Month: April 2016

Welcome to Bear’s Cave of Wonders!

Greetings! My name is Bassem [Bear] Dahdouh! 

For those wondering how to contact me for business inquiries, feel free to contact via

Here’s my bio:

Bassem [Bear] Dahdouh has been involved in competitive gaming for nearly his entire life, starting at the grassroots level at an early age in the Middle East where he learned about fighting games at the arcade and helped organize tournaments for his friends. Today, with a passion for video games as strong as ever, Bear is the Esports Manager at Esports Arena Las Vegas where he oversees programming at the first dedicated esports venue on the Las Vegas Strip and the flagship location of Allied Esports’ global network of properties.

Over the last five-plus years, Bear has been at the forefront of the competitive esports events industry, organizing everything from local 20-person tournaments in Las Vegas to the world-renowned Evolution Championship Series (Evo), where he served as Tournament Director, featuring a pool of more than 10,000 competitors.

Bear gained invaluable experience across a variety of games and genres, including Fortnite, PUBG, Hearthstone, League of Legends and Overwatch, while working for the esports platform smash.gg. He has also made a name for himself in the fighting game community as Tournament Director for Genesis (largest Super Smash Bros. winter major), CEO (Community Effort Orlando), COMBO BREAKER, DreamHack, GameTyrant, and a number of other regional and national esports events.

Advertisement

Bear’s Building Blocks: Staying Healthy as a Traveling Esports Athlete

BearUNLV Workout Building Blocks

Bear’s Building Blocks: Staying Healthy as a Traveling Esports Athlete

Disclaimer: Always consult a medical professional before starting a new diet & exercise regime.

I used to be a personal trainer in Saudi Arabia, but this is a modified version of my workout regime so that any traveling esports professional can stay healthy.

General Tips:
+ Drink plenty of water; you should be drinking a cup at every meal and every few hours. Sip throughout the day. You don’t need to be that guy/gal with a gallon; just ensure you’re always hydrated.

+ Take the stairs instead of using an elevator or escalator. Always remember that the little movements you do and don’t do will determine how your body performs.

+ When you wake up, fully stretch your body and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat a few times to get your blood flowing. Try a yoga sequence of Mountain to Downward Dog to Plank to Cobra to Mountain; repeat that for 10 minutes, go slow and exaggerate your stretches to maximize blood flow & workout.

+ Never go longer than 3 hours without eating something; meal or a snack. The more frequent you eat; the more engaged and activated your metabolism kicks in.

+ Track your pedometer on your phone; go for walking more than 10,000 steps a day. Try to go out of your way to walk while maybe say texting or tweeting; you’ll be surprised on how much you walk of you safely tweet (like in your house or around a room; basically pacing back & forth)

Food:
At home
+ Your main focus should be the following:
Protein > Fats > Carbs; your main goal is to ensure you are eating plenty of dense protein items, healthy fats, and complex carbs

+ Groceries List:
Eggs, skim milk, Greek yogurt, whole grains, veggies, fruits, nuts, chicken breast, turkey meat (low sodium), dark green leafy veggies, protein bars (20 grams of protein minimum; make sure they are about 200 to 300 calories each! no more than that!)

Recommended Protein Bars: Quest Nutrition http://amzn.to/25Teu6T

Daily Food Routine

1st meal aka breakfast
eggs, whole grains, fruit; do not skip this meal!
Think: hearty carbs and protein

2nd meal aka snack #1
Choice of:
Greek Yogurt or handful of nuts (about a cup) like walnuts, almonds, or a nut mix (make sure they are dry roasted) or a protein bar
Think: I don’t want to starve this morning and I want a healthy snack.

3rd meal aka lunch
veggies, chicken, whole grains, and fruit.
Think: protein packed whole grain sandwich; skip the dressing!

4th meal aka Snack #2
Choice of:
Greek Yogurt or handful of nuts (about a cup) like walnuts, almonds, or a nut mix (make sure they are dry roasted) or a protein bar
Think: I don’t want to starve this afternoon but I want a healthy snack.

