What is the right way to improve my backhand?

says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦
Im kinda new guy to table tennis, was starting to play actively about 7-8 months ago. One and a half wing attacking looper 😄 I train regularly and have a good physical shape, strarted to getting win on 1800-2000 guys. So my forehand is pretty strong but i cant say the same for my backhand. Actually last two months 60% of my training was backhand oriented with looping in all kind of it with a coach. Should i just keep training and strong backhand just came with time or i need to find some specific rubber that would suits for it perfectly?
 
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Wow, beating 1800 -2000 after 8 months. Congrats, that's good progress.

Regarding rubber, you need to find exact specific one. Without it pushes go to net, loops go out, nothing works. Even though there are hundreds of pimple in rubbers for the same sport don't be fooled that some of them are similar. No no, each rubber is unique and completely different from others. When you find it you'll know.
And don't listen to your coach if he tells you otherwise. He's just slowing you down. You already lost two months with unnecessary training.
 
says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦

Thanks for complimenting my progress. I have competing in different sports since i was a kid. Actually i was a coach by myself for past 10+ years just in a different sport. I have strong feeling that to improve more - confident and stable backhand is required.
My coach just trying to keep it simple - get a good rubber and learn from it, and i guess he have some point on it. But i keep trying different rubbers, in hope that it will help me to improve my feeling of the stroke faster. Already tried a bunch of rubbers: rakza x, rakza z, sieger pk50, dign 05, dign 80, dign 09c and they all work pretty well with some slight differences, in some aspects. But i don’t feel 100% satisfied, like when i do a forehand loop. I’ve heard that backhand required more time to master, so maybe i just need to keep grinding. Or actually i need to keep finding my holy grail? That is the question 🤔

 
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Since you have been a coach in a different sport you are well aware that you need to practice alot! If i was your coach i would put a rubber with non built in glue effect. Tenergy and Dignics is like learning to drive at monday then drive F1 tuesday. I think it will hinder your developement. Buy like Yasaka MarkV and put your money in coaching instead of using expenive rubbers and testing alot of equipment. Much better investment for your game and backhand.

Good luck.
 
says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦

Yeah, i know what proper training is. Besides my regular strength training i usually do 4-6 tennis trainings in a week each of them includes 1,5 - 2,5 hours of private lessons with a coach. Plus i training my serve 3-5 times a week at home. On a saturday i usually play tourney. I actually tried mark v I know it’s a classic rubber, but it feels too soft and powerless for me

 
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I get a sense that you are a bit loop focused.
especially with bh it’s good to develop counterhit and blocking skills
also work on your ‘table game’ all the strokes executed over the table- serve return, push etc.excellence in this area will help you to next level because these are the shots control the initiative.
why do you call yrself grandmaster?
are you a chess player
 
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says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦

Off course I’m working on all aspects of the game. My backhand block and pushes are pretty good. I can push all day long if i wanna to. But it’s almost impossible to win over good players with pushes. Because if you push too much and too long they taking advantage from it. I want to be the one who starts with initiative. So the next step for me is confident loop and loop kill from backhand with overall game improvement. It’s easier to progress when you make a fokus on some certain part of the game.

Grandmaster because i was national level competitor and a coach in few different sports. My lovely wife used to call me like that for fun, and i like it 😇

 
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NDH

says Spin to win!

Interesting thread!

Is your coach good? Are you happy with your progress?

If yes, what makes you think a bunch of internet Table Tennis nerds (I include myself here 😃) are going to be able to offer better advice than someone who is actually coaching you?

Can you share some video of you playing? It doesn’t need to be a lot - 15 seconds of forehand and backhand is usually enough to be able to help.

Mark V is only going to be underpowered if you don’t have the right technique.

Slapping some Tenergy on the backhand for its increased speed is just papering over the cracks, and your progress will be slower.

 
says Spin and more spin.
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Should i just keep training and strong backhand just came with time or i need to find some specific rubber that would suits for it perfectly?

I wonder what we would think if a boxer was searching for the right boxing gloves?

