What would you recommend me? (with video)

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Hello everyone,

In the past i have made a few posts about what you guys might think would be a good blade/setup for me, all i gave was the setup i used at that moment and asked what you thought would be good. This however didnt give you much insight into my playing style. That is why now im making another post, however this time with a lot more detail and a video to show you guys how i play. So here are my videos on how i play.

(im the guy in the green shirt)
Match Play: https://youtu.be/lrCXBAAQu24
Robot Play: https://youtu.be/pUrM_2Li8fk

These videos are a decent representation of how i play. You can see that im very stationary and slow (im working on this by losing weight, but that is a long proces). One other thing you can see is that i usually take the ball very late in matchplay, far from the highest point. Another point of improvement for me is timing for my backhand, as you can see from the robot play for my backhand is that the point of contact differs greatly and therefore is not a reliable shot for me really. I will now discuss my different setups from the past and explain what my pros and cons of those setups were.

TB ALC, FH T05 (boosted) max, BH Rozena (boosted) max:
I really liked this setup. At this point in time i hadnt worked on my backhand at all basically and therefore wasnt really able to use it at all. Therefore i will focus on my forehand setup. The combination of tb alc and t05 for the forehand gave me a setup i adored. The crisp feeling of the blade and the explosiveness of the rubber was unmatched for me. My forehand was deadly, and as long as people would play on my forehand a match was usually a point for me. However my backhand was lacking, and as soon as people started playing on my backhand the match was lost for me, this will be a recurring theme for my matches. Due to my lack of movement behind the table due to my weight i was usually late for the ball, however the grip and feel of this setup allowed me to pick the ball up, almost from the floor sometimes, and spin it on the table with loads of spin. This made me really like the setup, no matter how late i was, if i hit the ball correctly i could place the ball wherever i wanted with my forehand.

Xiom AZXi, FH T05 (boosted) max, BH D05 (boosted) max:
This setup was a big miss for me. The blade was fast and had almost no feedback to the hand which made playing with the setup very dull. Also, due to the hardness of the blade the ball would fly off the bat in an almost straight line to the other side. This meant that most of my balls would hit the net because, like i stated before, i am often taking the ball well past its highest point. The forehand therefore was not to my liking and quite soon i started a journey to find what would help and fit me best. However, one plusside to this setup is that for some reason the backhand felt quite good. Wether this was due to better timing or not i dont know, but i was able to use my backhand a lot better than my previous (above) setup.

Andro Gauze SL OFF, FH R53 (boosted) max, BH Powergrip (boosted) SFX max:
This setup, although a massive improvement from the previous one, is still not my desired setup. The blade has good feel and i can spin the ball from very low, but there is something missing. This is also the setup i use in the videos and as you can see, no matter how late i am im still able to place the ball well on the table with lots of spin. This is a big plus for me, but i feel like im lacking a crisp feeling the tb alc gave me, the feedback from the gauzy sl is a bit more "generic" and therefore less crisp. The backhand i cannot judge too much atm. Whereas i like the feeling when i hit the ball perfectly, due to corona and barely playing the past month my timing is far from ok to judge.

Review of the three setups:
As you can see from those three setups is that i really liked the tb alc/t05 combo, however due to price i would like to find something different that achieves the same thing. Even though andro r53 isnt much cheaper, andro brands (or any other non butterfly brands) allow for 3=4 sales or 20% club discounts where butterfly doesnt. This means that in the long run i can save quite a bit of money. I was thinking myself that maybe r53 is just too hard of a rubber to give the same feeling as t05 and that therefore r48 would give me what i was looking for but im very open to suggestions on what you guys think would be a good setup for my playstyle. For my backhand the AZXi/d05 setup was very nice to me, however since the forehand on that blade was not my cup of tea that setup is not going to be chosen ever again, but maybe you guys know something that has similair characteristics.

What i want:
Im looking for a setup that isnt butterfly since i would like to save some money in the long run. What i primarily look for is a setup with a large amount of grip which will allow me to take the ball past its highest point and still give me the feeling to put it on the table properly. I dont want a setup that loses too much speed in favor of control as i feel like slower blades (like the gauzy sl) feel a little worse for me due to not being able to get that insane finisher on my forehand when im in the right position. However, besides all these points, i think the most important part is a good crisp feedback from the blade (similair to the tb alc).

