How much power do you use, compared to the Pros?

I'd say about 60-80% on average, I only use high power on about 40-50% of my third ball attacks, the rest are setup loops for a 5th ball winner or i'm into a rally leading up to a slap somewhere along the line usually haha

when u are a beginner , a good trainer/coach will always teach you to have the upper body fully relaxed in order to get the strokes slowly and smoothly without any tension in the muscles . When your brain & body start to get used to it and for example you can hit 100 balls (forehand counterhit with a co player for example) in a good relatively fast rhythm then you can start to give a little more power to your strokes . In general it is proven by body physics and other sports (check bruce lee jeet kun do and other martial arts) that using only the necessary power to achieve a stroke is the best way to have maximum speed and accuracy (can be gained after practice) . Tensing too much your bicep for example when you execute a forehand topspin is bad because your shoulder and back muscles need to carry this extra weight and that makes the stroke awkward inaccurate and the stroke has bad timing even if its going in sometimes...so there you go just let loose and use only the necessary power in the begining

For me, I would say 90% for a sure winner. Normal rally I would go 30%-80%. Smashes for a sure slam dunk winner, it's 100% Most of the time with these smashes I will break the ball, or the ball will not last the entire match. A good way to release a bit of tension for me.

Hahahahaha Nice Jedi...heck of a way to get your aggression out, don't you think?

I'd have to agree, with your friend's statement. The professionals will only use the necessary power to win the point because their experience allows them to gauge what percentage they should be using against lower players. However in the tighter matches with equally skilled players they are easily going up to that 85-90% range because they're conditioning allows such power. Obviously that percentage is more within the Chinese as they have the better conditioning and better physics to transfer that energy into the ball.

I however am just starting out to hit in that 30-40% range as a buddy of mine who is 2500 skill level gave me a lesson. My biggest problem was recovery on the forehand which meant I could only hit 1-2 shots with power (70-80%), but with this new insight and technique I'm doing much better.

It's one of the biggest difference between top players and lower players; top players play with the power range of what their technique allows whereas lower players go harder than they should. It comes down to whether trying to hit the ball harder is worth the decrease in consistency and usually it is not. I think highlights packages have helped give an incorrect picture of table tennis being about big topspin to topspin rallies.

The fine motor skill muscles work much better when they are relaxed and trying to hit the ball too hard will most likely cause them to tense up. However the coaches at the WSA (Prause in particular) has harped on and on to me every day for 6 months about the importance of "Bauspannung". He will be commenting on itTV during the worlds and asked me the other day about the best English translation so he didn't feel silly if he said the wrong thing I thought core tension, ie keeping your ab and side ab muscles tense, was the best translation. This is crucial for stopping the upper body rotating and for recovering quickly after forehand topspins in particular. As RicharD touched on - recovery is a key word. Put too much effort in and you are much more likely to be late to the next ball.

I remember playing Ryu Seung Min a few years ago and I was expecting that he'd come up crunching every shot. He didn't play a full power topspin all match. However good players will vary the power they use and if he had felt more threatened by me I'm sure he would have taken more risks and hit the ball harder.

I would be in the 60% - 80% range however I have improved my strength, body positioning and upper body rotation whilst here at WSA so my power range has definitely increased meaning that 60% - 80% is faster than it used to be..

Cool, thats great advice William, I was having trouble convincing a friend that a lot of the time the shots when you are relaxed and time it well will be faster anyway than the all out effort shots. Do you try to keep your abs / side muscles tense yet let your arms stay really loose then?

You're right d3m0n14k. It's around the instant of contact with the ball that these tense up especially. It was a new concept to me so I'm still working on it I've learnt so much from the coaches here.

ttEDGE - William said:

It's one of the biggest difference between top players and lower players; top players play with the power range of what their technique allows whereas lower players go harder than they should. It comes down to whether trying to hit the ball harder is worth the decrease in consistency and usually it is not. I think highlights packages have helped give an incorrect picture of table tennis being about big topspin to topspin rallies.

