Absolutely fantastic post Yosua. I love this. I have had a few different coaches say the same basic information in a few words, but, the long version is very helpful. I especially like thinking about the .5 seconds issue.
It is useful to have a high enough level player show you good form for that, because the mechanics of good form for a TT stroke, particularly the forehand, are very economical and efficient but hard to learn until you understand some of the reasons for that economy.
If you waste effort with side to side motions, or with the blade going past your midline, or anything else in the stroke that would take you off balance, your recovery time will be affected and even if you have power, it still will not be as much power as a truly efficient stroke.
From a biomechanical standpoint there are a few things you want to be concerned with in a forehand stroke. You want your elbow stable. The forward movement of the racket and your forearm should come from an internal rotation of your humerus bone. Your forearm is out, the elbow stays in the same place, and, as the arm rotates, and the elbow stays in the same place, your forearm and hand rotate forward. The second part of the arm movement of the forehand stroke is at the elbow joint. It would be forearm flexion. The forearm moves closer to the upper arm as in a bicep curl. When you combine these two movements, the elbow stays stable, the forearm and racket move forward and a little up. The rest of the movement of the stroke comes from the hip rotation and the weight transfer.
If you do that, there is a lot of power in the movement, because the movement is mechanically very efficient, but the movement is not a very large movement. The word used for the stroke is often "compact". That compact stroke with the efficient movement to get the power without any wasted effort, also makes the recoil, back to the neutral position, or, set for another forehand.
In theory, back to a neutral position is a great idea, unless you want to be one of those shakehand players who imitate the old fashioned penhold players by covering 75% of the table or more with the forehand. Or, unless you are one of those penhold players who cover 90% of the table with their forehand.
Then, the neutral position could simply be, ready for the next forehand. And a good player with decent footwork should be able to cover most of the table with the forehand if he is set for it and sees where the ball is going next in order to move into position.
But, a neutral position and ready for either stroke is still a good idea.
So recoil, Recoil, RECOIL. That is the word for what you do after the followthrough that is so important. And your recoil time is directly impacted by the mechanics of your stroke. The difference between a forehand with good, efficient mechanics is hugely different than one without.
And, without all these words, a good pro could show that in about 30 seconds, and then it will take us amateurs a few years to understand the advantages of that stroke that seems so much simpler and so much less flashy than the huge backswing and the wrap around follow through. And then, when we finally realize the advantages of the "compact" stroke, it takes us another few years to unlearn the bad habits from the old patters.
Thanks for posting this Yosua. Love it. And thanks to wturber for doing all that writing in the first place.