Do you have any suggestion that can get me what i want? or do you have an idea what would fit my playstyle best, feel free to tell me. Ill also be happy to answer any additional questions regarding my playstyle or desires.
Therefore im looking for a setup that has good grip on the ball and a medium to high arc to make this possible. What i have found so far is that im looking for good speed. In order to specify everything a bit more ill note some setups i have had and what i thought of the setup.
 
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I think you have nice strokes but seems a bit sloppy in your execution of them sometimes and need to work on moving the legs.

So i would suggest maybe a all wood blade and some rubbers that are not boosted. You get away with much more with fast carbon blades and boosted rubbers. You win now by having it, but i think you have nice strokes and touch so can develop really good if you just start to move more and work a little harder by the table. With slower stuff i think maybe you need to move more and better, and not be to sloppy in the execution in the strokes to be able to get good strokes.
 
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@Lula
Yeah, this video showed me just how stationary i am. Always knew i was, but didn't know it was this bad...

The setup used in the video is the gauzy one, so an all wood blade (albeit a fast all wood blade). I understand your point about a slower setup and i would like to agree with you. But i remember when i played in the youth competition (and weighed a lot less and therefore moved more) my trainer adviced me to use a slower blade and i disliked of very much. Not being able to play any "finishers" demotivated me. That's why im hesitant to get something slow. However, practicing more on my footwork will definately be a priority from now on after seeing my footage.
 
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I don't think you are limited by the racket or rubbers right now looking at the videos. I found that I can at my level (USATT ~1200) play with different rackets and after a few minutes I am adjusted. As for rubbers, I am using the Nittaku FastArcG1 and short pips MoristoSP. If you just want to try out different blades, you can get high quality blades with any wood/composite stack from Yinhe at e.g. princett.com (but not the Nittaku rubbers, I get the 3=4 deal at tabletennis11.com or wait for a sale to stock up).
So my last attempt at a blade was the Yinhe Pro Feeling (which provides amazing feeling even for the short pips, see http://mytabletennis.net/forum/some-new-2015-yinhe-blades_topic73121.html) and the Yinhe T6s (cypress/woven carbon/kiri?) which has a harder touch but still good control for top spin. Looking at the "T" series the good people at Yinhe provided many combinations under a cypress/hinoki(?) outer (note the T11+ is limba instead). I also tried different rubbers (DHS Hurricane Neo 3 / Yinhe Pluto SP, Yasaka Rakza 7 / Yasaka Rakza PO) and again not that much difference at my level.

The gamechanger for me was that I dropped 30 lbs (13.5kg) from March 2019 to Oct. 2019. This allowed me to stand lower, and move a lot faster sideways. Also I recommend getting a very good topspin technique, I had back problems with the old style technique and now I am much better off with the "Chinese style" technique as is on YouTube (e.g. YangYangTT, Emrat Thich, pandapong). So I think I would keep the racket and rubbers as is, drop 20 lbs, and do other whole body exercises such as the lower back ones from YouTube "Tone and Tighten" and general mobility (I am going with YouTube Calisthenicmovement right now as i need more flexibility). Also with Covid-19 we changed the nutrition, less meat and 1 warm meal/day instead of two just to maintain weight with reduced TT practice (~10 hours/week right now).

Also I have had a coach for the entire time and this has helped a lot, more so than changing rubbers or blades.
As you get older you can hurt your back pretty easily with poor top spin technique so getting perfect technique and adequate flexibility is really important in my experience (I am 60 so you seem to have some time left before you get there).
 
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I meant more that your strokes seem to be very good! And if you use the legs more you can benefit more from your good strokes.

I think in general almost all players will develop better with slower equipment.

@Lula
Yeah, this video showed me just how stationary i am. Always knew i was, but didn't know it was this bad...

The setup used in the video is the gauzy one, so an all wood blade (albeit a fast all wood blade). I understand your point about a slower setup and i would like to agree with you. But i remember when i played in the youth competition (and weighed a lot less and therefore moved more) my trainer adviced me to use a slower blade and i disliked of very much. Not being able to play any "finishers" demotivated me. That's why im hesitant to get something slow. However, practicing more on my footwork will definately be a priority from now on after seeing my footage.
 