The fine motor skill muscles work much better when they are relaxed and trying to hit the ball too hard will most likely cause them to tense up. However the coaches at the WSA (Prause in particular) has harped on and on to me every day for 6 months about the importance of "Bauspannung". He will be commenting on itTV during the worlds and asked me the other day about the best English translation so he didn't feel silly if he said the wrong thing I thought core tension, ie keeping your ab and side ab muscles tense, was the best translation. This is crucial for stopping the upper body rotating and for recovering quickly after forehand topspins in particular. As RicharD touched on - recovery is a key word. Put too much effort in and you are much more likely to be late to the next ball.

I remember playing Ryu Seung Min a few years ago and I was expecting that he'd come up crunching every shot. He didn't play a full power topspin all match. However good players will vary the power they use and if he had felt more threatened by me I'm sure he would have taken more risks and hit the ball harder.

I would be in the 60% - 80% range however I have improved my strength, body positioning and upper body rotation whilst here at WSA so my power range has definitely increased meaning that 60% - 80% is faster than it used to be..

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so actually in the bold text u are saying that we should have the whole upper body relaxed (and off course the abs) and not tensed in order to turn quickly back into position (fast recovery time) ? My english are not very good and i didnt quite understand what you mean . thanx a lot for the info

The abs should be tensed tightly around the time of contact with the ball (we are talking miliseconds). This brakes the speed of the body rotation and stabilises the trunk area so that the shoulders do not over-rotate. It improves recovery and keeps the body stable.

hm... i'm going to try that on mirror during my shoulder and abs day.

But for the power,usually I adjust my power based on the height of ball with respect to the net and distance. If the ball is about 1-2cm above the net, and it is 3rd ball, most likely I will go for 60-90%. If the ball goes long and the bounce is about the net height or low, then I may go for less than 50%. For that case, I will expect the opponent to block or return the ball. And if I had to do a BH flip on short ball, it probably is about 20% of power lol

Great posts here! This makes me think of my own game recently. Since I am still recovering from injury, I cannot give full power especially in my FH. Backhand is all about the wrist for me at the moment, and I almost avoid FH-looping. If I loop, it goes at max 30% power with FH. Last friday I had my first league match since december 2010, and (to my own suprise) I won all my 3 matches. This was big part due to service, blocking and pushing. If you place your blocks well down the line, if you give your serve returns good spin and placement, if you think well about your service, you don't need power, even with an attacking-minded style, to win points.

Important is indeed that you play at a speed that your technique and footwork can keep up with. When you go all-out on a shot, you just know that you lost control over the rally, even if it might get you a point. This is because, as Mr.Richard and William Henzell mentioned, you cannot recover to a 'neutral position' fast enough after your shot. If you manage to get your opponent out of position with a well-placed first ball attack or push, you can keep them running in the back of the court for as long as you want, until you get the angle that is too wide for them to reach. I must say, personally I think scoring points like this gives much more satisfaction than going all-out on a FH-attack.

ttEDGE - William said:

"Bauspannung"

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Makes it make sense why I can feel that doing abdominal work has a direct impact on my improvement.

I know I do a lot of things that waste energy and are not efficient in my matches. For me, making my contact and my strokes more efficient is what I need to improve and I notice when I do this, my speed, my ability to get to the ball, my footwork and the power translated to the ball all improve. It helps having someone who knows how to coach in your corner.

When you contact the ball (timing), quality of contact and what part of the ball you contact are part of making your stroke more efficient. Then there is biomechanics. When your movement is as direct as it can be, you will need to use less effort.

Efficiency: achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort; that is what you are looking for.

One more thing, Ma Long often looks like he is taking swings at 120% of his maximum power. He is so fast that he can often get away with this. But it used to get him in trouble.

Sorry William for correcting you (I dont want to be rude ) but before it's quoted wrong all the time I guess Prause meant "Bauchspannung", but probably just a typing error of you