chinese rubbers and physical fitness

[doppelmoral]

I have been using h3 neo (boosted) on fh for a few months now. my level of play is higher than ever, and I‘ve beaten people I previously had no chance against.

however, I realized that now that I have to use alot of strength all the time in order to play quality loops, and I get tired really fast.

After a few matches or multiple sets, I cant even play „properly“ anymore and have to conserve alot of energy. Also my concentration goes down alot.
Do you have similar experiences?

What do you guys do to improve general fitness, especially for TT? I am willing to work on it, but want to know whats effective.

On a sidenote: I gave my blade to a teammate for a few hits, who usually uses tenergy and an allwood blade and loops well with an high arc. that guy wasnt even able to loop with my blade, he was just smashing the ball. kind of made me realize how challenging it is to play well with h3.

 

[lodro]

that guy wasnt even able to loop with my blade, he was just smashing the ball. kind of made me realize how challenging it is to play well with h3.

I do not think "challenging " is the right word for it. Well, it is AND it isn't.
For anybody who changes from one system to the other there is an "adaption time" . We can not expect to pick up just any rubber/blade combination and play the same strokes and shots.

Fitness also is not necessarily dependent on the kind of rubber we use but is definitely dependent on what level of competition one is playing .
I am the living proof of this because i am a decrepit old codger, using exclusively hard sticky chinese rubbers but have no problems playing club games for 2 -3 hours without sitting down.

Other forum member will soon give you lots of good tips here how to get fitter. 😁

 

[blahness]

Yes, this is where we admit we are not pros and switch to something easier like Dignics

 

[lodro]

Yes, this is where we admit we are not pros and switch to something easier like Dignics

or a gentle walk in the park 😂

 

[Attitude]

I do not think "challenging " is the right word for it. Well, it is AND it isn't.
For anybody who changes from one system to the other there is an "adaption time" . We can not expect to pick up just any rubber/blade combination and play the same strokes and shots.

Fitness also is not necessarily dependent on the kind of rubber we use but is definitely dependent on what level of competition one is playing .
I am the living proof of this because i am a decrepit old codger, using exclusively hard sticky chinese rubbers but have no problems playing club games for 2 -3 hours without sitting down.

Other forum member will soon give you lots of good tips here how to get fitter. 😁

I got the same experience because im out of the gym for around 5 month due to having no time for anything else than TT currently.
And i just came back from vacation. My half drunk ass was already beat after 30 min of training.

Usually doing some cardio or extent your training does the trick.
As i hate running i usually go to training by bike and do more sessions if possible.

As a general rule: if you lack something you need to progress in that department one way or another. Train harder, longer or more and you will overcome that current issue of yours.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I have been using h3 neo (boosted) on fh for a few months now. my level of play is higher than ever, and I‘ve beaten people I previously had no chance against.

however, I realized that now that I have to use alot of strength all the time in order to play quality loops, and I get tired really fast.

After a few matches or multiple sets, I cant even play „properly“ anymore and have to conserve alot of energy. Also my concentration goes down alot.
Do you have similar experiences?

What do you guys do to improve general fitness, especially for TT? I am willing to work on it, but want to know whats effective.

On a sidenote: I gave my blade to a teammate for a few hits, who usually uses tenergy and an allwood blade and loops well with an high arc. that guy wasnt even able to loop with my blade, he was just smashing the ball. kind of made me realize how challenging it is to play well with h3.

H3 is indeed more difficult to use for brushing stroke.
This is the case with harder sponge rubbers.
But if you can get it right, the quality of spin and power is beyond what softer sponge (cake sponge rubbers) can give you and with the new 40+ ball, H3 has become a lot more popular outside of China for that very reason.

I suggest you to do more footwork drills and work on your movement.
if you are hitting with your body, you will have more energy to burn.
If you are just using brute force, then you could get tired very quickly.

Correct footwork/movement, will get you into the correct position to execute the correct shot.
Other than that, more technical parts is knowing when to use power and where to get the power from. But that I can't really explain by the form of typing

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Yes, this is where we admit we are not pros and switch to something easier like Dignics

or Rozena, a rubber that enable noobs to play almost like a pro...

 

[Migzkulit]

It's also how aggressive your play is.
I tend to default to using my forehand for everything if I'm down in a match.

Short ball on backhand? Forehand push
Long ball on backhand? Forehand loop
in-game falkenberg? Forehands allday
Away from the table? Forehand

 

[lodro]

It's also how aggressive your play is.
I tend to default to using my forehand for everything if I'm down in a match.

Short ball on backhand? Forehand push
Long ball on backhand? Forehand loop
in-game falkenberg? Forehands allday
Away from the table? Forehand

I do everything with my BH 😁

 

[Dr Evil]

For me any footwork drill where I concentrate on keeping a wide low stance is a good workout. I find random and semi-random drills more taxing than drills with a set pattern. For a challenge, multiball windshield wiper drills, bh wide fh wide, bh wide bh middle, or random all fh. Also short fh long bh can be a killer.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I do everything with my BH 😁

You remind me of an elderly uncle & auntie in my club. They have pips on the BH side. They will do everything on BH with FH almost non-existence. Even when the ball that goes to FH side they will lean like a willow tree being blown to one side by the wind; their legs still stuck at the middle of the table.

Sometimes I wonder if they will keel over too much and topple over.

 

[lodro]

You remind me of an elderly uncle & auntie in my club. They have pips on the BH side. They will do everything on BH with FH almost non-existence. Even when the ball that goes to FH side they will lean like a willow tree being blown to one side by the wind; their legs still stuck at the middle of the table.

