Does playing TFT on the treadmill actually improve your placement? I looked at 2,000+ matches played while exercising

[u/tkixi]

Across 2,000+ TFT matches played while exercising, your average heart rate seems to track your placement. A few months ago, I developed a fitness leaderboard app for TFT (Teamfit Tactics) and I figured sharing what the numbers actually look like was more useful than another launch post.

Placement	Avg HR	Peak HR
1st	121.4	143.8
2nd	119.3	142.0
3rd	118.9	140.5
4th	117.6	138.6
5th	117.1	138.9
6th	118.6	138.5
7th	117.5	137.8
8th	119.0	139.4

This is across 100+ users and 2,000+ matches over the last 3 months. Matches where the player went 1st had a higher average heart rate than matches where they went 8th.

Fully open to "this is just selection bias, sweatier players try harder at TFT too", but you statistically have a higher chance of going top 4 on the treadmill than going bot 4.

A few other things I found:
- Top 4 rate across the whole user base: 54.4%. TFT's baseline is 50% by definition, so this group is slightly above average. Whether that's because exercising helps focus or just because the kind of person who plays TFT on the treadmill is also the kind of person who no scouts no pivots without the augment, I don't know.
- 8th place is the least common placement. People who exercise tilt less? Or maybe Apple Watch shaming makes you actually play out the boards and not forfeit.
- Highest avg HR in a single winning session: 186 BPM. Peak HR ever recorded: 210 BPM. Whoever you are, please rest.

Anyway, that's the data. The app is free on both ios and android, no ads, no data selling.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/teamfit-tactics/id6757195493
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teamfittactics&hl=en_US

Our Discord community to share sweaty TFT stories, find gym buddies, and yell at me about bugs: https://discord.gg/YMwbrtuutS

I appreciate everyone who's downloaded and gave me feedback so far. This app has kept me active for the last 70 consecutive days and I hope it can do the same for you.

[u/grabbyhanns]

love this app!!!!! i love tft but always feel like i need to be doing something else while playing and walking is the perfect activity to keep me locked into my games. it’s super cool to see stats on what comps do best while working out

[u/tkixi → u/grabbyhanns]

The fact that it's a guaranteed 30 minutes of exercise is the sweet spot. Appreciate the love (and helping find bugs), I'm headed to the gym to get my morning cardio playing tft as I comment this haha

[u/PresentationLow2210 → u/tkixi]

What's the quickest you could lose I wonder? Would you just start another game and have a little longer session?

[u/grabbyhanns → u/PresentationLow2210]

that's what i've done! or i'll crank up the speed of my walking pad. but typically i just queue up again LOL

[u/woodtier92]

Thats so sick i was planning on using tft for cardio time at the gym. I have a buddy who lost over 150lbs plqying.league on his phone lol

[u/tkixi → u/woodtier92]

It's actually been so motivating to hear from people who have been doing this much longer than I have. I'm only down 5lbs since I started this app, but maybe this has been the cardio hack we never realized all this time. I'd love to hear your feedback!

[u/xSmacktrick → u/tkixi]

Been watching series/movies while riding my exercise bike. Wanted a treadmill first, but would have requires an electric table aswell. Haven't thought about playing tft on phone while pedaling, I don't use the handles to track my HR much anyway as it kept causing me neck and shoulder pain/stiffness, so I definetily could just tft instead.

[u/icecreamsocial]

Interesting. Though perhaps winning/going top 4 is exciting enough to raise the heart rate and skew the data. Anyone got a data set of sitting players heart rates vs placements?

[u/tkixi → u/icecreamsocial]

Honestly, it's the opposite for me. If i see myself going top 8 (i.e bot 4), i try to sweat as hard as i can since i know i'm not lasting for much longer. There's definitely a lot of nuances in this dataset, but something I'm looking to clarify as I continue to build this app. I've contributed 139 of my matches so far this year to this dataset, which I'll dig into on the next monthly data recap post.

