Chubby pros

Atas Newton · Jan 20, 2019

One thing I've never been able to understand is this: how do some top professional players stay chubby with the supposed 6-8 hours training they go through every day? Table tennis is quite aerobically demanding, TT training even more so, yet a lot of players as high as top10 (or top1 even, we're looking at you Wang Hao, Chen Meng and Ma Lin) are sporting that average-person-belly. Are they on super high calorie diet? Doubtful. Is the rumored training regimen exaggerated? Also doubtful. So what gives?

Disclaimer: no fat-shaming whatsoever, purely scientific curiosity

Loopadoop · Jan 20, 2019

It usually takes 2-4 years for them to slim down, give them time for their new diet to make the adjustments.

Atas Newton · Jan 20, 2019

Yeah but why do they have to slim down? Gaining weight in the first place while under that much load is what's surprizing.

SFF_lib · Jan 20, 2019

Imagine how they will look at retirement

Atas Newton said:
One thing I've never been able to understand is this: how do some top professional players stay chubby with the supposed 6-8 hours training they go through every day? Table tennis is quite aerobically demanding, TT training even more so, yet a lot of players as high as top10 (or top1 even, we're looking at you Wang Hao, Chen Meng and Ma Lin) are sporting that average-person-belly. Are they on super high calorie diet? Doubtful. Is the rumored training regimen exaggerated? Also doubtful. So what gives?

Disclaimer: no fat-shaming whatsoever, purely scientific curiosity

Atas Newton · Jan 20, 2019

Wang Hao looks pretty dope nowadays.

ronz91 · Jan 20, 2019

if I had to guess, the body adapts if the stimulus is the same. same reason you cannot use the same gym training exercise routine endlessly, you will plateau. There bodies are good enough in that state to achieve the required level of performance.

yogi_bear · Jan 20, 2019

Wang tao before??

FruitLoop · Jan 20, 2019

The two in the photo are not fat or chubby outside their face.

Atas Newton · Jan 20, 2019

They quite clearly are, but that's besides the point. I'm interested in what kinda metabolism lets you burn through mad amounts of energy and still retain weight. I'm assuming they eat very healthy food because performance depends on it a lot and I imagine the bigger teams like CNT are very scientific about their diet choices.

Simas · Jan 20, 2019

Loopadoop said:
It usually takes 2-4 years for them to slim down, give them time for their new diet to make the adjustments.

they could slim down (if they had to/needed?) in a month, or, to be super conservative, in a 3. There are no super secrets here. Result=Calories in - calories out (this depends on your metabolism *activity).

If we talked about heavily overweight people, they have more problems losing weight. Basically, their metabolism is out of balance, has a tendency to accumulate fat, they have a bigger hunger feeling to overcome....

Atas Newton said:
They quite clearly are, but that's besides the point. I'm interested in what kinda metabolism lets you burn through mad amounts of energy and still retain weight. I'm assuming they eat very healthy food because performance depends on it a lot and I imagine the bigger teams like CNT are very scientific about their diet choices.

I'd guess they are not eating that healthy after all. If you eat very healthy and your diet is very "clean", you would have to eat big amounts of foods (I mean in volume), considering their physical activity and their age, because such foods are not calory dense in general.

Imho I am of opinion, that in TT technique is more important than your physique

Archyan · Jan 20, 2019

Simas said:
[...]

Imho I am of opinion, that in TT technique is more important than your physique

In the highest level, physique is really important IMO.

Table tennis is a grind sport, it's basically who can practice the most while being the most efficient.

Lets say there are two players practicing in the same group (lets say in the national training center in China);
one of the players can give 95% during the whole practice, and the other one only 60%. In the long run, who will be the better player? The player who is most efficient, IMO, will be the better player.

Also with the new ball, players physique is more important than ever. CNT doubled their physique training after the release of the new ball; that must be an indicator.

Lula · Jan 20, 2019

If you have a crazy good backhand like Wang Hao or Kara, it is okay to be a bit chubby since you do not need to move as much haha. I can also imagine because they train so much they proably eat very very much.

Lightzy · Jan 20, 2019

They're not chubby, they're ugly. Man, when Liu Shiwen quits..... That is that for womens TT. It's all utility from there on.

whocarez · Jan 20, 2019

I quess Petrissa Solja is a bit chubby, if she qualifies? Still quite a talent and moves very well. A really good player when she is in form. In addition you can be very fit and still look somewhat chubby. I have heard that it is much better to stay fit but rather look chubby than being slim and unfit. If you slim down, your whole body loses weight, not just a part of it. Possibly some players are more sturdily built and the result is still a bit chubby when fit.

FruitLoop · Jan 21, 2019

Lightzy said:
They're not chubby, they're ugly. Man, when Liu Shiwen quits..... That is that for womens TT. It's all utility from there on.

Chen Meng is not ugly. Not ridiculously attractive like Ding Ning or Liu Shiwen but certainly not ugly.

NextLevel · Jan 21, 2019

Even if we ignore the fact that women need a decent amount of body fat to retain healthy metabolism, you can't tell someone is overweight because of *too much fat* by looking at them. In fact, Adam Bobrow has pointed out on many occasions that Chen Meng is phenomenally strong and that when he bumped into her during a mock dance routine, he felt her raw strength. She likely is extremely muscular.

Table tennis is a sport where quickness is almost as important as strength so arguably, players who seem to be limited in their movement/stamina by carrying extra weight are at a disadvantage, even as the extra strength enables more powerful strokes. So it is striking a balance. But again, you cannot tell that a player has this problem purely by looking at them. You can speculate about it, and that is fair (after all, I speculated about LJK quite a bit), but without real numbers of body fat % vs mass and height, and taking in some metrics on their explosive movements, calling the chubby is a bit too much.

GusShnaps · Jan 21, 2019

Atas Newton said:
One thing I've never been able to understand is this: how do some top professional players stay chubby with the supposed 6-8 hours training they go through every day?

You have a great profile picture lol

Lightzy · Jan 21, 2019

FruitLoop said:
Chen Meng is not ugly. Not ridiculously attractive like Ding Ning or Liu Shiwen but certainly not ugly.

Yeah I know.

yogi_bear · Jan 21, 2019

Chen Meng is no way ugly!! If she had a longer hair she would look prettier.

NDH · Jan 21, 2019

This thread is an embarrassment for everyone involved.

Do we really need to comment about how table tennis players look?

Appreciate the OP likely had good intentions, and was just curious - But unless someone can specifically say what the diet of the CNT team is, it's just speculation and idiotic comments.

Appreciate the sport, the players, the equipment - Don't be negative around appearance.

Chubby pros

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