5th meal aka Dinner
Go for dark leafy greens and other vegetables, lean meats or fish
Think: Steamed meat + vegetables

6th meal aka Snack #3
Choice of:
Greek Yogurt or handful of nuts (about a cup) like walnuts, almonds, or a nut mix (make sure they are dry roasted) or a protein bar
Think: I don’t want to starve the night but I want a healthy snack.
Workouts:
If you don’t have a gym or time to go to one, here is what I recommend at home:

20- Minute Circuit (2 or 3 times a week)
Make sure you do this as a circuit, and you should rest a few minutes between each. After each circuit, rest 2 minutes then you should repeat it 4 times.

EXERCISE REPS
Bodyweight Squat 30
Incline Push-Up* 20
Burpees 20
Walking Lunge 20 total (10 per leg)
Standard Push-Up 20
Crunch & Leg Lifts 25 each (50 total)

*Feet up on a chair or couch.

You ideally want to combine this with a gym somehow where you can workout your 3 core movements: push, pulls, and legs

Meaning all you need to do when you go to the gym is alternate each day of Push (any machine where you push away from your body), Pull (any machine where you pull weight towards your body), and Legs (any machine that focuses on legs).

As for what machines and reps? I’ll list them below:

Push:
Bench Press 4 sets of 15 reps
Shoulder Press 4 sets of 15 reps
Dips 4 sets of 10 reps
Push-ups 3 sets of 20+ reps (to exhaustion)

Pull:
Lateral Pulldown (wide) 4 sets of 15 reps
Seated Row 4 sets of 15 reps
Lateral Pulldown (narrow) 4 sets of 15 reps
Pullup 3 sets of 10+ reps (to exhaustion)

Legs:
Leg Press 4 sets of 15 reps
Seated Leg Push 4 sets of 15 reps
Wall Sit 4 sets of 1 minute
Burpees 3 sets of 20+ (to exhaustion)

This may not be the most full proof plan for staying healthy but it’s important to just have a healthy mindset & ensure you strive to find whatever works for you.

Thank you for reading and lots of love & luck from Vegas.

Best,

Bear

Tournament Burnout & Why It’s Okay to Find Your Pace

sleepy-bear

I may not be the Smash Bros illuminati elite, but I definitely notice the difference between the amount of tournaments in the Smash Bros community. The growth has been extraordinary. I remember back before Smash Bros went wild I begged for tournaments & the only ones that were going on were the ones I hosted. Granted this was early 2000s in Saudi Arabia in Aramco (an American community in Dhahran), it had that grassroots feel, well there wasn’t any grass…so more like sand box beginnings.

Anyways, fast forward past my move to the USA and after my hiatus from being involved in the Smash Bros community and more importantly the years since 2014. When I finally had time to breathe and look into the Smash Bros community again while at UNLV (University of Nevada Las Vegas), I got the Smash Bros bug to get back involved into the community. I had no idea I’d be where I am today and honestly appreciate & cherish each day as some people in the Smash 4 community look up to me, which I’m a short guy so I appreciate it.

More importantly to get to the point of this post, tournament burnout is apparent and I see people projecting their emotions through their performance at tournaments & their social media interactions. Most professional sports organizations have an off season & that’s how we grew up. NFL takes a few months off between playoffs & Spring, NBA takes the summer off, and MLB has winter to hibernate. Competitive Smash Bros does not have an off season. For professionals who are in it to win every big prize they can, currently there is almost 2 large tournaments a month and much more if you factor in games a player competes in, invitationals, EXPOs, conventions, and local tournaments.

Before I ramble on too much, I just wanted to say I’m truly happy to see so much activity in the competitive Smash Bros community, but also that it is perfectly fine to go at your own pace. Also your pace is not the same as someone else’s pace, do what you feel is right and remember to put your priorities first. If you believe that going to only one national a month is enough while you practice and attend locals to test your might, that’s completely fine and anyone giving you crap has no idea how you feel and forgot that person.

You are the most important person to worry about in your competitive endeavours, and it’s important to remember to find your own pace.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I love you buddy. Don’t fret about making it to everything. Make it to what you feel would be best for you.

Lots of love & luck from Vegas,
Bear

🐻❤