NEW Player (2 months) Looking for help on my BH and FH form

D4Y

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D4Y

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watch?v=xdVDWb9zJWs&feature=youtu.be

The video above is a link to my FH and BH strokes as of now, i have currently only been playing for 2 months, but since the closest table tennis club happens to be 2 hours away, i have turned to table tennis daily community to see if you guys could give ANY tips, tricks, info etc, that would be AMAZING, in this video i'm currently using a crappy $40 pre-built stiga blade from a sports store, but i have a Joola Rossi Emotion and DHS hurricane Neo 3 rubbers on both the BH and FH in the mail.

side note, sorry about the way the video link is displayed Table Tennis Daily wont let me post links unless i've posted 5 times (i just joined today) but if you would like to view it, just open youtube, copy the above portion, and past right behind the "/" on youtube :)

Thanks in advance Table Tennis Daily community!
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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You got a robot... good and bad points about using that right now.

If you practice by yourself and there is no one to tell you what to correct, then all you practice and ingrain is doing it all wrong, which makes it real hard to undo later.

When you know what you are doing on a stroke or footwork sequence, then a robot is a big help for practice as it is reliable when you have no partner.

Right now what I can say is it would help you to first to robot multiball (if you are by yourself and you gotta practice) to single location and work on getting yourself into position, get your swing timing better, learn to use your whole body better, learn to crouch lower better, and learn to hit the ball in your effective strike zone better.

Right now, you are all over the place in these aspects, but that is a given for a new player. Some players try for years and do not get very good at any of that.

It might help you to step back even one foot on your table drill so you have a little more time to see the ball. your BH is wild too, but it looks a lot more comfortable and natural than your FH. Try letting the ball come up a little more (you might need to stand back just a tad more (not much) ) and your BH timing should improve.
 

D4Y

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D4Y

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Thank you very much, very helpful tips, yeh my BH is much more natural due to the fact my training partner (he started a few months ago aswell) is a lefty and im a righty, so BH is my best friend, but i will defiently take all those points into thought next time i pratice, hopefully in a few more months my timing and footwork will get alot better! Sadly, the robot is the one way i have of praticing at all, i live in the United States, in a VERY southern state at that, were American Football reigns supreme, and i got laughed at for loving table tennis, the only person i know of who could coach me would be my vietnamese friends dad, but he's a pretty "no white boy learn asian sport" type guy (its ridiculous), but i'm going to try to learn my best off youtube videos and watching as many professional matches as possible, and whenever im on vacation to a place like orlando or washington, try to visit the TTC there. Thanks again!
 
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May i suggest you switch to shakehand grip? Shakehand grip is usually easier to learn. Penhold is very difficult to master without a coach. However, if you have been playing penhold this whole time, i suggest you watch some penholder videos on youtube from stiga table tennis. Some players from the Chinese National Team offer tips to playing better.
 

D4Y

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yes, ive been told shakehand grip is usually easier to learn, but my hand just doesnt seem very comfortable with it, and feels much more relaxed in the penhold grip, i'll defiently look up those videos you are talking about! (hoping to see some xu xin on the stiga ones)
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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My partner is a coach in Jacksonville if that is too far away from you...

I get it about no TT near you, I am in a very isolated part of US, Upstate NY near Canadian border, 75 miles from a 1-2x a week club that if I decide to drive down after work would be open only a couple hrs, so I get little TT time except when I go to Boston to see daughter. Befroe my great 4 yrs in Korea, I was in OK 100 miles away from OKC and 200 from Dallas, so TT was very sparse then as well. We do not improve very fast on our own or with only a couple hrs a week, it is rough being in that situation.
 
After having a quick look through this video I will share some tips with you.

As a penholder myself I can't stress the importance of footwork you seem to be standing to much head on to the table this will not allow you to transfer your weight to get that extra power on the ball. If you imagine your standing on a skateboard one foot more or less in front of the other when you hit the ball.

