Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

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Thank you for the responses! Roday I had my first shadow session. I targeted these areas:
1. FH loop weight transfer. I have an exaggerated weight transfer movement. I can go full RSM, but lose balance or I straighten up after the loop and loosing mobility. I tend to straighten my right leg fully during the weight transfer, more bending my whole body rather than having a stable center of gravity So today I practiced to stay low and balanced. First in one place, then combined with simple footwork exercises.
2. Footwork: this connect to the problem above. I am actually very fast on my foot, but with wrong technique. My movements are very energy consuming, I tire easily from doing footwork drills, but after a couple of seconds of recovery I am ready again. My suspicion is that the big and fairly uncontrolled movements push my lungs, resulting in messed up breathing.
3. FH-BH transitions. Nothing special here. I think its importance is underestimated highly. The fact that your body knows what to do when you decide to switch sides can give you valuable time and quality to your shots.

I plan on checking in regularly and share my progress. Also, I will post videos whenever I can.
 
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Thank you for the responses! Roday I had my first shadow session. I targeted these areas:
1. FH loop weight transfer. I have an exaggerated weight transfer movement. I can go full RSM, but lose balance or I straighten up after the loop and loosing mobility. I tend to straighten my right leg fully during the weight transfer, more bending my whole body rather than having a stable center of gravity So today I practiced to stay low and balanced. First in one place, then combined with simple footwork exercises.
2. Footwork: this connect to the problem above. I am actually very fast on my foot, but with wrong technique. My movements are very energy consuming, I tire easily from doing footwork drills, but after a couple of seconds of recovery I am ready again. My suspicion is that the big and fairly uncontrolled movements push my lungs, resulting in messed up breathing.
3. FH-BH transitions. Nothing special here. I think its importance is underestimated highly. The fact that your body knows what to do when you decide to switch sides can give you valuable time and quality to your shots.

I plan on checking in regularly and share my progress. Also, I will post videos whenever I can.

When possible, while practicing shadow stroke + footwork drills (worth practicing them together) it is worth doing it in front of a mirror where you can see your form. It is interesting how this can help you improve your technique without you even thinking about it or realizing it.
 
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Here are some clips from todays training. I had a period of demotivation where I stopped recording myself completely but it's time to get started again. I think I've made more progress with my backhand, though it's still lacking a bit in matches.. which means it's really time to start ramping up on more randomness in drills for the BH (and to practice spinning more sometimes instead of going for max power). I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again.. a lot of my backhand improvement is thanks to NextLevel for helping me understand it better. NL's advice is worth its weight in gold!



 
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Here are some clips from todays training. I had a period of demotivation where I stopped recording myself completely but it's time to get started again. I think I've made more progress with my backhand, though it's still lacking a bit in matches.. which means it's really time to start ramping up on more randomness in drills for the BH (and to practice spinning more sometimes instead of going for max power). I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again.. a lot of my backhand improvement is thanks to NextLevel for helping me understand it better. NL's advice is worth its weight in gold!




I suspect that you are taking the backhand a bit too far in front of you though it might be the camera angle. Play around a bit with the swing trajectories especially the contact point on the ball and the finishing position. I suspect you can develop both a safer swing and a drive swing, now everything looks like drive and there isn't a lot of safety spin in the shot. But if you have some safety spin, you will use the shot much more in matches. Try swinging to contact both the right side, the back side and the left side of the ball, people usually develop a preference after seeing which one gives them more quality and safetly.
 
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Richie! I think it looks good! I think you could try to have the racket a bit higher so you can brush more forward. Now sometimes you start a bit under so even If you brush more you still will only get more arc and not more power. Buy you are so little under the ball so Maybe it Do not matter. If you look at our fellow swede Kristian Karlsson, he really brush down when playing hard with the baxkhand.

I also think you look a bit tense. Hard to move the arm fast then. Try to be relaxed Then accelerate and tense when you hit the ball, moment of impact. Now i feel you Do not get as much acceleration with arm as possible due to seemingly tense muscles.

Edit: Maybe nextlevel is correct regarding the spin. Try closing the angle of the racket more But this comes natural If you start a little higher and brush more forward. But Do not really need more spin If the opponent does spin and you take it at the highest point. But agree with a thinner contact you Will get proably feel that the stroke is safer due to the arc.
 
