Firstly, I'm not asking how to practice to get better in CP. There are tons of posts for that. I'm curious to know how most of the top CPers maintain their mental stamina to practice longer?
Like, during practice...
Do you sit for like 3 or 4 hours in 1 go? and then take a long break for 1 hour or a 2 and come back? Or do you solve a problem above your skill level, say it takes around 1 hour, and then take a 20 min brake? In that case what do you do in the break? Sleep? Eat? Pushups?
Or do you follow some other break strategy? In short, what works the best for you to maintain your mental stamina?
I would love to hear comments on this from high rated coders. I have heard about top coders who practiced 12 hours a day for USACO etc. This makes me wonder how they do it?
(A lot of opinions are there that one should focus on what your learnt on a day and if one has, then its productive day, but for those who are considering to participate in top contests, especially beginners, time is a very important factor to organize their training plans. So maintaining a high mental stamina throughout becomes a high priority and an important pre-requisite.)
For those who would like to share their comments, you can assume 2 cases: On a weekend and a weekday. Assuming a weekday only gives atmost 7-8 hours for practice. Whereas a weekend gives atmost 17 hours for practice (ideal scenario ofcourse).
Auto comment: topic has been updated by Katagaki (previous revision, new revision, compare).
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I open others' blogs in codeforces, like now.
you are humorous
17 hours sounds insane. I guess the top guys just really enjoy thinking about problems, find it interesting, and so it doesn't affect their mental state as much. I also don't think there are that many people who train 4-5+ hours a day. There are some, but to achieve nearly any goal, except smth like IOI, 2-3 productive hours a day with 3-4 years of consistent practice has to be enough
Doing CP is the break.
The first thing you need to do is find a car, and only then should you worry about where to park it effectively.
Agreed. But how is that rhetorically related to what I asked? Some people like me sit excessively in front something that they love, such that they forget to even take breaks. But this eventually leads to a low productiveness.
So I just wanted to know ppl retain their mental stamina by taking breaks in their work throughout the day to solve difficult problems without getting burntout.
What I mean is, when you’re genuinely tired and in need of rest, it’s important to take a break. However, when you’re not truly fatigued, you don’t need to worry excessively about how to rest perfectly. Sometimes, all you need is to drink some water and listen to good music. After that, you can continue engaging in what you love. When you’re deeply passionate about something, you often lose track of time while doing it.
Also rhetorically speaking as per your philosophical comment, how do you plan your breaks on a day while you are searching for a car (incase you still haven't found one yet)?
I should spend my time planning how to get a car for tomorrow. I can just go home and get some rest. Without a car, there's no need to worry about parking.
If you're still curious about how top competitors take effective breaks after training, the truth is they are so skilled that they often don’t need a break. Their minds are constantly working to find solutions, even while they sleep. That’s why they outperform us.
If i can't do the question in 2 to 3 hours usually I take break and move to something else till I get fresh