Sometimes I wonder if they will keel over too much and topple over.

oh yes, that's me, I keeled over many times 😂

 

[zeio]

Multiball and plyometrics. Don't even need running.

 

[JJ Ng]

I have been using h3 neo (boosted) on fh for a few months now. my level of play is higher than ever, and I‘ve beaten people I previously had no chance against.

however, I realized that now that I have to use alot of strength all the time in order to play quality loops, and I get tired really fast.

After a few matches or multiple sets, I cant even play „properly“ anymore and have to conserve alot of energy. Also my concentration goes down alot.
Do you have similar experiences?

What do you guys do to improve general fitness, especially for TT? I am willing to work on it, but want to know whats effective.

On a sidenote: I gave my blade to a teammate for a few hits, who usually uses tenergy and an allwood blade and loops well with an high arc. that guy wasnt even able to loop with my blade, he was just smashing the ball. kind of made me realize how challenging it is to play well with h3.

I don't find Hurricane challenging to use. I find Tenergy challenging to use! I cannot generate enough spin with Tenergy and the ball bounces everywhere.

But I was used to playing with Friendship 729 growing up.

I am not a big fan of cross training. I think cross training works if you are a professional athlete and you train 6 hours every day, 6 days a week. Of course you need something else to keep your mind off table tennis. For us mere mortals, the best cardio training is multi-ball and foot work drills. Foot work drills can be as simple as you hitting it to your practice partner's forehand and you jump simply back and forth on your forehand side and your backhand side. Another very popular drill is for your practice partner blocking to your forehand, your middle and your backhand sides, while you use forehand to loop every single ball! That will tire you out.

Generally to conserve energy, I never loop in warm-up's. It became a point of a laughing matter when I was hitting with a new player in the club (he is advanced but new to our club) and I said "I don't loop" when we were warming up. I meant, "I don't loop whenever I warm up. You can loop and I will block for you." He took it literally as "I don't loop in general" or "I cannot loop." Then when we started playing a match and I started looping everything, he looked at me funny as though I duped him. Well, something just got lost in translation I guess?

 

[Lazer]

I don't find Hurricane challenging to use. I find Tenergy challenging to use! I cannot generate enough spin with Tenergy and the ball bounces everywhere.

But I was used to playing with Friendship 729 growing up.

I am a big fan of cross training. I think cross training works if you are a professional athlete and you train 6 hours every day, 6 days a week. Of course you need something else to keep your mind off table tennis. For us mere mortals, the best cardio training is multi-ball and foot work drills. Food work drills can be as simple as you hitting it to your practice partner's forehand and you jump simply back and forth on your forehand side and your backhand side. Another very popular drill is your practice partner blocking to your forehand, your middle and your backhand sides, while you use forehand to loop every single ball! That will tire you out.

Generally to conserve energy, I never loop in warm-up's. It became a point of a laughing matter when I was hitting with a new player in the club (he is advanced but new to our club) and I said "I don't loop" when we were warming up. I meant, "I don't loop whenever I warm up. You can loop and I will block for you." He took it literally as "I don't loop in general" or "I cannot loop." Then when we started playing a match and I started looping everything, he looked at me funny as though I duped him. Well, something just got lost in translation I guess?

I never used to play Chinese rubbers. For me it was a game changer when I switch. Not difficult at all but Iost a lot of power from position 3, but I spend most time close to table anyway. H3 asks you to play with topspin and specially brushing. If you brush you don’t need to hit super hard to get spin, if engage the sponge then yes. All in all it’s a great rubber and it fixed my forehand…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Dominikk85]

I think Chinese rubbers aren't very great for passive blocking and flat hitting. It is great for short game and Looping but if you aren't a guy who likes to hit several loops in a row and instead mix in a lot of blocking or flat hitting than an ESN or butterfly rubber might be better.

I'm a lower level player and I have tried H3 neo and when you take a full swing loop it feels great but for passive play not so much. Pros don't need to play passive a lot but for me using an esn rubber is more comfortable.

 

[JJ Ng]

I think Chinese rubbers aren't very great for passive blocking and flat hitting. It is great for short game and Looping but if you aren't a guy who likes to hit several loops in a row and instead mix in a lot of blocking or flat hitting than an ESN or butterfly rubber might be better.

I'm a lower level player and I have tried H3 neo and when you take a full swing loop it feels great but for passive play not so much. Pros don't need to play passive a lot but for me using an esn rubber is more comfortable.

I like passive blocking on Chinese rubber just fine. The block is a bit slower but I feel a certain amount of control due to the lack of catapult effect.

Flat hitting is terrible on Chinese rubber because it is way too sensitive to the incoming spin. I have learned to loop kill high balls instead of trying to flat hitting those balls. It looks really odd because I would stand on my toes to loop those high balls but you gotta do what you gotta do!

 

[Dominikk85]

I like passive blocking on Chinese rubber just fine. The block is a bit slower but I feel a certain amount of control due to the lack of catapult effect.

Flat hitting is terrible on Chinese rubber because it is way too sensitive to the incoming spin. I have learned to loop kill high balls instead of trying to flat hitting those balls. It looks really odd because I would stand on my toes to loop those high balls but you gotta do what you gotta do!

I read somewhere that some Chinese players twiddle to their BH rubber (usually butterfly) to smash high balls. Is that true?

 

[JJ Ng]

I read somewhere that some Chinese players twiddle to their BH rubber (usually butterfly) to smash high balls. Is that true?

It is true.

 

[lodro]

I think Chinese rubbers aren't very great for passive blocking and flat hitting. It is great for short game and Looping but if you aren't a guy who likes to hit several loops in a row and instead mix in a lot of blocking or flat hitting than an ESN or butterfly rubber might be better.

Bollocks 🤣🤣🤣