This user has no status.
Member
I think most people and me had this idea sometime but just forgot, does playing fps games increase the reflex time in tt?
Hahaha, same with learning to cook by playing cooking mama and become neymar by playing fifaNot the same muscle memory, the brain does not process the same way, plus: you don't move your feet, you're... sittting. Even for disabled TT players the spinal column plays a major part in reflexes, the only reflexes you activate in video games are the ones requiring your fingers. Sure you get some quick vision of details in FPS games, but it does not help move your wrist, your feet or your spinal column.
I've had the same discussion with people thinking they could be killer guitarists just by playing Guitar Hero, some of them learned the guitar or bass for some months... and at the final they were not better than any music beginner who didn't play Guitar Hero.
I think, something to be understood is, people who talk about reflexes in TT may not be on the right track.
What you are looking to do is improve recovery time, preparedness, planning, anticipation, brain processing, reading skills (reading the spin, the angle of the opponent's racket as it contacts the ball, the spin imparted on the ball, the ark the ball will take as a result of the contact, how the ball will curve and kick, how to counter the spin on the ball.....etc, etc). Those skills also need to be developed for TABLE TENNIS. Because if you have those skills for something else, they won't immediately transfer to TT.
From a technical standpoint, when people are talking about making their reflexes faster, the actual issue for them is often that their reset is not fast enough, and that they don't have the other brain processing and reading skills that are specific to TT. For instance, ideally, for TT, when you take a shot, you should be reset and in the ready position BEFORE YOUR SHOT LANDS ON THE OPPONENT'S SIDE OF THE TABLE. If you do this, you can be set to WATCH, while your opponent MAKES HIS SHOT so you can respond to it based on reading what he did and make choices about how you respond to the incoming shot.
When you are reset before your ball lands on your opponent's side of the table, you have A LOT OF TIME TO PREPARE, MOVE TO AND BE READY for the shot that is coming at you.
But most TT players who are mid-level or lower, do not think of the reset as part of the stroke and, as a result, do not reset ANYWHERE NEAR FAST ENOUGH. Which ends up meaning they wonder why they have so little time to respond to the ball coming at them.
When you practice your strokes, you should not think the stroke is done until you are in the ready position for the next shot. The ready position for the next shot IS NOT THE BACKSWING FOR THE NEXT STROKE. The ready position for the next shot is a neutral position where you could adjust to a shot that comes to either wing.
If you are turning ready for a FH and the ball goes to your BH, you will be woefully unprepared and wonder why your reflexes are so slow. But it will be your reading of the scenario that is at issue. Not your reflexes. And I cannot tell you how often I am setting up for a big forehand only to see my opponent start moving to one side or the other before I have made contact allowing me to hit the ball to the side they are moving away from. If you watch Waldner, you can see him do that any time someone moves before he hits as well. (Not to equate my play with that of Waldner).
One nice thing to know is that getting used to faster paced TT action through things like Multiball will help you reset faster and force you to be ready sooner.
Here:
Notice that the ball placement in the drill is random and that the pace is faster than could possibly happen in a match because the next ball is coming just after ZJK's ball lands on the coach's side. If ZJK does not reset fast enough he will not be able to adjust to the next ball.
Making the time between balls shorter so you have to reset faster will teach you how to reset faster and get ready sooner. After a drill like that, regular play with an opponent will feel slow and you will feel like you have extra time, which you actually always did. You just were not resetting fast enough.
Great post.
Should be preserved on a sticky somewhere. - what no stickies? it deserves a thread of its own
this is why a slower shot can be more effective as it allows more prep time for the followup
I think most people and me had this idea sometime but just forgot, does playing fps games increase the reflex time in tt?
Mate this is a table tennis forum site why you posting gaming topics on here
As long as you know that the original post that you quoted was from January 2021.....so, a little more than a year ago.Mate this is a table tennis forum site why you posting gaming topics on here
So, the real question is, why did EllaBaileq wake this long dead thread up and was it a valid reason or was it an attempt at spam?
I wrote that long enough ago to have forgotten when I wrote it. But the principle is straight forward. If you are reset in time, so you can see what is coming at you, you have a lot of time to move appropriately and CHOOSE your shot.Great post.
Should be preserved on a sticky somewhere. - what no stickies? it deserves a thread of its own
this is why a slower shot can be more effective as it allows more prep time for the followup