Do you change game/tactics as you get tired?

Brs

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Curious how people adjust their tactics or playstyle as your fitness wears down over the course of a day or tournament. My first coach Brian Pace used to say 'your technique breaks down when your fitnes breaks down.' This is definitely true for me. I play a very standard looping game, and after two or three hours of uninterrupted play I don't get in for short serves as well, don't always recover in time after my own serve, and generally go down 100 or so usatt points in level. This isn't a big deal since I only play that much straight TT in practice, but it made me curious if people have a sort of B game they can switch to that places less demands on your body when you get tired?

Please no advice on exercising more or losing weight. I don't want another fitness thread, there are plenty of those. Everyone will get tired at some point, what is the best way to adapt?
 
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I had also been bothered by this question in the past. How should I play OR what is my plan B when I get tired. Well, after searching for the appropriate answer to this question for several years, here is what I think and this applies to my game.
Either I should practice two playing styles or approaches as one might call it. If I had that much luxury of time which, unfortunately, I do not.
So whenever I get to play, I try to perfect my attack. But the idea is to play smart and work with the angles. Also, what i learned during running (I am a developing runner as well) that there is no shame in walking. So, drawing from this analogy, one should also try to play an All round game. For that you need pushes and blocks. One wise man once told me, Push is the oxygen of your game. If you want to attack, you should have a very good push. The more you realize this wisdom the more it would sink in that against a very good player, you will seldomly get an opportunity to open first or hit a topspin at all.
Under those circumstances, you can always create opening and angles with your push and blocks.
If you can block the ball confidently, you have already taken away the pressure on yourself to always attack and win the point. I hope I am able to explain what I am trying to put across.
Lastly, when I get more and more tired, ball selection becomes more and more important. I had played with some excellent all round players in the past and they always looked very consistent to me. I always wondered why? Because they had a keen sense of reading the ball and choosing the right one for attack.
If you think, you will find everything to be connected which is - In order to get a weak ball to attack easily, you need a good push, a good receive and a good block. If you are serving, then you should be very good with heavy spin and light spin serves which you should use very cleverly to your advantage under pressure or tiring situations.
 
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Yes, I get out my long pips and play a pushblocker game.
Everyone tells me a play better playing double inverted but I play double inverted when I am fresh so it makes sense I play better. The sad part is that I have found that it is difficult to play a pushblocker game when tired. Twiddling and stepping around balls to hit with the FH is still required. I don't know how many times I have stepped to my left to FH a ball but I don't move far enough so I end up with a tyrannosaurus stroke ( small arm stroke, Hey I learned this term from Sean O'Neil ) instead of a full fore arm stroke.

I saw a thread here about different paddles for different opponents. I think that is great if you can adjust to the different paddles.

I am not a good athlete but I am very good at analyzing people's games. Tactics will vary from opponent to opponent and degree of how tired I am.
 
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I have found that my brain usually gets tired before my body. And when my brain gets tired, I don't think well. So, stopping is better than continuing to play unintelligently. :)

But last time I trained, my body got tired and my brain did at the same time. :) Then I really had to stop. Tired body, nonfunctioning brain making bad misjudgments, not a recipe for playing well. :)
 
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It all depends on the level of the opponent. I used to play with more close to the table blocking vs most opponents to start off. It was when that didn't work I tried to up the ante. I guess you do it in reverse, BRS. But for me, I save my energy for later. I push and block, then I loop at the table and then I back up to loop. One of the things I try to do is avoid the pushing short game unless the quality of opponent forces it upon me. Playing hard like that is for practice or for people who open too hard consistently for me to play defence.

The main thing I used to push and block is to test problematic footwork sequences like short forehand long backhand. Or vice versa with long backhand wide forehand. I saw a 2000 level vet lefty who was a much better player when younger kill a 2100 vet who had a higher peak when younger by simply serving shirt and whatever the return, pushing to the very wide forehand. It was an eye opener for me.
 
