What does the 60-second endurance test reveal that a short CPS test cannot?
Five and ten second CPS bursts measure peak twitch capacity, not sustained output — which is what actually matters in long Minecraft PvP rounds, sustained dragclick scenarios, or any task that needs consistency. The 60-second marathon charts CPS in every 1-second window so fatigue, switch warm-up, and pacing strategy all become visible. The fatigue ratio (last-10s average divided by first-10s average) is the headline number; trained clickers hold above 0.85, untrained finger muscles drop below 0.6.
What is a strong sustained CPS over 60 seconds?
For normal single-finger clicking, 5–6 CPS sustained is a strong office-user result and 8 CPS is athletic. Jitter clickers sustain 9–11 CPS for the full minute, butterfly clickers 11–14 CPS. Drag clicking can start above 25 CPS but typically collapses past 20 seconds as the finger tires. The peak number from /mouse/cps is almost always 30–50 percent higher than the sustained 60-second average, which is why both tests serve different purposes.
Why does my rate spike and then drop hard around the 20-second mark?
Two physiological phases. The first 10–15 seconds run on stored ATP in the forearm flexors, producing peak speed with no perceived fatigue. ATP depletes and lactate begins to accumulate around 20 seconds, causing the well-documented wall many testers hit. Past 40 seconds the curve usually plateaus at a lower steady state as slower oxidative fibres take over. The plotted CPS-per-second chart shows this pattern clearly; if it does not appear, you paced yourself rather than testing true peak endurance.
Does clicking style change the fatigue curve?
Strongly. Drag clicking has the steepest decay because it depends on a precise glide that fails as the fingertip tires. Butterfly clicking decays moderately — alternating fingers spreads the load. Jitter clicking, paradoxically, holds steady once the tremor frequency is engaged, but the recovery cost is highest and frequent jitter sessions cause tendon strain. Standard single-finger clicking has the shallowest decay and the lowest peak. The tool auto-detects style from the inter-click interval distribution.
Will a chattering mouse inflate my sustained CPS?
Yes, and the test flags it. Sub-25 ms intervals are marked as outliers because they are below the human cadence floor. If your sustained average looks suspiciously high (above 20 CPS on a normal click style), the per-interval histogram will show a tall spike under 25 ms — that is the switch double-firing, not your finger. Run /mouse/double-click for a focused chatter diagnosis. Tournament-grade endurance numbers should use a mouse that passes that test first.
Is rapid clicking bad for my hand?
Brief sessions are fine for most people, but sustained jitter clicking and drag clicking apply repetitive load to the extensor tendons and have been linked to RSI, tennis elbow, and trigger finger in heavy practitioners. The American Society for Surgery of the Hand recommends frequent breaks during repetitive fine-motor activity. Treat 60-second endurance runs as occasional benchmarks, not daily training. If you feel sharp pain in the forearm or numbness in the thumb during a run, stop immediately.