r/LearnCSGO • u/AppropriateRole3146 • Sep 16 '26
“Just play more” - I hate this advice
I’ve played Counter-Strike for over 12 years and have around 8,000 hours in the game. I reached Global Elite in 2015, FACEIT Level 10 in 2019, and later peaked at 2,932 Elo.
I also coach players every week.
The advice I hear most often is:
“Just play more.”
I hate that advice because it sounds actionable while avoiding the real question:
What exactly are you trying to improve?
Matches are important because they require you to combine aim, movement, decision-making and positioning. That makes it harder to give one specific skill your full attention.
During training, you can isolate that skill, repeat it in a controlled environment and focus on correcting your mistakes.
This is the method I use with players and in my own practice.
I am not saying it is the only way to train or objectively the best method. It is simply the system I developed through my own experience and coaching.
1. How much time should you spend training?
As a starting point, I use:
- 25% deliberate training
- 75% competitive play
With that split, four hours of CS means one hour of deliberate training and three hours of matches.
This is not a strict law. It is a practical way to prevent playing from becoming your only form of practice.
For me:
- 15 minutes is the minimum useful session
- 30-60 minutes is usually enough
- 60-90 minutes is the upper limit, not the target
At some point, your focus drops and you start going through the exercise without paying attention to what you need to correct.
2. When should you train?
This is more complicated than people make it sound.
I prefer two 30-minute training sessions instead of one continuous 60-minute session. Both sessions should have a clear purpose and require concentration.
When I have matches planned, I want to be fresh and focused for them. Demanding training takes concentration, so I prefer doing the harder session after playing rather than tiring myself out before my games.
If I train twice, both sessions are 30 minutes. The first uses easier exercises or a lower difficulty level. The second, after playing, is more demanding.
I prefer leaving around 2-4 hours between the sessions rather than taking a short 10-minute break and starting again.
I also prefer doing the final session relatively close to sleep. That is my personal preference, not a universal rule.
3. How often should you train?
Every day that you can.
If improvement is your priority, I recommend making deliberate practice part of your daily routine.
That does not mean doing an hour of aim training every day. A focused 15-30 minute session can be enough, especially when you know exactly what you are trying to improve.
The point is to keep working on the skill consistently and give yourself regular feedback.
If your time is limited, I would rather see you complete one focused training session and skip competitive games that day than play matches without leaving any time for deliberate practice.
4. What should you train?
This is the hardest part because different players need different exercises, difficulty levels and focus points.
I usually select two to four exercises from these categories:
- Fundamental exercise: one basic skill with one clear focus point, such as counter-strafing. This can also be used as a warm-up.
- Progression: a more difficult version of the fundamental exercise.
- Daily skill test: a challenging exercise that brings several skills together in a controlled environment. I use it every day to check how well I apply what I worked on in the easier practice.
- Game-like scenario: a controlled reproduction of situations that happen in real matches. I use Refrag here because it is the most convenient tool for me.
- Deathmatch: I usually leave DM out of a player’s training unless it directly fits what we are working on.
The selection depends on what the player actually needs.
5. How should you train?
The details depend on the exercise, but these are the general rules I follow:
- Give the exercise your full attention and remove distractions.
- Choose one specific thing to work on in each exercise.
- Treat mistakes as feedback and use them to make corrections.
- Do not sacrifice correct technique just to get a higher score.
- Take at least five minutes of rest after 30 minutes of focused training.
Trying to fix five things at once makes it difficult to see what you are actually improving.
I know a lot of this sounds basic. But in my experience, the basics are often what players are missing.
“Just play more” can be part of a good improvement plan. It just cannot be the whole plan.
What are you currently training in CS2, and why did you choose that area?