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Going to have to suggest you give us some good match footage. A series of highlights of one hitter quitters is very cool but most advice will be geared towards improving your existing issues. And showing only your best topspin isn't a fair representation. Take this for example. There are some good topspins and some rallies I'm proud of but most of my issues stem from poor short control, lazy shots and no footwork. My topspin forehand is the last of my issues !!
https://youtu.be/B5kdgAWZY3M
 
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Who are you?

Going to have to suggest you give us some good match footage. A series of highlights of one hitter quitters is very cool but most advice will be geared towards improving your existing issues. And showing only your best topspin isn't a fair representation. Take this for example. There are some good topspins and some rallies I'm proud of but most of my issues stem from poor short control, lazy shots and no footwork. My topspin forehand is the last of my issues !!
https://youtu.be/B5kdgAWZY3M
 
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Haha most important is to look good and sexy When playing. I have a friend that always need matching socks with the rest of the outfit.

I do not think you need to change to what looks like a forehand grip when playing forehand. To much forehand grip almost makes it harder to do the correct stroke with forehand. Feel like many players push more instead of swinging with the forearm with forehand grip.
 
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@ejprinz
I dont think im limited by my racket, i just like to play with something that feels so good for me as if it is an extension of my arm. But i get your point and that is the reason im currently very much working on losing weight. Ever since i started studying ive gained over 20 kilos and that for sure shows in my matches, and its my first priority to improve on.
Will take a look at those videos, see how i find them.
 
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@lula
That is definately true, i think people should start with a slower setup. However for me its too little too late. And even though i might be able to improve faster with a slower setup its pretty much "once you go fast, you never go back" for me. However my legs is definately something im going to work on more!
 
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Using slower blade you are forced to use power of your body and build efficiency of the stroke. Using slower blade I use more effort and in turn produce faster and more powerful balls than using fast setup. I am pretty sure that in 90% of the situations the technique and body is a bottleneck and not setup, as long as you are comfortable with the setup (I've used some rubbers in past that I really hate now, and I had issues using those).
 
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@Lula
my trainer adviced me to use a slower blade and i disliked of very much. Not being able to play any "finishers" demotivated me. That's why im hesitant to get something slow. However, practicing more on my footwork will definately be a priority from now on after seeing my footage.

I think you already know what you should get but the mental side is hard to overcome. I would say this -

——-——-——-——-
If you want a finisher, its your finisher, not the blade’s. Make yourself proud that you can finish the point with your own power (from the technique and contact, not fitness). There is nothing fun of letting the blade finish the point for you.
————-——-——-

If you believe in that then you only need several months. Most of the better opponents won’t touch the ball that late, return the ball that long, high for you to finish that easily. A fast blade won’t help.

I would get a cheap 7-ply and if after 3 months it turned out a “mistake”, you upgrade. It costs a fair less than 50 euro anw.

Fact it not that I would. I did It myself :)
 
says toooooo much choice!!
says toooooo much choice!!
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Hi,

There are a few players I know, that use slower, defensive type all wood blades. These Guys use T05, MXP, FXS etc and they don't have issues finishing off points !!!!
I am not saying that type of blade is right for you, but an all wood, all round+, or off - blade could / should be an option, once you get used to using your body and improve technique then better ball speed and spin will come.
there's quite a few really good and cheapish all wood blades out there, I picked up a DHS PG7, which is a off, 7 ply blade for 20 Euro !!! bargain !!
try and stick with your coaches advice, and see how it goes for 3 - 6 months.
 
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As others have already mentioned, you don't have to go with a slow all-wood blade. Clipper is probably the most popular 7-ply all wood. There are others like p700, bt777, ludeack and swat (on the off- side).

You could Also go for a 5-ply off- if you really want to improve your technique. Bt555, p500, korbel, Energy Wood V2 etc.

Remember that most of the times, you can ask the seller to weigh the blade for you, since they'll often vary in the same model. A heavier one will give you a bit more speed, but can also be too headheavy.

My 90 g Allround Evolution ( rated all+) is a bit faster and spinnier (due to having more flex maybe) than my 80 g or so bt555 (rated off-).

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Using slower blade you are forced to use power of your body and build efficiency of the stroke. Using slower blade I use more effort and in turn produce faster and more powerful balls than using fast setup. I am pretty sure that in 90% of the situations the technique and body is a bottleneck and not setup, as long as you are comfortable with the setup (I've used some rubbers in past that I really hate now, and I had issues using those).
Very true. However all top rated pro using carbon blade like Alc or zlc

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