I went from dual inverted to SP backhand, then to LP backhand (1mm sponge). It took me 12 weeks (2 hours/day with machine & partners) to match my old level in tournaments. I didn't twiddle much in the beginning. I benefited in two ways:
1. I learned to play against long pips players because now I know what long pips do to the ball.
2. I got a lot of feeling for spin and the ball, I can twiddle now, and if I play dual inverted I now can chop inverted and do chop block (I learned that first with the long pips).
I tried long pips backhand on fast blades (Yinhe Pro 01 external and Pro 05 internal ALC) which is very challenging (for chopping). My best LP blade is the Victas Swat (1150Hz) which is similar to the great Yinhe 980XX defender's blade. I tried a couple of LP rubbers and right now I play either Nittaku Wallest or Neottec Tokkan (1mm sponge). I also tried MP (Dawei 388C-1 1.3mm) and SP (Nittaku Moristo SP, Yinhe Uranus Pro Medium Sponge Max).
Same conclusions as what the other folks see:
* Chopping doesn't work as well with the SP, and there is a continuum from inverted to SP to MP to LP where control gets better but backhand gets weaker.
* Real defense needs a defender's blade. Yinhe 980 is good & cheap, but 980XX is great and expensive ($70 or so).
* Developing the techniques (with twiddling) is really expensive, as you now have to play the inverted backhand with the forehand rubber (I use H3 Neo 39degrees with no boosting which works great for that purpose) and be able to switch to LP b/h.
* Twiddling in the tournament under stress is challenging and I had "twiddle stalls" and got caught e.g. with LP forehand so you also need to learn that technique.
My take is that it definitely was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, all my partners learned to play against LP, and now I play what I feel like, although for tournaments I would still play LP backhand with a control blade.
1. I learned to play against long pips players because now I know what long pips do to the ball.
2. I got a lot of feeling for spin and the ball, I can twiddle now, and if I play dual inverted I now can chop inverted and do chop block (I learned that first with the long pips).
I tried long pips backhand on fast blades (Yinhe Pro 01 external and Pro 05 internal ALC) which is very challenging (for chopping). My best LP blade is the Victas Swat (1150Hz) which is similar to the great Yinhe 980XX defender's blade. I tried a couple of LP rubbers and right now I play either Nittaku Wallest or Neottec Tokkan (1mm sponge). I also tried MP (Dawei 388C-1 1.3mm) and SP (Nittaku Moristo SP, Yinhe Uranus Pro Medium Sponge Max).
Same conclusions as what the other folks see:
* Chopping doesn't work as well with the SP, and there is a continuum from inverted to SP to MP to LP where control gets better but backhand gets weaker.
* Real defense needs a defender's blade. Yinhe 980 is good & cheap, but 980XX is great and expensive ($70 or so).
* Developing the techniques (with twiddling) is really expensive, as you now have to play the inverted backhand with the forehand rubber (I use H3 Neo 39degrees with no boosting which works great for that purpose) and be able to switch to LP b/h.
* Twiddling in the tournament under stress is challenging and I had "twiddle stalls" and got caught e.g. with LP forehand so you also need to learn that technique.
My take is that it definitely was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, all my partners learned to play against LP, and now I play what I feel like, although for tournaments I would still play LP backhand with a control blade.