Knees - when watching your video I felt you was very stiff and not bending your knees with playing penhold generating a lot of our speed and spin just give it a try might tak a while to get timing right but believe me it is worth it your topspin will improve dramatically.

when to hit the ball - In your video I felt you was letting the ball drop too low which caused two situations 1) ball went straight into the net. 2) ball just flew off the table. To get around this habit what you need to do is make contact with the ball on its highest point giving you enough height over the net to play a comfortable forehand you can practice this on your own drop the ball on the table and let it bounce three times on the third bounce make contact with the ball at it highest point keep doing this until you get 10 In a row consistently over a couple of days the let it bounce twice and copy exercise until you can do it without thinking about it (harder than it sounds)

RPB - for this your using too much wrist just practice holding the bag and using your arm like a window screen wiper ( I know it sounds silly but the best RPB is when you use 85% elbow movement and 15% wrist) you will obtain more power in your RPB.

Hope you find my pointers helpful :)
 
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At first get the grip correct; your fingers on the back are streched apart over the rubber, try to hold them togetter and curved like most penholders do, it allows you to use your wrist better.

I advice you to watch alot Xu Xin's training videos and try to copy his movements and technique, (I learnt my forehand technique from Ma Long and backhand form Fan Zhendong) At the start it will be difficult but every time when you watch the videos you will find some new keypoints that are importand to execute the stroke.

here are some videos that might be helpfull for you;



 

D4Y

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D4Y

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At first get the grip correct; your fingers on the back are streched apart over the rubber, try to hold them togetter and curved like most penholders do, it allows you to use your wrist better.

I advice you to watch alot Xu Xin's training videos and try to copy his movements and technique, (I learnt my forehand technique from Ma Long and backhand form Fan Zhendong) At the start it will be difficult but every time when you watch the videos you will find some new keypoints that are importand to execute the stroke.

here are some videos that might be helpfull for you;

thank you very much for the videos, but i was told and understand that the two acceptable ways to hold the penhold grip could be either fingers curled (for more natural spin) or spread out like i do for more control, i do curl my fingers in for the service, i'll defiently check those videos out, thanks so much!
 

D4Y

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D4Y

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After having a quick look through this video I will share some tips with you.

As a penholder myself I can't stress the importance of footwork you seem to be standing to much head on to the table this will not allow you to transfer your weight to get that extra power on the ball. If you imagine your standing on a skateboard one foot more or less in front of the other when you hit the ball.

Knees - when watching your video I felt you was very stiff and not bending your knees with playing penhold generating a lot of our speed and spin just give it a try might tak a while to get timing right but believe me it is worth it your topspin will improve dramatically.

when to hit the ball - In your video I felt you was letting the ball drop too low which caused two situations 1) ball went straight into the net. 2) ball just flew off the table. To get around this habit what you need to do is make contact with the ball on its highest point giving you enough height over the net to play a comfortable forehand you can practice this on your own drop the ball on the table and let it bounce three times on the third bounce make contact with the ball at it highest point keep doing this until you get 10 In a row consistently over a couple of days the let it bounce twice and copy exercise until you can do it without thinking about it (harder than it sounds)

RPB - for this your using too much wrist just practice holding the bag and using your arm like a window screen wiper ( I know it sounds silly but the best RPB is when you use 85% elbow movement and 15% wrist) you will obtain more power in your RPB.

Hope you find my pointers helpful :)

thanks so much! i'll defiently incorperate more knee bending of sorts into my next pratice and focus on my elbow more in the RPB, and also i will certainly try out that highest point drill! thanks again! :)
 

D4Y

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D4Y

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My partner is a coach in Jacksonville if that is too far away from you...

I get it about no TT near you, I am in a very isolated part of US, Upstate NY near Canadian border, 75 miles from a 1-2x a week club that if I decide to drive down after work would be open only a couple hrs, so I get little TT time except when I go to Boston to see daughter. Befroe my great 4 yrs in Korea, I was in OK 100 miles away from OKC and 200 from Dallas, so TT was very sparse then as well. We do not improve very fast on our own or with only a couple hrs a week, it is rough being in that situation.

sadly jacksonville happens to be over 6 hours from my location, but if there is any point in time i travel near the area i will defiently check it out (i assume theres a club?) and i have a table, net, and robot to pratice with, i just desperatly need coaching, or people to help me just improve anything in my table tennis, thankfully TTD is an amazing community for that!:)
 
This user has no status.
At first get the grip correct; your fingers on the back are streched apart over the rubber, try to hold them togetter and curved like most penholders do, it allows you to use your wrist better.

