How far apart should your legs be?

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I've noticed that during certain moments in my matches, instead of spreading my legs and remaining low, I turn almost to a standing position, which is probably bad for my game, I want to eliminate this bad habit, but I also want some more info on stance so that I get this right.

- When playing matches, (about) how far apart should your legs be?
- What should be the "shoulder-width to space-between-legs ratio" be (considering the shoulder-width to be 1)?
- Does it depend on the player's height, or is that ratio the same for everyone?

- Also, what does having your legs farther apart help with (Agility, speed, stoke quality, weight transfer?), and should the same stance be kept throughout the whole match?
- If not, when should the stance change?

 
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Slightly wider than shoulder width is the usual answer, but it's really personal preference and playing style. In general if you play close the table you'll tend to make lots of small moves for which a narrower stance works better. Further from the table you tend to make bigger moves which are usually easier with a wider stance.
 
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Definitely wider than your shoulder width. You will see that there isn't a rule of thumb when you see pros play. Some like to spread wider than others. The point of maintaining the wide stance is so that you have a lower center of gravity and be able to more effectively weight transfer. Keep them wide enough so that when you loop hard with body rotation, you can still stand firm but not so wide to the point that you can't move quickly. No coach is going to tell you exactly how wide your stance should be. And even if the coach asks you to spread wider, you might not even have the leg strength to do so throughout the match. Often you'll find yourself starting off wide, only to gradually stand up mid-game.

Footwork is probably the toughest technique to master for most people who didn't start proper training when young. I've honestly never seen anyone who didn't start table tennis at a young age who does it properly.
 
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There is a very well and secretly treated formula to calculate how far your legs should be apart. I have once met an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in my neighbourhood. He has told me that the VERY ONLY CORRECT WAY to put your feet on the ground is according to the following secret formula:

Unbenannt.JPG


Insert the following:
n = height
s = shoe size
p = bra size

and you will stand in the correct way forever allowing you to hit five topspins more a day (can't be accumulated).
 
Generally I like the Xylit formula.
But there are other factors which may affect the formula too.
For example I think that the torso to legs length ratio is more important than the shoe size.
And the torso/legs ratio should be corrected with the swing factor, depending on the style and type of the stroke.
 
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My opinion is leg width is not the focus point but overall stance height. Adjust you leg width, knee bend, buttock bump, and forward lean so that you can maintain comfort and be able to efficiently transfer power while ensuring your eyes are just above net height.
 
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hahahhaa. I hope this is a joke, and it is a good one ;)

There is a very well and secretly treated formula to calculate how far your legs should be apart. I have once met an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in my neighbourhood. He has told me that the VERY ONLY CORRECT WAY to put your feet on the ground is according to the following secret formula:

View attachment 19557


Insert the following:
n = height
s = shoe size
p = bra size

and you will stand in the correct way forever allowing you to hit five topspins more a day (can't be accumulated).
 
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My opinion is leg width is not the focus point but overall stance height. Adjust you leg width, knee bend, buttock bump, and forward lean so that you can maintain comfort and be able to efficiently transfer power while ensuring your eyes are just above net height.


Yes, focus on stance and stance height, but the leg width is providing the necessary stability for the perticular swing at that stance and height.
 
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There is a very well and secretly treated formula to calculate how far your legs should be apart. I have once met an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in my neighbourhood. He has told me that the VERY ONLY CORRECT WAY to put your feet on the ground is according to the following secret formula:

View attachment 19557


Insert the following:
n = height
s = shoe size
p = bra size

and you will stand in the correct way forever allowing you to hit five topspins more a day (can't be accumulated).

He wasn't very wise. First of all, you can't multiply or sum over n or p, since those are both constants and not variables. Second, even if they were variables, the sum on the left is infinite and the multiplication on the right is also infinite given p is larger than 1, so it doesn't really tell us much; and Finally, that's an equality and not a formula. A formula shows a pattern in data between variables that correspond to measurable properties of a model. There is no output here that describes the intended leg distance as stated.
 
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There is a very well and secretly treated formula to calculate how far your legs should be apart. I have once met an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in my neighbourhood. He has told me that the VERY ONLY CORRECT WAY to put your feet on the ground is according to the following secret formula:

View attachment 19557


Insert the following:
n = height
s = shoe size
p = bra size

and you will stand in the correct way forever allowing you to hit five topspins more a day (can't be accumulated).

I'll keep that in mind hahahah
 
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This far and low for world-class level.

JVuBQ8K.jpg

ctRErNr.jpg
 
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There is a very well and secretly treated formula to calculate how far your legs should be apart. I have once met an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in my neighbourhood. He has told me that the VERY ONLY CORRECT WAY to put your feet on the ground is according to the following secret formula:

View attachment 19557


Insert the following:
n = height
s = shoe size
p = bra size

and you will stand in the correct way forever allowing you to hit five topspins more a day (can't be accumulated).

What if you don't wear a bra?

Joking aside, this needs to be refined and at least needs to make sense mathematically.
 
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Second, even if they were variables, the sum on the left is infinite and the multiplication on the right is also infinite given p is larger than 1, so it doesn't really tell us much; and Finally, that's an equality and not a formula. A formula shows a pattern in data between variables that correspond to measurable properties of a model. There is no output here that describes the intended leg distance as stated.
the sum converges for any s > 1, the product obviously does the same since they're equal :) This is actually what Riemann's zeta-function looks like with real number argument. Here p is for prime, that is p takes the value of all prime numbers. The identity was discovered by Euler, not to be confused with the even more famous Euler's identity.
 
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the sum converges for any s > 1, the product obviously does the same since they're equal :) This is actually what Riemann's zeta-function looks like with real number argument. Here p is for prime, that is p takes the value of all prime numbers. The identity was discovered by Euler, not to be confused with the even more famous Euler's identity.

Given that n is height, s is shoe size, and p is bra size, the sum equals the sum of a constant over infinity, which makes it infinite. Given that p to the power of s also is also a constant larger than 1, that's a product of infinite constant terms larger than 1, which also equals infinite. It looks like you're trying to assume new meanings into the wise man's formula. I do not know who this Euler person is, but for sure he has not got anything above the wise man.
 
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There is a very well and secretly treated formula to calculate how far your legs should be apart. I have once met an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in my neighbourhood. He has told me that the VERY ONLY CORRECT WAY to put your feet on the ground is according to the following secret formula:

View attachment 19557


Insert the following:
n = height
s = shoe size
p = bra size

and you will stand in the correct way forever allowing you to hit five topspins more a day (can't be accumulated).

He wasn't very wise. First of all, you can't multiply or sum over n or p, since those are both constants and not variables. Second, even if they were variables, the sum on the left is infinite and the multiplication on the right is also infinite given p is larger than 1, so it doesn't really tell us much; and Finally, that's an equality and not a formula. A formula shows a pattern in data between variables that correspond to measurable properties of a model. There is no output here that describes the intended leg distance as stated.

Well, maybe to the untrained eye, but it is a secret formula from an old and wise man that was born in China, raised in Japan, went to school in Tibet and is now living in his neighborhood. You cannot just assume the signs in there are the same operators you are used to. It has traps.
 
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