Which physical exercises are the best for table tennis improvement?

says Spin and more spin.
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Hi,
I want to improve my table tennis game by doing some physical exercises, but I don't know which are the best to improve
leg strength and speed, back stability and strength, hip strength and speed and strength of the swing.
Could you guys give some good advice?

I wow, this thread again. So many. I am not going to spoil things though. Let's see what other people post. Some time later I will post a bunch of things.


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says Spin and more spin.
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Stretching, box jumps, side stepping, skipping, agility and fast movement stuff.

Squats are also good and of course running.

This stuff is good.

Here are some more things:



Shadow drills:






Ladder footwork drills:



Lateral Sprints:


So much more. Maybe that will get things started and get other people to post more.

Ilia, where is that video you posted in the last thread on this subject. It was excellent.


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Won't type everything in detail, but my 14 year old student currently does 1 hour of core training a day, 30 mins of agility (about 20 drills at 1 min each) a day, skipping - double skip of 200 a day, single skip of 300 a day, running 5km every second day
As a whole, her physical training is around 2 to 3 hours every day
 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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you wow too? I wow too!

Hahahaha. I was speechless. [emoji2]

This thread subject seems to pop up 3-4 times a year. But I guess it is always a good subject.

TTTony's breakdown of physical training is pretty interesting. You kind of do need that kind of focused discipline to become an elite athlete. Thanks Tony.


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says Spin and more spin.
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The best exercise to improve table tennis is more table tennis.

I get the point, particularly from the perspective of someone who has a limited time using his/her body and many of the exercises that would help certain aspects of TT would make your knees hate you.

But cross training movements similar to what happens in TT, particularly for leg strength and speed and coordination between the upper body and the lower body really does help. So does core work.

Building that underlying strength for a person with a healthy body will make it so they can stay on the table longer and train TT more.

The specific skills of TT, yeah, you are not going to learn them off the table. And you need table time. But cross training is still pretty useful for someone who wants to do it. And it is pretty important for someone who wants to get to the top levels.

Nothing trumps table time, but doing stuff to get yourself in good shape is still good for you and will help certain aspects of your play.


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I get the point, particularly from the perspective of someone who has a limited time using his/her body and many of the exercises that would help certain aspects of TT would make your knees hate you.

But cross training movements similar to what happens in TT, particularly for leg strength and speed and coordination between the upper body and the lower body really does help. So does core work.

Building that underlying strength for a person with a healthy body will make it so they can stay on the table longer and train TT more.

The specific skills of TT, yeah, you are not going to learn them off the table. And you need table time. But cross training is still pretty useful for someone who wants to do it. And it is pretty important for someone who wants to get to the top levels.

Nothing trumps table time, but doing stuff to get yourself in good shape is still good for you and will help certain aspects of your play.


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If you are over 2000, sure. If not, good luck with that.

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18114663/1288823123/name/champion_physical_training.pdf
 
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Train like a 100m sprinter

Hi, I want to improve my table tennis game by doing some physical exercises, but I don't know which are the best to improve
leg strength and speed, back stability and strength, hip strength and speed and strength of the swing.
Could you guys give some good advice?

Look mate, table tennis is all about footwork. This video is just an ordinary girl doing basic leg drills. you need to be able to do at least this to get past the learner stage in TT. Good luck in your practice.


For the complete set, see here:

 
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says Spin and more spin.
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From the standpoint of developing table tennis technique. Someone lower than 1500 may not NEED cross training. But it still would be useful.

Even someone 2200 like Rich Dewitt, he clearly doesn't do any physical exercise. And he is darn good. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't help him.

I know the shadow footwork drills did not really translate immediately into me being able to do footwork drills like that. And footwork drills like that are not things most players would implement in match play. Maybe not ever. But I do know there are times when I feel myself do certain footwork things in a TT match that I would never have done without having first worked on those shadow footwork drills.

I remember starting working on them. It seems easy. In my head it seems easy. But I remember my legs and my upper body not knowing what to do. And the legs and upper body counter balance each other. It is a more complex coordination than it may look like. The upper and lower bodies are doing two different things. Practicing it does actually help you maintain good form in your strokes in a match when you are forced to move. Even if you were at a pretty low level, stuff like that would help some. And so would those ladder drills. The footwork for TT is these tiny steps. Your feet need to be coordinated and precise. Those tiny steps you take with ladder drills actually help.