I advice you to watch alot Xu Xin's training videos and try to copy his movements and technique, (I learnt my forehand technique from Ma Long and backhand form Fan Zhendong) At the start it will be difficult but every time when you watch the videos you will find some new keypoints that are importand to execute the stroke.

here are some videos that might be helpfull for you;

thank you very much for the videos, but i was told and understand that the two acceptable ways to hold the penhold grip could be either fingers curled (for more natural spin) or spread out like i do for more control, i do curl my fingers in for the service, i'll defiently check those videos out, thanks so much!

yeah there are indeed 2 ways of holding it, but the way you hold it is the Japanese penhold grip (without a backhand) And curled fingers are for chinese penhold with a reverse backhand and with curled fingers its also easier to angle your bat for backhand and forehand shots.
 

D4Y

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D4Y

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yeah there are indeed 2 ways of holding it, but the way you hold it is the Japanese penhold grip (without a backhand) And curled fingers are for chinese penhold with a reverse backhand and with curled fingers its also easier to angle your bat for backhand and forehand shots.


oooooh ok! thank you, i will defiently give the curled fingers a shot! :D
 
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Heres my generalised lessons for table tennis beginners:

First off, your grip is off, as stated by many others up there.

Lesson no.2: Always look at the ball and not where you're gonna hit it. I cant stress this enough. This way you can prevent many bad habits from budding, such as bad timing at hitting the ball, missing your swings, having trouble when receiving serves...etc. Too many mistakes start with players not following the ball enough.

Lesson no.3: lower your head and stance. Keep your centre of gravity as forward as possible. This will make your shots much more stable than it is. Also youll see the ball better. See point 2. Also, keep your keens relative loose when you're lowering down. This will help with your footworks when it comes into play.
DO NOT EVER LEAN BACK FOR A SHOT (unless absolutely necessary). See for yourself, when you do that, it usually doesnt end well.

Lesson no.4: If youre flat-hitting, punching or driving, always hit the ball when it bounces up to its highest point. Don't make life difficult for yourself.

Lesson no.5: Dont bother with the 2-point multiball this early on. It will be a hell of a lot faster if you focus on one spot at a time.

Lesson no.6: Once if youre done with the basic hitting techniques, start working on your strength exertion. A common misconception with table tennis is that you only play with your arm exerting all the force. But that really cant be more wrong can it? This is probably the hardest part of this lengthy post, as it is almost impossible to know how to correctly do it without someone actually showing you/ holding your hands and making you do it (#nohomo). Well, to put it in a simple way, for a complete forehand stroke, first, put your left leg abit more to the front than your right, so your body becomes slightly slanted, facing towards your right, then pull the bat back to make enough space for your stroke by turning your body to the right, then exert force on your right leg, pushing your body to turn to the left AS YOU HIT THE BALL SOMEWHERE RIGHT INFRONT OF YOUR ABDOMEN AREA (super important spot. most perfect shot are hit here.)

Yea I know these might sound super complicated, but its really a simple string of actions that happens in the span of a few fractions of a second.

This is going to determine how far you can actually go in the future. As in how good you can actually get. You can learn all the techniques there are in the world and without proper strength exertion your shots are not going to be anywhere near powerful and you probably know where this is going. Its quite hard to learn if you started off doing basic strokes the wrong way, eg: using only the strength of your arms.

Thats basically all the advice I can give to a beginner through texts. Hope you find it useful.

Small tip: If robot multiball is all you do, try to make the ball bounce twice before hitting it. I usually do it by turning the power level down, so the ball bounces once on the other table before coming to mine. This is because the robot actually shoots the ball at you at a pretty unrealistic level of spin and power, and if you started getting used to it you will be pushing the ball back along with the spin and not actually hitting it with your own strength, and that is not good in the long run. See point 6.
 
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