Hi guys,

I'm trying to start a Starcraft2 fitness site (http://titancombine.com), basically educating nerds on the basics of fitness, as well as a lot of the misinformation that's out there. We've received a lot of support on reddit (made the front page of starcraft reddit our first day of launch), and also our fair share of trolling from teamliquid.

One of my goals is to reach out to pro gamers in an effort for us to train them, but it hasn't been fruitful so far. I'd reach out to some prominent forum members of teamliquid, but I have no cred in their forums. Any suggestions on how to reach them / convince them to try our training?

In general, training costs several hundred dollars a month for weekly and sometimes even monthly checkups, and we're convinced that we can provide more value at a better price point. We just need some social proof, and I'm having trouble figuring out how to attain it.

I find email is almost always the most universally accepted method, if you truly provide value and you can find a succinct way to pitch it in an email that is ideal. Often times people who are publicly seen will provide clues as to how they like to be contacted, if someone is active on Twitter very often that is the best way. Phone cold calls are the worst IMO but other clever digital methods can be effective. Don't be afraid to be really clever, one time I got a blogger who I knew liked Google Analytics to notice me by naming my webpage http://example.com/hey-kevin-this-is-chris and linking it to his site so it showed up in his traffic report as a referring site. Not only did he send me an email but he Tweeted the page to his followers.

What services are you offering? I'm curious as to what you are pitching that offers better value than a good, local physical trainer or coach.

Sharing an interest in Starcraft is great, but I don't see why people would be choosing you over a professional if they had to pay for it. Are you just trying to get hits on your site and getting ad revenue eventually?

teamliquid? ;P

@cwar, I'm mostly trying to get them to let us train them and let us show results, or just interviewing the already fit ones about fitness (to encourage their fans to get into shape).

@bearz, Well for one, good physical trainers are hard to find. There is so much misinformation out there about diet and training that we feel that our advice will be more effective (and subsequently less mentally/physically taxing) than most PT advice. They'd also save the $$ that they would have to pay an online trainer, which number in the hundreds per month. Not worried about revenue right now, the main concern is just getting people to read our blog

@Primordial, I tried; and got mostly flamed and had the thread closed. I did get a couple PMs and emails saying it was a cool idea / helpful etc, but the mods seem to be pretty strict about that type of stuff (or maybe just one mod, because another one was inquisitive about it.. lol).

I think a big problem is that for many online communities now, there is a subsection that discusses health/fitness already. Just on 2+2, reddit, and teamliquid, there are already large groups of people advocating SS/Stronglifts which is pretty efficient already for people who are not in shape.

Getting in touch with some semi-famous pros might be the only way to get the publicity you want.

What do you think about the potential value add when we explain fitness terms with Starcraft analogies?

To be honest I find them unnecessary and cringe-worthy, but I already have a good knowledge base on working out and fitness.

The people 18+ don't really need the analogies to explain concepts to them, and I'm not sure what you stand to gain by using them. If you really want to incorporate starcraft, I'd rather see players from the communities being interviewed and talking about the effects of a better workout plan or something. Preferably korean since that's all most sc2'ers care about . The articles themselves though shouldn't contain more than a couple references imho.

I know you mentioned you just want to get people reading for now, but I think some of your content should be more streamlined to attract the audience you eventually want. If you want people to pay for your training services in the future, you want a 21+ crowd; if you just want ad revenue then you can add different content.

Offer them $20/hr. I received training from a top pro for 35/hr 6 months ago unless the starcraft economy has changed drastically you could probably get them for a lot less. (fwiw the 35/hr starcraft training >>>> 200/hr poker coaching)

would never imagine sc2 players to be a good market for pt.

a good workout begins with your diet, sort of like how you mine vespine and minerals for a good army. too much carbs (minerals) will only be enough to give you unupgraded lings. and that's not pro.


edit**
not meant to be condescending. just having fun with the hypothetical approach in my head

If there really is an emerging market for nerds/gamers to get in shape, maybe a gym-internet cafe duo would actually work near an urban place. Kind of copying the Planet Fitness approach of targeting fatties/non-hardcore people, but instead targeting younger, skinny-fat tech savvy people.

Considering the demographics, you're drawing almost dead with this project.

pls explain

I'm guessing the demographic of 16-30ish fairly savvy tech folk will be able to find a ton of information done by more technical and reputable than the training regiment you are offering. And this information is more or less free on the internet. Starting strength + a few rudimentary articles on nutrition is enough to get almost everyone in good shape at a good pace, and those two things can be found for free just on this H+F FAQ.

I see two major problems:

1. To get lazy people off the computer and doing something physical. I don't see a solution to this problem that a random stranger can help out with. It usually takes direct contact and first hand experience to motivate someone to hit the gym.

2. To stick with your site after the preliminary viewing. While your site is interesting, there isn't enough information to make it a primary source for either starcraft or fitness. I would personally visit a starcraft site for starcraft things, and a fitness site for fitness, not a hybrid that gives me a bit of each. This problem might be solved if you can think of some way to let people interact with each other (including a pro in some way).

Just my 2 cents.

When we say "pro" are we just talking about the best players or those that do it for a living?

Also, what kind of salary rate can a diamond 1v1 player get? Do I have to be top 200 to get paid?

Just wondering if there's any real money to be made.