I know I used to get the edge of my shoe caught and turn my ankle. Then I started doing ladder drills for the foot coordination. I have no doubt it helped pretty decently.

Do you need this stuff? Maybe not. And I wouldn't recommend it for you based on your having mobility issues from RA. But I wouldn't discourage someone wanting to do things that may help their fitness and which could ultimately help their TT when they are not on a table and/or during times when they don't have access to a table.



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says Spin and more spin.
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I thought of a different way of saying the same thing.

I was a professional Inline skater. I skated ramps and half pipes on inline skates. As a kid I also skateboarded. So I was decent on a ramp on a skateboard too. Actually, my ability to skate on ramps as a kid may have been a decent part of why I picked up skating ramps on inline skates. Because less than two years after I put inline skates on for the first time, I was getting paid to skate.

Anyway, surfing is different but the skills are not all that different. The first time I went surfing--and I only surfed for about a month when the circus was in California--yeah, I performed for Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus--the first time I went surfing, everyone told me: "it's so hard, you'll never be able to get up on the board."

Nonsense! I got up on my first try. It was totally natural to me. The hard part was not getting up or riding the waves. The hard part was paddling to get up speed to get back out for the next wave. Or to catch the wave in the first place.

I remember watching these kids who had been surfing all their lives do what looked like almost nothing and they were zooming back out as they paddled. So effortless. Meanwhile I was thrashing around and trying so hard when I paddled and I felt like I was going nowhere.

Also, snowboarding. I have only been on a snowboard 2x. But the first day I snowboarded, I did launches and then I decided to try the half pipe. I wasn't great. But I was better than most of the people on the mountain at the half pipe even though I wasn't that good at snowboarding.

Anyway, the idea is that related skills do cross over to some extent. So cross training is never really a bad idea even if it is not needed.


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From the standpoint of developing table tennis technique. Someone lower than 1500 may not NEED cross training. But it still would be useful.

Even someone 2200 like Rich Dewitt, he clearly doesn't do any physical exercise. And he is darn good. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't help him.

I know the shadow footwork drills did not really translate immediately into me being able to do footwork drills like that. And footwork drills like that are not things most players would implement in match play. Maybe not ever. But I do know there are times when I feel myself do certain footwork things in a TT match that I would never have done without having first worked on those shadow footwork drills.

I remember starting working on them. It seems easy. In my head it seems easy. But I remember my legs and my upper body not knowing what to do. And the legs and upper body counter balance each other. It is a more complex coordination than it may look like. The upper and lower bodies are doing two different things. Practicing it does actually help you maintain good form in your strokes in a match when you are forced to move. Even if you were at a pretty low level, stuff like that would help some. And so would those ladder drills. The footwork for TT is these tiny steps. Your feet need to be coordinated and precise. Those tiny steps you take with ladder drills actually help.

I know I used to get the edge of my shoe caught and turn my ankle. Then I started doing ladder drills for the foot coordination. I have no doubt it helped pretty decently.

Do you need this stuff? Maybe not. And I wouldn't recommend it for you based on your having mobility issues from RA. But I wouldn't discourage someone wanting to do things that may help their fitness and which could ultimately help their TT when they are not on a table and/or during times when they don't have access to a table.



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Usually, the level of player who needs to work out to improve in table tennis has players around him who can give good advice on such stuff. Most players asking these questions are better off just getting better at table tennis.

The shadow drills you presented are pretty important and are table tennis specific movements. Ladder drills etc. are a bit more random, but can be important for a TT player at the right level of playing. But most people who want to use exercise to improve their table tennis in the broad fitness sense are not going to get much out of it. There is a high level of specificity tied to being fit at table tennis. It comes from doing things specific to table tennis. I can play table tennis for hours even when I am not fit enough to do similarly taxing things.
 
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Won't type everything in detail, but my 14 year old student currently does 1 hour of core training a day, 30 mins of agility (about 20 drills at 1 min each) a day, skipping - double skip of 200 a day, single skip of 300 a day, running 5km every second day
As a whole, her physical training is around 2 to 3 hours every day

Wow. I thought I train hard.
 
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