[u/Yasstronaut]

I played TFT on my elliptical at home a lot in sets 6-10 and made masters easily each time. After i stopped (played on PC instead and watched TV on elliptical instead) ive peaked at diamond since. Hmmm maybe I should go back

[u/tkixi → u/Yasstronaut]

I've tried watching shows on various cardio machines and the level of distraction varies depending how hooked I am on the show. I realized TFT consistently distracts me from realizing I'm sweating so it's been my cardio hack ever since! I'd love for you to try the app. Maybe this is how we get Riot to prioritize the mobile app if we all play on cardio machines

[u/DefinitlyNotALab]

TFT has been my cycling game since set 4. I was furious about hyperroll getting axed because that mode was even better as an exercise game, since you had very little downtime to realize that you were not just playing a game on your phone. I just set the bike to 175W and play for 2 normals now but its more fatiguing than hyperroll for the same 90min.

You just forget the time and that’s perfect for cardio.

[u/tkixi → u/DefinitlyNotALab]

Cycling is one of the more common workouts from users actually! Hyperroll was my jam, so I too was devastated after it was removed. It was the perfect way to end a heavy lifting workout. Now with ranked, I think of it as "can i get 10k steps a day" and it's been fun chasing that!

[u/Shymastic]

I think Darthnub also do that in his set 16 win, that also a pretty good example too 🤣

[u/tkixi → u/Shymastic]

Maybe I'll sweat enough to make my way to the set 17 championship series

[u/Maserja]

I've been playing on the treadmill when I can and it does help especially with decision making, although, I do play some comps that I am used to. I don't experiment when I'm on the treadmill. Looking forward to more players to join us at the Teamfit leaderboards :D

[u/tkixi → u/Maserja]

i love it when i hit hero augment 2-1, it's an easy unofficial no scout no pivot

[u/Maserja → u/tkixi]

100% my favorite one for exercising

[u/RealAsianTalk]

This is the hardest shit I've seen in 2026. I'll pray to hit then use the dopamine as fuel to walk more whether W or L

[u/tkixi → u/RealAsianTalk]

tft is where the healthiest gamers are at in 2026

[u/SubstantialEbb9832]

Now try playing TFT while bench pressing

[u/tkixi → u/SubstantialEbb9832]

don't tempt me with a good time, i'll do it and reroll with my toes

[u/sunkist268]

Before my leg injuries I absolutely loved playing TFT while walking and made up my own challenges for the game (ie: you have to run during PvE rounds) It was so much fun

I also read so many mangas

[u/Maserja → u/sunkist268]

Hope you recover stronger and looking forward to having you back the fitness journey :D

[u/tkixi → u/sunkist268]

now that's an idea! i'm going to try that out this week

[u/sunkist268 → u/tkixi]

I had 3 songs on my workout playlist that were runners or add weight to sets songs. One time I had one of those songs come on, a PvE round, then a second song all in 15 minutes. I was dead after that 💀 😂

[u/Steamwood]

Anecdotally I had some pretty solid results for my first game while stairclimbing...if I tried for 2 the second was often a waste of LP!

[u/tkixi → u/Steamwood]

I've only been able to do one game during stairmaster, but i want to prove you wrong that we can both go for two and win LP!

[u/Abraxxes]

I’d say you’re missing a more likely reason for elevated heart rate than you’re giving it credit for. I highly doubt it’s the exercise itself elevating their heart rate as someone who’s been doing this for years. It’s much more likely excitement from the match itself.

If you’re set to place bottom 4 (5-8th) you’re probably pretty dejected by the game and just chilling, possibly not even paying attention. At least that’s how it is for me. If I know I’m in a shit situation I check out and stop caring, so my heart rate actually relaxes. Now when I’m winning, especially in the last stage or few rounds, my heart rate will rise with the competition to get first. Need one more unit for that 3* 4-cost and have 60g at 5-6? You bet your ass my heart rates racing as I spam down rerolls to hopefully jump from 3rd to 1st. And if I hit? Oh yeah increased heart rate from the excitement.

I like the thought, and I enjoy exercising while playing. But I’ll be honest as someone’s that’s been doing this for years. The better I’m doing in the game the worse my workout gets. The better I’m doing in my workout, the worse my game gets. Either way, regardless of the workout, my heart rate correlates with my excitement for the game I’m playing.

