Just curious how many Penholders are on TTD?

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Penhold is such a mystery for me! I think one has to have a certain amount of “talent” to handle penhold. I personally love to mess around with penhold and do LGL impressions. I mostly play TPB because I could never get the hang of RPB. I wonder why this is, because some of my friends can play RPB very well the first time they try it. In my opinion penhold not only offers more power on FH, but also a lot more angles and variety in spin. It’s fun but so hard that I’ll stick to shake hand for now.😂
 
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Penhold is such a mystery for me! I think one has to have a certain amount of “talent” to handle penhold. I personally love to mess around with penhold and do LGL impressions. I mostly play TPB because I could never get the hang of RPB. I wonder why this is, because some of my friends can play RPB very well the first time they try it. In my opinion penhold not only offers more power on FH, but also a lot more angles and variety in spin. It’s fun but so hard that I’ll stick to shake hand for now.😂

More power- I think can be phrased better.

I think penhold has a more natural feeling than shakehand- which you could say equates to more power. Modern shakehand players these days are also good with angles, but I think in the short game penhold can manipulate the ball a lot better.

I will say that, if I were to restart learning TT I would pick shakehand. Penhold takes a while to get to a decent level.

 
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Penhold is such a mystery for me! I think one has to have a certain amount of “talent” to handle penhold. I personally love to mess around with penhold and do LGL impressions. I mostly play TPB because I could never get the hang of RPB. I wonder why this is, because some of my friends can play RPB very well the first time they try it. In my opinion penhold not only offers more power on FH, but also a lot more angles and variety in spin. It’s fun but so hard that I’ll stick to shake hand for now.😂

I think the guys picking up RPB quickly might be former SH players. RPB is much closer to SH backhand than TPB.

I'm pretty bad but I picked up a basic RPB pretty quickly after switching from SH to PH.My RPB is by no means great but not really worse than my SH BH topspin was.

I think the people who have trouble picking up RPB are mostly guys who played TBP for decades before that because it is a very different motion.They say RPB takes longer to master but many of those players started with TBP, some of the guys who started with it from the get go like Felix lebrun reached a great level with RPB at a young age already.

What I did found tougher than with SH is playing blocks and straight/flat counter drives with RPB. Since those kinds of hits are hit with a more vertical blade compared to a topspin you need to contort your wrist a little to hit those while topspin or flick is pretty easy to play with RPB as the natural blade angle with RPB is more closed.

I really like banana flick with RPB, the natural RPB angle plays well with that.

 
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What is the advantage of straight vs curled fingers on the back side?

nothing really. I will always say that a good grip will allow you to do anything comfortably.

You could say that straight has more support for rpb more stabiliity. Curled is easier for tpb, but again a good grip should be able to do it all.

 
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i feel like my wrist is freer if i curl my fingers than when i straighten them out completely

i suppose straight fingers give you more consistency or stability in your shots but straightening my fingers is not comfortable for me at all so i opt for the latter option of finger positioning (which is curled fingers)

i prefer mine a little curled on JPEN and if i use CPEN i naturally have my fingers more curled due to differences in center of gravity

 
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Thanks, so it is mostly a personal preference thing whether I want more Stability, backhand or forehand ability and also based on my hand/finger flexibility and size and shape? ?

One more question: it is sometimes more comfortable for me to grip the bat at a slight angle so my thumb goes slightly across and bat points slightly down like this
https://postimg.cc/BPLks7S8

Is that ok or is that a disadvantage and should I make a conscious effort to turn the bat more inline with the thumb and forearm like that?
https://postimg.cc/R3pgF1bw

It seems most pros have the thumb straight down (xu xin, ma lin)
https://www.google.com/search?q=ma+lin+grip&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&prmd=isvn&sxsrf=ALiCzsZSojt2KCR2OZqknxPw2C0Yn-cTuw:1652597277397&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjZ8bPN9OD3AhUqlIkEHcLkDmIQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=599&dpr=3#imgrc=biUNyw6Ng7jv2M

Albeit wang hao also grips at a slight angle
https://www.google.com/search?q=wang+hao+grip&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&prmd=ivn&sxsrf=ALiCzsZBdNn8Xkx30TYR1QEB_VTGwx6DBA:1652597381631&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi17o3_9OD3AhUV_7sIHdSEAy8Q_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=599&dpr=3#imgrc=zjs3ob1_QHsFnM&imgdii=wxKjXPE2IVexLM
 
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Thanks, so it is mostly a personal preference thing whether I want more Stability, backhand or forehand ability and also based on my hand/finger flexibility and size and shape? ?

One more question: it is sometimes more comfortable for me to grip the bat at a slight angle so my thumb goes slightly across and bat points slightly down like this
https://postimg.cc/BPLks7S8

Is that ok or is that a disadvantage and should I make a conscious effort to turn the bat more inline with the thumb and forearm like that?
https://postimg.cc/R3pgF1bw

It seems most pros have the thumb straight down (xu xin, ma lin)
https://www.google.com/search?q=ma+lin+grip&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&prmd=isvn&sxsrf=ALiCzsZSojt2KCR2OZqknxPw2C0Yn-cTuw:1652597277397&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjZ8bPN9OD3AhUqlIkEHcLkDmIQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=599&dpr=3#imgrc=biUNyw6Ng7jv2M

Albeit wang hao also grips at a slight angle
https://www.google.com/search?q=wang+hao+grip&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&prmd=ivn&sxsrf=ALiCzsZBdNn8Xkx30TYR1QEB_VTGwx6DBA:1652597381631&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi17o3_9OD3AhUV_7sIHdSEAy8Q_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=599&dpr=3#imgrc=zjs3ob1_QHsFnM&imgdii=wxKjXPE2IVexLM

https://youtu.be/oraRAxlU54A

this is a video I recorded about grips. I cover pretty much everything in regards to your question

 
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Great video. So thumb roughly parallel to the handle is probably better but a bit across is ok?