Is it a matter of training or a matter of equipment? When the question is equipment or training and you are talking about an actual sport and IMPROVEMENT, the answer is never EQUIPMENT.

With a sport/game like TT that is so highly technical and so much revolves around READING SPIN, sometimes, it takes a while for your brain to catch up to what you need to be able to see and understand when reading spin. At some point, you just understand what you are looking at (spin) without thinking or realizing it is happening.

I see your profile shows a Ukrainian flag. When you say you are beating people 1800-2000, what rating system is that? Was this in rated tournaments?

Could you post footage of your skills. I would love to see you play.
 
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Drills and more drills, then video yourself once you feel like you have improved, or you feel you haven’t improved for quite a while, analyze, then more drills…

The only time I suggest you look into equipment changing is you think inverse rubber really isn’t working for you, and want to try pimpled rubbers instead. Otherwise you should only change equipment when your current equipment is EOL.

Or… you want to become hardcore EJ like me 🤣
 
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says Rozena! You complete me.
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Im kinda new guy to table tennis, was starting to play actively about 7-8 months ago. One and a half wing attacking looper 😄 I train regularly and have a good physical shape, strarted to getting win on 1800-2000 guys. So my forehand is pretty strong but i cant say the same for my backhand. Actually last two months 60% of my training was backhand oriented with looping in all kind of it with a coach. Should i just keep training and strong backhand just came with time or i need to find some specific rubber that would suits for it perfectly?
1. Squat low
2. Start your loop with your wrist corked downwards then release it like a coiled spring, your wrist should move like a windscreen viper.
3. Contact the ball at the side rather than straight on.
4. Prepare to drive the blocked returning ball.
5. If it is a BH drive remember to add a little springiness to the hit ( jabbing feeling )

This is my check list. The theory is there, it is the implementation that is the problem.

 
says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦

Interesting thread!

Is your coach good? Are you happy with your progress?

Thanks a lot, guys, for all of yours requests!

My coach is a well known and experienced table tennis coach in my country. His son is a master of sport it’s like 2300-2400+ level. Youth national team training in our club, and there is a lot of very good players as well including pro. For now, i guess, my progress is good and i keep doing it, as i told, i do backhand oriented trainings for past two months and i see an improvement but in terms of good quality/stability backhand just not as fast as i wanted.

The reason why i wrote this topic is simple - i like to talk about sport, improvement in tennis and all things that surrounding it. Plus i like to have some english practice, why not to?
Besides training with a coach i like to get some knowledge by myself, by talking to people with experience and a passion for the sport.

I will try to make some videos of me looping maybe it will help.

And i don’t really like bouncy tenergies on my backhand, the ones that works for me the best for now is some tacky hybrids like rakza z, sieger pk50, 09c.
When i do drills dign 05 and 80 is good - a lot of speed and spin, but in real game situation it’s a different story.

 
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says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦
I wonder what we would think if a boxer was searching for the right boxing gloves?


I see your profile shows a Ukrainian flag. When you say you are beating people 1800-2000, what rating system is that?
Very interesting analogy about the boxing gloves. I actually came from boxing, wrestling and mma to table tennis. And i can say that gloves does not have so much differences in feeling and on a final result of the punch as rubbers do. Plus I didn’t have so much experience on the table and with equipment to know, what’s good for me. So i have this natural eager to try it out. But i have good understanding that power came from legs and a body, not from just a hand, bc in boxing is the same principle of a good punch.

In our country we have categories like:
third grade ( if we correlate it to elo ratings it would be 1400-1600), second grade ( 1600-1800), first grade (1800-2000), than candidate in a master of sport (2000-2200), master of sport (2200-2400), and a master of sport international (2500+) So when i saying 1800-2000 i mean players with first grade of play in our terms.
 
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says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦
Drills and more drills, then video yourself once you feel like you have improved, or you feel you haven’t improved for quite a while, analyze, then more drills…

The only time I suggest you look into equipment changing is you think inverse rubber really isn’t working for you, and want to try pimpled rubbers instead. Otherwise you should only change equipment when your current equipment is EOL.

