The elements of a perfect forehand attack

[volvovics]

The elements of the perfect forehand attack

An in depth examination of each element of the forehand attack with examples of pros doing it right and also making mistakes.

It explores the attack stance and why each element of the stance is required, how to get into the stance, how to obtain maximum power and spin using the legs, body, arm and wrist.

It also discusses common mistakes and misconceptions.
I hope you like it, and it helps you.

 

[NetProphet]

I think your videos are excellent, please keep em coming 👊

 

[Archosaurus]

I'm not sure that the Chinese players' low backswing against topspin is a mistake per-se. It's probably not fully optimal, but I think sometimes you need techniques with a safety net. Like you say in that very video, starting lower and going up can be safer than trying to start at the 100% ideal height every time.

 

[Der_Echte]

There is no perfect FH or BH shot in the game.

There is no singular correct answer to Table Tennis.

There is however, a concept about effectiveness, high degree of effectiveness, higher the better. High enough effectiveness is plenty good enough and the same as perfect in result.

Table Tennis is about consistency, and placement with enough quality. That wins points, games and matches if players can do well enough in that area.

Unfortunately we face opponents who are also good at table tennis and do not make such things real easy for us all the time and are not easily manipulated to do what we want - they are at war against us trying to do the very same mission.

TT life isn't easy, but we choose it and absolutely LOVE it.

 

[volvovics]

I'm not sure that the Chinese players' low backswing against topspin is a mistake per-se. It's probably not fully optimal, but I think sometimes you need techniques with a safety net. Like you say in that very video, starting lower and going up can be safer than trying to start at the 100% ideal height every time.

But they do change their hand position 100% of the time to the proper position when going against topspin, and 100% of the time they actually lose quite a bit of time doing that. Time that you don't want to lose in those fast rallies.
You can say it's a mistake or suboptimal or not optimal, but in the end in table tennis time is a precious resource and we should strive towards becoming better.

I think changing that starting position against topspin gives you more time and so it makes you a bit better.
This is not about criticizing the chinese. Ma Long and FZD are legends of table tennis and would wipe the floor with me even when their 80 years old, this is about us all trying to get better and understanding how and why things work in TT.

 

[Archosaurus]

But they do change their hand position 100% of the time to the proper position when going against topspin, and 100% of the time they actually lose quite a bit of time doing that. Time that you don't want to lose in those fast rallies.
You can say it's a mistake or suboptimal or not optimal, but in the end in table tennis time is a precious resource and we should strive towards becoming better.

I think changing that starting position against topspin gives you more time and so it makes you a bit better.
This is not about criticizing the chinese. Ma Long and FZD are legends of table tennis and would wipe the floor with me even when their 80 years old, this is about us all trying to get better and understanding how and why things work in TT.

I agree, but nobody's perfect. What cost do you pay if you mis-judge the backswing needed and need to adjust nonlinearly downwards or forwards in a situation without a lot of time?

There might be something else to it too, like muscle memory/choreography. A bit like how many players will bounce the ball on the table or something before they serve.

I'm a completely shit player so it's not really comparable at all and I have no clue if top players do it for this reason, but I find that I'm more consistent when I always do the same backswing and adjust from there. I think that maybe it helps me place some other things more appropriately. When I think about it too much and try to be rigidly perfect in everything, I'm lucky to even touch the ball.

 

[Amaken23]

I mean...look at Quadri Aruna's FH or in earlier time at Kalinikos Kreanga's FH or BH motion Many people will say their technique should not work...but it works/worked

 

[volvovics]

I mean...look at Quadri Aruna's FH or in earlier time at Kalinikos Kreanga's FH or BH motion Many people will say their technique should not work...but it works/worked

I wanted to give these exact 2 great players as examples. but i interpret it a bit differently:
I think that you can get great results even with bad technique but with enough determination and work ethic.
Even a worse technique can be made to work if you play it long enough and adjust for it's short comings.
The chinese are the hardest working players in the world, the amount of hours they spend practicing is inhuman.
Combine that with the biggest pool of players in the world where you can get the most talented and the hardest working. And combine that with the highest level of table tennis players in the world and you get absolute legends like Ma Long , FZD , Xu Xin etc.
Kreanga's and Aruna's are fenomenal to watch but technique is indeed objectively bad. Their success is an example of adaptation and work ethic. I don't think you want to argue that everyone can play like them and their technique is good and should be emulated.

 

[volvovics]

I agree, but nobody's perfect. What cost do you pay if you mis-judge the backswing needed and need to adjust nonlinearly downwards or forwards in a situation without a lot of time?

There might be something else to it too, like muscle memory/choreography. A bit like how many players will bounce the ball on the table or something before they serve.

I'm a completely shit player so it's not really comparable at all and I have no clue if top players do it for this reason, but I find that I'm more consistent when I always do the same backswing and adjust from there. I think that maybe it helps me place some other things more appropriately. When I think about it too much and try to be rigidly perfect in everything, I'm lucky to even touch the ball.

That's exactly the point of the video, what cost do you pay for keeping the hand low or high, I don't really see to many benefits when losing that much time, and memory/coreography can be retrained if it needs to.
I may be wrong of course, but the point is to explain what i see and how i understand it and if it's convincing and useful maybe help everyone think and analyze their own style with different trade offs

 

[Yuomay]

@volvovics i really liked this video, gives me a framework to fall back on when I miss too many forehand attacks, I tried it (in training matches), it worked.
- Right foot parrallel to the table
- Right Knee bent with the weight on it
- Racket pointing down (extend of the arm and more or less as a fonction of incoming spin)
- Racket starts below the ball


If it would make sens I'd love to see the same breakdown of the backhand attack

 

[Archosaurus]

If it would make sens I'd love to see the same breakdown of the backhand attack

+1 for this. I find the technical framework for the backhand very confusing; I don't really understand how most of the leg and body motions transfer energy into the ball or if they have some other function.

 

[blahness]

Imo having a low hand relative to the body is outdated. Most modern philosophy just go down with the legs and hip hinge and lift/explode from the body. The hand position remains relatively high. This is mainly for speed advantage. If you go down and people counter aggressively you're in trouble and have to retreat to mid distance.

 

[Metaxa]

That’s right, I agree. I still swing the way I learnt to 50 years ago: starting low behind the knee or calf and finishing high. Nowadays, they take the topspin much higher and their arm movement is easily a quarter shorter, which means there’s more ‘free’ time.

 

[volvovics]

@volvovics i really liked this video, gives me a framework to fall back on when I miss too many forehand attacks, I tried it (in training matches), it worked.
- Right foot parrallel to the table
- Right Knee bent with the weight on it
- Racket pointing down (extend of the arm and more or less as a fonction of incoming spin)
- Racket starts below the ball


If it would make sens I'd love to see the same breakdown of the backhand attack

A lot of people requested the backhand attack, so i'm doing that one next, should be coming next week, if all goes well.

 

[volvovics]

+1 for this. I find the technical framework for the backhand very confusing; I don't really understand how most of the leg and body motions transfer energy into the ball or if they have some other function.

Should be coming, sometime next week.