My backside fingers are slightly curled but all 3 tips of the fingers on the blade.

Works good for rpb but maybe limits wrist flexibility some
 
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Great video. So thumb roughly parallel to the handle is probably better but a bit across is ok?

My backside fingers are slightly curled but all 3 tips of the fingers on the blade.

Works good for rpb but maybe limits wrist flexibility some
It should be okay. Main thing is that there should be no tension is your hand whatsoever.

To me it looks fine. As long as your hand comes on the paddle in it’s natural position then that’s how you know you found the right grip for you.

 
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Great video. So thumb roughly parallel to the handle is probably better but a bit across is ok?

My backside fingers are slightly curled but all 3 tips of the fingers on the blade.

Works good for rpb but maybe limits wrist flexibility some

I call your grip as Wang Hao style, more suitable for RPG, good for BH, and your feeling is true.

Ma Lin and Xu Xin, however, are in different styles. Ma Lin's strength is in serve &receive, and forehand attack. Xu Xin's style is clearly what you know. Both of them are not typical RPG, and they requires FH more than BH.

If your grip is in line with your strength, then it is a good grip.

My grip was like Xu Xin, and that was 20 years ago, there was no Xu Xin at that time. When I was using that grip, it was called wrong, but now it is not wrong anyway.

Wang Hao's grip will have some problems with backhand side short ball. Thus, the BH banana flick is a must for this grip. The good thing is it is also the most convenient grip for BH banana flick.

 
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I call your grip as Wang Hao style, more suitable for RPG, good for BH, and your feeling is true.

Ma Lin and Xu Xin, however, are in different styles. Ma Lin's strength is in serve &receive, and forehand attack. Xu Xin's style is clearly what you know. Both of them are not typical RPG, and they requires FH more than BH.

If your grip is in line with your strength, then it is a good grip.

My grip was like Xu Xin, and that was 20 years ago, there was no Xu Xin at that time. When I was using that grip, it was called wrong, but now it is not wrong anyway.

Wang Hao's grip will have some problems with backhand side short ball. Thus, the BH banana flick is a must for this grip. The good thing is it is also the most convenient grip for BH banana flick.

I don't necessarily agree with some of these points.


Ma Lin's strength in service and receive I think is more of an individual skill.

The only thing I can agree on, is using a high grip like wang hao is the easiest to facilitate rpb.

 
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I don't necessarily agree with some of these points.


Ma Lin's strength in service and receive I think is more of an individual skill.

The only thing I can agree on, is using a high grip like wang hao is the easiest to facilitate rpb.

I really like your opinion. Ma Lin has very good talent in service and receive including his third ball attack. Grip is not a determinant to his strength.

But I also think his grip serves his strength. Wang Hao's grip doesn't provide the same feeling with Ma Lin's grip when dealing with backhand short balls.

I can't find an evidence to back up my claiming of Wang Hao's grip is not good at dealing short balls, but I have just found EmRatThich has similar opinion on the penhold grips. Just for reference.
https://pingsunday.com/table-tennis-grips-handle-pros-and-cons/

Good on you.

 
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Another question regarding serves:

It seems many penholders seem to do a lot of hook style serves and keep the elbow in.

Can you also do "normal" pendulum serves with the elbow up like shakehand players do? Or does the penhold grip make that unnecessary because you can get the blade vertical for sidespin without raising the elbow?
​​​​
 
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Another question regarding serves:

It seems many penholders seem to do a lot of hook style serves and keep the elbow in.

Can you also do "normal" pendulum serves with the elbow up like shakehand players do? Or does the penhold grip make that unnecessary because you can get the blade vertical for sidespin without raising the elbow?
​​​​
Show a vid. Hard to visualize this type of thing.

 
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I'm talking about sidespin serve with "inside spin"

See this video at about 2:50
https://youtu.be/zcgj22cKGzw



​​​

He demonstrates with elbow down.
https://ibb.co/9G65rRr

On the other hand normal shakehand inside spin serve is usually hit with elbow out like that

https://youtu.be/LcFIeIWB6Bc

Could pendulum be hit like that too?

the guy in the mlfm video showed side under. The guy you showed was doing side top/only side.

The elbow doesn’t come up for side under because you need to hit the ball on the side and underside of the ball.

Check out this vid of me serving side top!
https://youtu.be/SyxIIcS9aws

 
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friendship ended with fastarc g-1

rasanter r50 is my new best friend

as much as i like the fastarc g-1 in most aspects (very good in driving, short game, serves, smashing and durability) i never really liked its quirkiness when it came down to looping where balls sometimes end up in the net or if you loop drive hard enough, the ball goes out of the table with a very flat trajectory

maybe fastarc g-1 was never meant for me anyway because i like to overpower opponents rather than winning through variable spin (or maybe its because i didnt have it on MAX thickness)

rasanter r50 more or less suits me as a JPEN player; all-out powerlooping with decent (not as good as fastarc g1 but good enough) short game
 
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UPDATE: nevermind, it seems that i cant rly abandon fastarc g1 at all 😐

the loops are not what i want but its just too sweet in every other aspects of the game to give it up for real

but as much as i dislike the feeling of fastarc when i loop, i can still do a decent loop with it anyway, just maybe a change in play style (less mindless powerlooping and more methodical slow topspins to set up for the killing blow)

all in all, as much as i dislike the fastarc g1, i keep coming back to it
 
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