This is probably no new news to most people here, but I think I have come across a reason why many people are lagging behind stamina wise and other people are rocketing above and beyond the 13, 14, and even 15 range.

Logically, to conserve stamina you must play minimally. You must hit the very edge of the sensors with the respective edge of your foot while lifting it as few millimeters above the pad as possible between steps. Don't actually jump for "jumps" and cheat every hand you can (there are a few where that isn't much a viable option) because bending down and snapping back up takes a stamina toll. Mines may come as a case by case basis, but I've found that if push comes to shove, stepping in the middle as usually better than awkwardly raising one leg and keeping it there for a bit and ALWAYS better than jumping.

Also, everyone knows that diet and exercise play a massive factor in stamina so even if your form is perfect, your muscle mass, heart rate, and frankly overall weight are going to hinder you if you're not in shape. There are many guides to getting in good physical shape (and frankly dance games are great for cardio so there ya go) but I think a lot of people forget to properly hydrate or just plain eat better (or less in certain cases).

But that's not why I'm here. I've found something that makes perfect sense but I don't think gets a lot of attention. It is the concept of breaking inertia. When standing still on your pad, your feet are more or less objects at rest, and you quickly want them to become furious flying forces of fast! Well, that obviously takes a lot of energy, in fact, I would argue that takes more energy than already moving your foot inside of a stream (per step, not in total obviously).

I've found that I tend to give the excuse that I have no stamina, I'm out of shape, I'm out of practice, or just generally that I'm getting too old for this. I used to be able to do a lot better, then took a hiatus, and now I struggle with things that I used to FA quite easily.

However, out of shits and giggles, I just tried Phoning to Mercury. It's a 13 with a fair amount of burst speed in it and one solid length (admittedly drilly) 24th run at 132. That's faster than the 16th streams in Monolith Expert Doubles!

Well, I passed it. It wasn't exactly a sightread because I've done it a dozen times on Stepmania, but the first time I belly up to try it on pad I pass it, when 11's and 12's are very challenging to me at the moment.

I have a theory that it's due to the concept of inertia. My form, which I'm admitting is not perfect at all, assumes I'm doing a difficult and more importantly relentless song. Apparently I SUCK at breaks. I'm atrocious at breaks. I stand and press my considerable weight (not being emo, I'm just one of the bigger dance players you'll find) own on my feet, and then I have to break inertia. I find I'm not resting in sections without any notes, literally no notes, but I'm still draining energy.

This seems crazy, but have you every been told not to stand still after you go out for a run or jog? I think the same reasoning applies. When I do a challenging and tiring set at DDR/ITG/PiU, I either sit or pace, and honestly, I usually pace a bit before I stand. I think this the reason why I'm the only person I know that can pass singles and doubles regularly at the same difficulty tiers. (When I'm struggling with 12's on single, I'm also on 12's in double). Doubles FORCES me not to stand. Even with sections with no notes, the chart OFTEN has the next note on a different part of the double pad then I'm currently standing forcing me to move. Singles is very stand still to me, but apparently, that factor gets eliminated in the higher difficulties such as when I tried Phoning to Mercury just now.

I would love to do more research on this theory, and it might be due to my 250lb body that I'm working with (I only dropped that because I think it's an important factor to the phenomenon I'm talking about), but I currently think standing perfectly still in breaks might actually hamper you as it is not a good way to regain stamina. Even a simple switching mass from one leg to another during these sections might be a lot better in the long run, because after all, don't you naturally want to switch weight when standing in a line for an hour? (hello disneyland)