Originally Posted by GuitarBizarre

eSports is a collective term for videogames played professionally in a tournament format. Street fighter, Starcraft, Soul Calibur, Counterstrike, that kind of thing.

In terms of sheer physical exertion the impact in eSports is minimal, but the demands on skill, practice, and dexterity can be astronomical. In a professional Starcraft match players will frequently be putting in new commands at a rate of 6-800 per minute. Professional level street fighter relies on practice and dexterity sufficient to respond to stimuli as precise as 14-17ms and choose the correct action. Counterstrike players such as Heaton and Fatal1ty take the idea of precision control to an utterly absurd level and couple that with map knowledge and tactics.

None of those things demand large muscles or excellent body tone, but keeping that sort of effort up for the duration of a match is tremendously strenuous and legitimately exhausting. And that's when one match might take 45 minutes for a long game. These players are capable of doing this in practice sessions for upwards of 12 hours a day, approaching 16 in some cases.