do that). Stay as close to the center panel as possible with your feet, don't go all the way out on the panel, rather try to hit the inner sensors instead.

-Footwork. If you're playing toes only you're gonna have to kick the habit, it's better to use all of your foot and what parts of your foot are appropriate for certain panels. The Down arrow is almost always gonna wanna be hit with the heel of your foot, and the up arrow with your toes, left and right with the sides of your foot. Of course some patterns may require different ways of hitting them (crossovers for example) but for the most part it's how I like to try hitting them.

-Breathe. I seriously cannot stress this enough. I know it sounds painfully obvious, but believe me a lot of people forget to do this while in the streamy parts of songs. It may only seem to help a little at first, but little things add up after a while. Of course don't pay attention to it all the time, just a check up every minute or so to see if you're doing it or not. And of course try and keep it controlled as well (the only breathing through your nose thing is... probably not a good idea. Or at the very least I've never seen a problem with mouth as long as it's controlled); gasping for air might hurt you later on if you aren't careful.

-Attire. Yeah this is obvious too, but make sure you aren't wearing any clothing that restricts movement or makes your body overheat. Also empty your pockets if you have stuff in them; no point adding more weight for your body to carry while playing a hard song. Make sure your shoes are at least semi-decent as well and that of course fit you nicely (too tight is gonna give you injuries) and preferably are light in weight as well. Might have to spend a little more depending on what you're looking at but hey if they're good shoes they'll last you quite a while (my current ones are a year and a half old and still holding up strong).

-Don't bitch out. Honestly at the end of the day though, despite everything I've said, biggest factor in stamina is just not being a bitch. You're gonna get tired, and your body is gonna scream to you to stop and give up, but you gotta keep pushing and tell yourself to keep going no matter how much you feel like crap. Most people when they give up they definitely still have more energy than they think they do and could've definitely made it farther or even passed it. There is nothing more satisfying than digging deep for that tiny bit of energy in you to go the extra mile, but you gotta force yourself to find that little bit even if your body isn't agreeing with you.

-Take decent breaks. With all of THAT being said, make sure that you're actually giving your body adequate rest between sets. Stay hydrated (don't drink too much to where you potentially get cramps though), get your breathing under control; if you have to sit/lie down at least stretch your legs whilst doing so periodically to keep the blood flow in them pumping. Obviously know your limits about your body; if you struggle with passing 12s don't try like playing 3 13s back to back or whatever. Depending on the location you may want to bring a fan somehow too if possible (given that it reaches 120 F down where I play, I absolutely NEED some form of air conditioning.

-Find friendly competition. This is a great way to motivate yourself (and others too really) to push farther and farther.

-Set goals. Obviously be reasonable with them too, don't set them incredibly high to the point that you get frustrated and stop improving. Set smaller goals in between too (if you can say like get a B on one song, try shooting for an A or whatever).

Might be forgetting a few things but I think that covers most of it.

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As far as the whole footwear thing goes, here are some brands I can recommend:

- Nike Free/Flex. Both lines are supposed to simulate barefoot running. VERY lightweight but they have good grip for DDR/ITG/PIU. Some models might run either slightly larger or slightly smaller than other shoes, so try a pair on first. They can be a bit pricey, but I have seen some on sale for as low as $60.

- Puma. A lot of higher end ITG players use "Tapers", but they've been discontinued so good luck finding a pair. I've used the Cell Voltaic model and a pair of indoor soccer Pumas that I can't remember the name of, and both were great.

- Etnies. Normally I wouldn't recommend skate shoes, but I've actually had really good luck with Etnies. I swore by their Callicut shoes (no longer made) up until I got a pair of Nike Frees. You might be able to find a pair of Callicut 2.0's on sale at somewhere like Journeys, but it seems like they're getting rid of that one too. I've never personally tried it but the Fader seems very similar, so you can give that one a shot.

- Vans. Again, I normally wouldn't recommend skate shoes, but Vans are usually quite good. I probably wouldn't recommend playing in the slip-on Vans, but every other pair of Vans I've had worked pretty well for DDR, only exception being a "Rowley XL3" pair I had ages ago, which were very slippery. Most of the shoes in their "Off The Wall" line will also work as just a regular casual shoe, so if you're looking for something you can use for DDR and just wear around, they're worth looking into. Authentics are good in my experience, along with Chukka Lows and Atwoods. Basically any of their shoes that have the regular waffle tread sole on them should be fine.

Also, if you're someone who wears skinny jeans, don't wear them while playing DDR, unless for some reason you have absolutely have to. It's not impossible to play DDR in them, just a bit more difficult. You will get tired a lot more quickly. Basketball/gym shorts are usually optimal, but cargo/denim shorts are also fine.

+1 to everything SM MaxX said


IMO if you don't have a pair of "Proper ITG shoes" (tapers, minimus lifes, etc) play with socks. This especially applies to DDRX and newer cabs with that spaced out arrow design. It's really really hard to cheat jumps and crossovers with shoes on those things lol

I also disagree with the water suggestions. Many big passes for me were caffeine and sugar fueled. To those of you who only drink water, spend a few bucks on some caffeine pills and take them with your water and see how you like it.

Considering that there is discussions about proper shoes for DDR/ITG/PIU talk going on, I might as well ask my question about my shoes. I own two pairs of shoes, one are Nike Air Flight basketball sneakers, however they have a flat sole to them. Also I own some DC's. Again, they are flat soled. Don't have a model for those because I got them off a clearance rack. The Nike Air Flight shoes have that air cushion in the heels. I don't have money for any other shoes so that is all I got.

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