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I like to pivot a lot, so when I run out of fuel I pivot less and play a more backhand-oriented game. I may resort to block more, but only if I can't move anymore at all.

Yes, that. I try to stick a bit closer to the table, and get a bit more selective about applying effort.
 
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Exercise some more and lose some weight. [emoji23] sorry couldn’t resist. I noticed that I would fish for mistakes more often when I get tired. Usually by pushing with a focus on placement, and trying to get my opponent out of position. This usually leads to two outcomes: either I lose because my opponent can easily cope with this, or they get frustrated and start to make mistakes.


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2 hrs of dynamic play is my usual efficiency treshold too. In training I avoid to play tired and inefficient.
In matches I get more tired with dynamic close to the table play, especially when the opponent dictates the chage of temp and spin. In such cases I try to push him back from the table and keep the game at middle distance.
 
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No I don't really have a backup plan or altered plan. I probably should as endurance is a part of the game. Particularly at tournaments.

I think it makes sense that if you're playing someone you're flat out superior two, to dial back the power or amount of energy you're using in your loops or smashes. You can beat those people on consistency or technique alone. Save your A game for the tougher players.... But I rarely do that.

Just have to be sure that if you do try that strategy, that you don't interpret that plan as, playing lazy or you don't underestimate your opponent and end up in a tight match.
 

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Thanks for all the thoughtful answers. Brett also said if you train tired you will play tired. But I don't want to stop playing after 2 hours, since that would reduce my weekly table time by 15%. Like NL said, my approach can be the reverse of his. This partner serves 90% short, so when I get too tired to flick and step back out, I can work on making a quality long push with good placement, and get ready to block. I think consciously making the choice to change tactics will make for better training than slipping into defensive play unawares, through lack of execution.
 
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I often get tired in training but that is what training is for so no problem there.

When I get tired at tournaments after half a day of playing I can't really change my game tactics as obviously I'd like to play my best style in every game of the tournament and especially in the end of it (finals etc.). Therefore I don't change anything but take longer "breaks" between every point, sit down for a minute after every set, use all towel breaks etc.
 
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I often get tired in training but that is what training is for so no problem there.

When I get tired at tournaments after half a day of playing I can't really change my game tactics as obviously I'd like to play my best style in every game of the tournament and especially in the end of it (finals etc.). Therefore I don't change anything but take longer "breaks" between every point, sit down for a minute after every set, use all towel breaks etc.

I do this as well, but sometimes it feels counter productive. Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm not a fit person, however, I feel that if I keep my heart-rate up for the whole game I can play more active. I have a hunch that this has to do with adrenaline somehow, since I can go all-in doing this sometimes even if I feel very tired.
 
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What you train is what you do. If your fitness causes your technique to degrade and you keep playing, you reinforce bad technique. A thought for the day.
 
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I know you want to play , in my experience and I have gone your route by playing tired over the course of a week , I improve more and play better and better when I stop once I am tired. Then take appropriate break to recover and come back to playing when I have recovered. My explanation for this is that , if you are an out and out offensive player and not somebody like NL who has a great defence as well , its difficult to have a plan B and if the plan B is to use when you are playing tired it might mess up your actual game ...
Thanks for all the thoughtful answers. Brett also said if you train tired you will play tired. But I don't want to stop playing after 2 hours, since that would reduce my weekly table time by 15%. Like NL said, my approach can be the reverse of his. This partner serves 90% short, so when I get too tired to flick and step back out, I can work on making a quality long push with good placement, and get ready to block. I think consciously making the choice to change tactics will make for better training than slipping into defensive play unawares, through lack of execution.
 
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So I generally find at club I'm playing more consistently than at tournament.

Tournaments, at least where I'm located, there's a good amount of in between time. You play in your group of 3 or 4 round robin. So there's 2 or 3 matches there. Assuming you advance out of your group, you should be resting while they're drawing up the people who advance to the next round. So while I want to practice just enough to stay warm, when I'm not actually playing matches, I try to make sure I'm sitting & resting.
 
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