My table tennis doesn't seem to be improving.

If you're used to the speed of mantra u may very much enjoy graduating to tenergy05

Would be good you upload a footage about you performing a match, then you can receive more certain advices

Enviado desde mi Moto G (4) mediante Tapatalk

It's probably your technique more than the rubber but that is a demanding rubber.

Try pairing down to a Donic Barracuda, Vega Pro or Fastarc G1. They have high throw, small catapult and fantastic control.

I agree that you maybe need to brush the ball more with harder rubber since you do not get so much help from the sponge. I think maybe you can try to loop more upwards to counter the low arc, instead of brushing so much. And if you have to closed racket angle you also need to brush alot for the ball to go over, maybe you can try to open the angle a little more.

I do not agree that with the above that you should try tenergy 05. That is also pretty hard. If you are not very safe with the backhand, still developing it and feel that the arc is to low and the rubber is hard to control i think you should try a rubber with softer sponge. A softer sponge will help you much more so you proably do not need to brush as much so you will become more safe and get a higher arc. But i think you will get a little less speed.

If you like Manta you could try Mantra M or Mantra S.

I agree with Lula, first Mantra M or S, as you used to Mantra, your blade already give you plenty control. Maybe you can slow down to mantra M both sides and put thinner one at BH, I think it would be the safest choice for a safe "downgrade" right now! If you feel that your table tennis still won't improve, FruitLoop gave some very nice controlled rubbers!

Lula said:

I do not agree that with the above that you should try tenergy 05. That is also pretty hard. If you are not very safe with the backhand, still developing it and feel that the arc is to low and the rubber is hard to control i think you should try a rubber with softer sponge. A softer sponge will help you much more so you proably do not need to brush as much so you will become more safe and get a higher arc. But i think you will get a little less speed.

If you like Manta you could try Mantra M or Mantra S.

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That isn't correct. T05 is softer sponged than even Mantra M, or about the same, but much more emphasis on spin rather than speed, and you can't really beat 05 for spin and arc at the moment. It is anything but a low arc rubber.
This while mantra is a very direct speedy rubber. Mantra M won't give him arc. T05 will give him the arc and safety he's looking for, I am sure. If he can control it.
I'm not assuming a-priori that he's an absolute beginner who needs a soft rubber and can't handle a good rubber, since he's been playing with Mantra H which is a very hard rubber to play. I'm not sure why you would.

Lightzy said:

That isn't correct. T05 is softer sponged than even Mantra M, or about the same, but much more emphasis on spin rather than speed, and you can't really beat 05 for spin and arc at the moment. It is anything but a low arc rubber.
This while mantra is a very direct speedy rubber. Mantra M won't give him arc. T05 will give him the arc and safety he's looking for, I am sure. If he can control it.
I'm not assuming a-priori that he's an absolute beginner who needs a soft rubber and can't handle a good rubber, since he's been playing with Mantra H which is a very hard rubber to play. I'm not sure why you would.

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Okay, maybe you are correct! i am not sure about the hardness. But like you say, "if he can control it". I think you are correct there. I thought Tenergy was very fast, spinny and therefore hard to control. I can imagine that if he have problem with Mantra H, he also might struggle with tenergy05.

Maybe he can try Mantra S.

Lula said:

Okay, maybe you are correct! i am not sure about the hardness. But like you say, "if he can control it". I think you are correct there. I thought Tenergy was very fast, spinny and therefore hard to control. I can imagine that if he have problem with Mantra H, he also might struggle with tenergy05.

Maybe he can try Mantra S.

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I totally agree that an early developing player won't be able to handle either of those rubbers. That's for sure.

GusShnaps said:

I wanted to try the Fastarc G-1, but I don't think it's sold here in Brazil. I'll probably try Mantra S or M for now. Which one should I choose?

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I would go to M first, I think S would be too soft, as your blade is already flexy and soft. I think it's the safest choice.

if you don't improve its because you don't train properly.

Ask yourself how you spend your time in your session (and outside). progress is not proportional to the time spent at the club. Work also on your overall condition. Make a plan, and focus on each and every ball. Play all of them with a purpose ! Are you playing with the right partners and likely minded partners ?

I think just 1 hour with a professional coach is a better investment than a new blade or new rubber.