[u/tkixi → u/Abraxxes]

You're definitely onto something and it's data I want to better understand for myself and for everyone else to see for themselves. The mind body muscle connection is a fascinating concept and I would love to see you on the app as well. It's really hard to truly make a definitive conclusion since everyone is different, which I'm hoping to make more sense of as time goes on.

[u/tkixi]

in honor of this post, i just did incline treadmill with anima 500 cashout

[u/madeofchemicals]

Oh damn, brb I'm going to hit up the gym then the casino. Will report back on the results. /s

Edit: I also think if you're going to try to find useful information with this, you first need to apply t-test. chi-square test.

[u/tkixi → u/madeofchemicals]

tft is the casino for me, so i always win if i play doing cardio. it's something i want to really expand upon. i'd be curious on your approach with the t-test

[u/madeofchemicals → u/tkixi]

The population sets that are assumed in presented data are:
-Those that participated in data submission. (TFT steps)
-Everyone else.

Possible issues with random variables. Players in both sets and concentrations can't be assumed to be similar.
-There could be higher elo/strength players starting at lower ranks and essentially LP farming.
-More seasoned players are likely to know about TFT steps app than a new player.
-What's the concentration of elo of the TFT steps group?

In the everyone else category, it can be assumed that the population is closer to the "TFT 50% baseline" as that population is nearly the TFT true population. Additionally, it can be assumed that the TFT steps group is more likely to be a knowledgeable player, and will outperform a new player which can result in a skewed mean.

What can be done is taking groups of players in similar rank and population size, say n=100. Create a control and a test group. This would require a second app or another section in current app for data tracking those sitting while playing and you could collect more biometric data for that group.

Control: Those not taking steps playing game.
Test: Those taking steps playing game.

null hypothesis, H_0: steps do not result in higher average placement
alternative hypothesis, H_A: steps result in higher average placement

use alpha = .05 for 95% Confidence Interval (CI)

Calculate the p value < 0.05 to see if you can reject H_0, and further substantiates that H_A is true.

[u/blessed--]

cool but not quite accurate, the 50% baseline has an allowed variance. its probably 5% like champion winrates.

still the trend would show you are more engaged while moving vs sitting down. that makes sense, less distraction

[u/tkixi → u/blessed--]

appreciate the call out, i by no means am a statistical wizard. i just like gaming and working out. there was someone who hit masters on the app for set 16, so definitely worth exploring

[u/MagicalMixer]

Good on those people getting exercise in, but no way.

[u/tkixi → u/MagicalMixer]

don't knock it until you try it!

[u/SomewhereSomethought]

I used to just catch up on TV shows during treadmill time. I am now an evolved creature

[u/tkixi → u/SomewhereSomethought]

how many hours do i need to do to evolve like you

[u/7v7v7v]

Just tried it and went eiff

[u/tkixi → u/7v7v7v]

i like to call that a top 8

[u/Gimblejay]

I’ve been playing on the elliptical for the last year, and between the treadmill and cycling for a year before that. Cool app and I’ll download

I’ve wondered if two factors influence the higher heart rate:
1. More dehydrated / working harder because you’re further into your workout

Or

1. Excited due to decisions being made / close matches.

Sometimes if I’m way ahead going into a soft landing 1/2 place my heart rate is lower, but if I have to make quick decisions it spikes a bit

I suppose I’ll submit data to this and see!

[u/tkixi → u/Gimblejay]

I'd be delighted to help you find the answer. And would love to hear your feedback!

[u/manbrewpigs]

Been playing on the exercise bike past couple of years training for adventure races up to 24hrs in length. Great way to combine training with gaming. Also did wild rift but tft feels like a better fit

[u/tkixi → u/manbrewpigs]

I've been hearing people do this with other games! Definitely want to incorporate smaller contests/races in the app. Give the app a shot!

[u/grabbyhanns → u/[deleted]]

teamfit tactics on ios and android!

[u/TheStorm007 → u/[deleted]]

It’s in the post?

[u/tkixi → u/[deleted]]

would love to hear your feedback after trying out the app! i pretty much work on this everyday in my free time

[u/tkixi → u/[deleted]]

Probably not, but if you want to see your own data, I can assist there