fixing the bad habit of straightening the upper body during looping

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
May 2023
73
28
115
Hi,

had a group coaching session yesterday, and the main issue for me according to the coach was that I tend to „get up“ from my nice low starting position and straighten my upper body during the looping motion, like I was getting up from a chair. my loop is fairly powerful but this costs me stability, and its easy to overshoot since my body goes forward + upwards

Do you have tips on how I can break this habit of mine? All I can do is try to constantly remind myself during play, but that doesn‘t seem to click well for my brain.

Looking forward to your ideas, thanks!
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Sep 2013
7,557
6,741
16,388
Read 3 reviews
Hi,

had a group coaching session yesterday, and the main issue for me according to the coach was that I tend to „get up“ from my nice low starting position and straighten my upper body during the looping motion, like I was getting up from a chair. my loop is fairly powerful but this costs me stability, and its easy to overshoot since my body goes forward + upwards

Do you have tips on how I can break this habit of mine? All I can do is try to constantly remind myself during play, but that doesn‘t seem to click well for my brain.

Looking forward to your ideas, thanks!
This is a common problem.
People think that the lifting up will help the ball go over the net.
don't lift your back/straighten your back.

when you finish your contact, you are lifting the back, don't do that.
the up part should be replaced with rotation of the hips - feel the muscles in the waist when you rotate.

start from there and try and see if it helps
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Dec 2018
413
447
1,454
Read 1 reviews
Might help to drill counterloops off the bounce. Get the feel of shifting your weight forward or even down to control the trajectory. Any lift and you'll keep overshooting.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2017
64
36
196
Read 1 reviews
sometimes I do too, especially in matches, and I want to wrap some band around my self like photo below :D
 

Attachments

  • sample-ready-position.jpg
    sample-ready-position.jpg
    84.8 KB · Views: 22
says TT is easy: just place the ball on the table 1 time more...
says TT is easy: just place the ball on the table 1 time more...
Member
Nov 2022
172
141
715
my friend who always stand straight when looping, he has a very biggg belly so..
I think big belly makes you lean forward. It's heavy, it's in front of the body => more weight forward. The main is not to fall forward on your face😁
But if you have a big butt...
 
  • Haha
Reactions: blahness and longle
says The trick to lose the sight of big picture is to focus...
says The trick to lose the sight of big picture is to focus...
Member
Aug 2013
381
228
1,057
Read 3 reviews
Some great insights discussed by fellow members. One small thing to add here, did you observe your distance from the table while performing a loop? Sometimes, if you are just a little too close you will get choked on space and would tend to go up.
Also try to observe that when do you root yourself, meaning when do you anchor yourself on your strike foot (if you are a right handed player then its your right foot). If you anchor too soon and didn't judge the depth and placement of the incoming ball then you will tend to go up as an adjustment mechanism.

However, I am not a pro here, so I am just sharing what happens to me and why do I go up. So, you need to may be record yourself and then play the entire sequence in smaller parts to get the root cause.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Jan 2023
62
63
311
working on this myself so here are some ideas... cant really say without actually seeing your form though...

from perspective of right hander, you may be straightening the rear leg when transferring weight (R->L & forward), sort of like a lunge/large step/one legged push off for horizontal jump, causing your hips to rise up/go far forward and then your upper body is straightening up as leg extends and hips come through more directly under your upper body, losing the hinge.

to solve this, need to focus on transferring weight and rotating within the hips by keeping core engaged to link legs with upper body and to stay in the hip gurdle (?) to make more body rotation rather than an exaggerated hip thrust (the thrust often is accompanied with large step or non-dominant foot - pros do it but you can see the timing of rotation/transfer and snap is there at right time rather than just lunging through the ball - a lot of these details would depend on how you are specifically executing the shot and what you are looking to do in general with the form).

to set yourself up for this, i think leg tension should be more in the inner thighs from groin to knees to engage core and allow for smooth swivel of legs during transfer and stay within hips. i am making sure to have weight on toes with foot more in line with shin and knee over foot on rear leg when loading up, if foot is too turned back or leg tension is too much focused on outside of quads, then it becomes a lunge (more similar to movements in other explosive sports rather than explosive acceleration/rotation and weight transfer).

perhaps after a shot or two you are starting to stand up, straightening the leg and your weight/balance is shifting from forward over front of foot to outside/back, becomes more of a push off.

i have been trying out the resistance band around legs to keep legs closer together (rather than sprawled out too much) so that i can rotate within my body/hips/knees better. this also helps engage the non-dominant/front leg during the backswing leading to the ready position, both knees adjust to shift weight to rear leg, core/hips engaged and using non-dominant arm to bring shoulders and upper body around enough to line up shot. the non-dominant hand movement may be affecting the axis that you are rotating on as well.

lastly, one of the youtube channels with translation mentioned that the front shoulder cant be lower than the back shoulder because then you only can rotate around the waist with that front shoulder lifting up and back shoulder swinging through (Sending ball high and to the left), whereas with rear shoulder slightly lower, can go overall forward with momentum but the shoulder and body rotation goes down to up/right to left but not sending power too far to the side/back.

regardless, to play low and to move well at the same time, requires a lot of strength & practice time in that stance, with constant reminders. can also hold onto edge of table to stay forward/low while practicing then keep same posture height (or lower) when playing further back.
 
Top