Regarding yourBH, i don't know about the mantra, but someone says its a hard rubber. I play with one of the hardest rubbers on BH (SpinArt). Its also very easy for blocking and very good for serving. but against long pushes and backspin its easy to miss if you don't brush the ball correctly, especially with a fast blade. I recently changed [last december] my blade from Korbel to Acoustic Carbon Inner which is a tad faster, and i had a lot of problems on my BH. As soon as I'm a little late or out of position on BH side, its a (over) miss because the blade is too fast, i miss contact and I end up knocking the ball with no spin.

Now I'm much more used to it and the solution for me was:
(1) training !!!! a lot of multiball and drill. Get quickly in position, use your legs, have a good stance, bend your legs, upper body always bent forward. Relax !!! RELAX !!! Relax !!

if you are at the table, you should shorten your stroke. do NOT try to hit the ball at the top of the bounce !
Instead hit it always at your sweet point, which is like 20-30 cms in front of your belly. Depending on the incoming ball, it could be at the top of the bounce, just after the bounce on a very long ball, of in descending phase for a short and slower ball [then WAIT for it and lower your body even more as you will hit a lower ball]


(2) I totally changed my grip. With the Korbel, i used to have a firmer BH grip, and use the wrist a lot. that just doesn't work with the ACI. I was lost for a few weeks on the BH side but on the FH side no problem at all to adapt. Then my friend gave me this piece of advice: imagine you're doing a FH with your BH !!! of course the technique is different, but try to have the SAME FEELING !!! and that was it ! i am trying to be much more relaxed now during the swing and just firm up a bit at impact. I use less wrist. I don't have the same trajectories as before when often my ball had more spin and a shorter bounce but its more secure and gives me also much better power.
Then the other day I forgot my new blade and played with the Korbel again [rubbers are the same] but with the NEW technique, and i had much better results with the Korbel than before, and very similar to the ACI

The point of all this is to say, its not so much a matter of equipment but about having the right technique. I was using a technique with much more limitations before changing equipment. Changing equipment FORCED me to change the technique and adopt a better one.

Anyway if you have a good FH, my advice is to try your BH rubber on your FH, remember the feeling and try to have the same feeling on the BH side, and change your grip to do so.

PS I still have problems on my BH, but I improved a lot on it, and now I have identified the problem. Much easier to train when you know WHAT to practice

I'm not trying to troll here but I'm telling you, it's not the equipment for why you're not improving.

The best player at our club hit with my setup (grand total costs roughly $80 ish for blade & rubbers) and it was CLEAR he could play pretty much the same as his normal $200+ setup. It's technique man. Not your rubbers.

Reasons why someone could not be improving: (there are so many)
- Not enough time put in
- Perhaps poor physical fitness
- Perhaps the quality of training partners
- No professional coaching available.
- Perhaps only training the stuff you like to do but not the things you don't particularly care for (ex: short game practice. service practice, etc). So you're not really improving your weaknesses.
- Also it's possible you've just hit a plateau. How long have you been in this state? Plateaus happen. You just keep pushing and sooner or later you'll break through.

But best thing you can do is record yourself. Post it here. You'll almost assuredly find that maybe your footwork needs help. maybe your stroke technique needs help. etc. But it's unlikely you'll post that and people will say, "You're doing perfect. It's your rubbers."

I always find it amusing when people give a lot of good advice to someone who they have never seen play and whose standard they do not know.

I find it amusing because I used to be one of those players who used to receive and give advice. The difference was that I was also a player who played many tournaments all over the East coast of the US and who got to meet or see some of the players who either I gave advice or who were giving me advice. And as I got better, I could see how little I knew and how misguided I was. A top 100/200 player in England was once taking advice on rubber from me without ever having see how I play (I was USATT 1800 then with no real forehand). I was taking technical advice from a player on what was important when looping when I realized later after watching him that he didn't know how to loop.

People, please if someone has never posted video of their play or given evidence of their playing level ( say league level in their nation, rating/ranking), treat all these posts asking for advice and also the advice you collect skeptically.

Usually, anyone playing at a level that is high enough for these issues to make a big difference has a much better way of asking the questions and a better pool of people to pose the questions to. But please post your response, I may get lucky and learn something...

We should pin your answer @suds79

I think sometimes you can give certain advice. Like if a guy is even asking these questions he's not very advanced a player and he's probably using too advanced equipment. I think that's what I try to do mostly.

Takkyu_wa_inochi said:

We should pin your answer @suds79

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And perhaps as important, if not even more so, the post from NextLevel that followed.

Yeh I was assuming indeed some kind of level to OP. But my answer was rather generic and not so much detailed
I hope it will help him or other readers
It is indeed better if he posted some videos of himself