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I suspect that you are taking the backhand a bit too far in front of you though it might be the camera angle. Play around a bit with the swing trajectories especially the contact point on the ball and the finishing position. I suspect you can develop both a safer swing and a drive swing, now everything looks like drive and there isn't a lot of safety spin in the shot. But if you have some safety spin, you will use the shot much more in matches. Try swinging to contact both the right side, the back side and the left side of the ball, people usually develop a preference after seeing which one gives them more quality and safetly.

Thank you NL, yes a more spinny contact at times might be what's missing for the added safety. I think I've just been a bit unsure with how to do that without going back to the "old" backhand but maybe it's more about where to contact the ball than changing the swing for that.

@Takkyu thank you! I did practice it a lot last year, though it does feel slightly more flashy than functional right now, even though it does feel great when I once in a while can hit them in matches
 
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Richie! I think it looks good! I think you could try to have the racket a bit higher so you can brush more forward. Now sometimes you start a bit under so even If you brush more you still will only get more arc and not more power. Buy you are so little under the ball so Maybe it Do not matter. If you look at our fellow swede Kristian Karlsson, he really brush down when playing hard with the baxkhand.

I also think you look a bit tense. Hard to move the arm fast then. Try to be relaxed Then accelerate and tense when you hit the ball, moment of impact. Now i feel you Do not get as much acceleration with arm as possible due to seemingly tense muscles.

Edit: Maybe nextlevel is correct regarding the spin. Try closing the angle of the racket more But this comes natural If you start a little higher and brush more forward. But Do not really need more spin If the opponent does spin and you take it at the highest point. But agree with a thinner contact you Will get proably feel that the stroke is safer due to the arc.

Yeah, I don't think he needs thinner contact per se but something more like what you said. But I think he should experiment that is why I didn't give specific instruction. You gave the specific instruction I could have given but I also learned somethings just by playing around with my stroke and trying to get more safety and less safety without anyone telling me exactly what to do. I am hoping he will have similar experiences.

I don't like to drop my racket down on my backhand loop but everyone does it differently. I prefer to take it backwards like Kreanga. I play around with thinker and more circular swings.
 
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Yes. I think you should have the racket over the table as much as possible today against topspin balls. No time for dropping the racket. But Maybe depends how close you are to the table.
 
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its the one year anniversary of my stopping to play because of tennis elbow ... but I can't refuse a summon from the Chief Troublemaker of the west coast chapter :)
How does ttmonster feel about a live executive council of Goon squad meetup next weekend?

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk
 
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its the one year anniversary of my stopping to play because of tennis elbow ... but I can't refuse a summon from the Chief Troublemaker of the west coast chapter :)

Didn't realize you had stopped playing. Hope your health returns to your elbow and you return to table tennis!
 
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Goon Squad meeting with ttMonster completed. He found a winner of a Korean restaurant. I went to Swan Warriors for a long hit before they moved and finished early... early Tuesday AM and got home at 3 AM. Monster has a pic or two to add to the celebration.
 
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Thanks @NextLevel ... hopefully will be able to come back in a few months , need to lose weight before I do and its been a struggle especially since I quit smoking and started working out for 2 months now and they kind of cancelled each other so far ...

@Der_Echte , it was a winner alright , I hadn't seen your proposal about D Hao and Pooling , Pooling would have been fun though .. next time we will do that or bowl ...

here goes the pic ...

86864350_505683020135419_4297008483502391296_n.jpg

Goon Squad meeting with ttMonster completed. He found a winner of a Korean restaurant. I went to Swan Warriors for a long hit before they moved and finished early... early Tuesday AM and got home at 3 AM. Monster has a pic or two to add to the celebration.
 
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What about the cost there ? Here we had the 2 person combo with beef and pork and we shelled out 73 USD plus tips ... which in a korean restaurant is expected to be higher than 15% since they take care of you more ... have to admit Der is a "smooth criminal" when it comes to Korean waitresses :) .. we got some stuff we did not have to pay for ...
Korean restaurant with American portion sizes

When i go to a Korean restaurant here, the meat plate is like only 20% as big as yours...
 
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The combo we selected had 4 portions to comprise the combo, that is why the plate looked much bigger.

In Korea, generally, you buy a portion of meat. Often, 2 portions are enough for a grown man. I could eat comfortably in a Korean restaurant in Korea for under 20 usd even in Seoul.

In USA, everyone is crazy about all you eat unlimited, so many Korean restaurants do that... the ones that do not offer a "set" or combo deal... in the end, the restaurant gets more money that way.

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