Or… you want to become hardcore EJ like me 🤣

Oh, yeah!! I like to drill so much. But i get the sense of i should drill even more to be able to apply those drills in a real game situations.
I have not a lot of forum experience, but i started to get the point of what EJ means 😄 And i kinda realize that im slowly but surely became the one as well😏.
For the past 8 moths i have owned about 8 or 9 blades to find out what the best for me.

 
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says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦
1. Squat low
2. Start your loop with your wrist corked downwards then release it like a coiled spring, your wrist should move like a windscreen viper.
3. Contact the ball at the side rather than straight on.
4. Prepare to drive the blocked returning ball.
5. If it is a BH drive remember to add a little springiness to the hit ( jabbing feeling )

This is my check list. The theory is there, it is the implementation that is the problem.

Thank you! I guess this is solid basics that works on all levels and i should keep an eye on them, plus working hard on backhand multiballs and drills. Actually near the table my backhand is not so bad, but on middle and far distance - its really not my strongest side 🙂

 
says Rozena! You complete me.
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For the past 8 moths i have owned about 8 or 9 blades to find out what the best for me.

Stop right there. Cease & Desist!

Owning more set-ups will not make you play better, on the contrary it worsens. Save the money and get a proper coach. It a better return on investment - Gozo, a cured ex-EJ victim.

Oh wait! What is that? Is that a shinny new Butterfly bat? Bye, gotta go...

 
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says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦
Stop right there. Cease & Desist!

Owning more set-ups will not make you play better, on the contrary it worsens. Save the money and get a proper coach. It a better return on investment - Gozo, a cured ex-EJ victim.

Oh wait! What is that? Is that a shinny new Butterfly bat? Bye, gotta go...

I already have a proper coach. And we doing private hardcore practice 4-5 times a week. So usually, if i buying something, it does not affect amount of hours i spend on a training with him. I usually play with only one blade - harimoto alc, and some time i can pick an apolonia to just for feeling of something new or for testing new backhand rubber. Them both are controllable, relatively soft blades and i can do drills or play matches easily with them. The other ones, just collecting the dust in my closet. So i dont jump on different blade every day, despite i have an option to do so 😉

 
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If you can not push, but more so drive and block with backhand, I have a theory you should not be trying to bh loop.
IMO BH loop is technically the most advanced and hardest shot for most players, although some players naturally seem stronger on BH.

Unless you can play 100 bh in a row without missing, without engaging your wrist, just using forearm with no shoulder movement you are not ready and do not process the timing for a good bh loop.

Sounds like you are trying to run before you can walk.

Less is more.

Go back to basics and get Bh blocking and driving using forearm correct then advance to looping bh's.

There are so many players out there that have a 50/50 bh loop that is amazing but inconsistent, but they can't even get 10 slower controlled shots on in a warm up.

Also the tennis could be messing with your stroke dynamics and muscle memory.

I am no expert but just thought I would add an opinion.

As others said coach is probably best person to advice you though.
 
says Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦
If you can not push, but more so drive and block with backhand

Unless you can play 100 bh in a row without missing, without engaging your wrist, just using forearm with no shoulder movement you are not ready and do not process the timing for a good bh loop.

Sounds like you are trying to run before you can walk.

Go back to basics and get Bh blocking and driving using forearm correct then advance to looping bh's.
Thanks, mate !

I can do the basics pretty well. I’m starting my training with all the basics moves: 5-7 minutes of pushes. After that forehand/backhand drive, 5-10 minutes. And i can do 50-100 those drive shots without making a mistake if needed to. If i cant drive properly why i even should have strong loops ? Driving is easy to me. Maybe you didn’t read the start of the topic, but i don’t really think that you can “barely walk” and won on 1800-2000 players.

It’s exactly the wrist engaging what separates good and powerful backhand loop from average one, and that’s what I’m working on. The whole dynamic of that move is pretty specific, i guess I just have to keep my focus on backhand oriented training as i do now, and it will work in time.

 
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