FH issue: i dun wanna smash no moar, i wanna spin moar. help!

[Lazer]

The point is, when changing your technique starting with something slow is your friend.
The number of layers doesn’t necessarily say everything about speed. What he needs is a slow blade with some flex and a rubber with not to much catapult.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Tyce]

The point is, when changing your technique starting with something slow is your friend.
The number of layers doesn’t necessarily say everything about speed. What he needs is a slow blade with some flex and a rubber with not to much catapult.

Cheers
L-zr

That's how you would do it, and a valid method. But not the only one and, I dare say because Gozo has a history of playing with rocketship 1-ply, slow brings other challenges.
For those of us who started with flexy slow material it's probably no issue to go back and thus a good learning route. If your muscle memory is tuned on a cannon, however, using something completely different is likely counterproductive.

 

[Metaxa]

@Gozo, Why don’t you use that Zyre03 anymore?

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

@Gozo, Why don’t you use that Zyre03 anymore?

Will keep Z03 in the drawer first while I fix my FH. Will go back to this ultimate rubber once I fix my fh.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Spoiler: Here is my bh warm-up.

Spoiler: And here is my fh stroke warm up

I have another 20 mins clip where I play a game against my regular sparring partner. Here you can see my fh in game form so that you may critique it @Tom Lodziak

 

[Metaxa]

What I notice at a glance is a stiff wrist, and arm movements that are usually too short and too slow – you need to turn your body more. (Compared to how I hit topspin)
May I ask how old you are, or at least roughly...

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

What I notice at a glance is a stiff wrist, and arm movements that are usually too short and too slow – you need to turn your body more. (Compared to how I hit topspin)
May I ask how old you are, or at least roughly...

early 50's & weigh approx 100kg.

 

[Haito]

Spoiler: Here is my bh warm-up.

Spoiler: And here is my fh stroke warm up

I have another 20 mins clip where I play a game against my regular sparring partner. Here you can see my fh in game form so that you may critique it @Tom Lodziak

Have you considered learning the "finger power", the youtube clickbait coach special technique?

There are two groups of muscles connected to your fingers. If I remember correctly, thumb and pointing finger is one group and they are running on top of the hand, and remaining three fingers are going through the wrist. Either way. The result is that if you hold the racket with pointer and the thumb the wrist should be significantly more loose than otherwise. When you squeze the rest of the fingers wrist stiffens. You can try keeping the racket with thumb and pointer, with no tension on rest of the fingers ( do not fold them out or anything stupid like that). Then right before you think the contact is squeeze the middle finger, the racket will jump ever so slightly. This helped me to develop a fair bit more spin, the tradeoff is ball jumps in the higher arc for me.

The second thing I observed is that elbow height seems to matter. The best quality shots I get are usually when I get the elbow roughly on similar height as the ball. Then the ball seems to do a nice little arc. So if I the ball is low I get the whole body lower, if the ball is high I stand up more. Its not 100% rule. Its just something I observed, I have not crystalized any hypothesis yet. This seems to matter more for BH, but I've been working on the FH recently and it seems to help a lot, especcially with super duper heavy backspin. If I get my whole body lower, and the elbow is roighly on similar level as contact point or maybe a racket heads worth higher, its much easier to get the ball on the other side.

 

[golden_son]

Have you considered learning the "finger power", the youtube clickbait coach special technique?

There are two groups of muscles connected to your fingers. If I remember correctly, thumb and pointing finger is one group and they are running on top of the hand, and remaining three fingers are going through the wrist. Either way. The result is that if you hold the racket with pointer and the thumb the wrist should be significantly more loose than otherwise. When you squeze the rest of the fingers wrist stiffens. You can try keeping the racket with thumb and pointer, with no tension on rest of the fingers ( do not fold them out or anything stupid like that). Then right before you think the contact is squeeze the middle finger, the racket will jump ever so slightly. This helped me to develop a fair bit more spin, the tradeoff is ball jumps in the higher arc for me.

The second thing I observed is that elbow height seems to matter. The best quality shots I get are usually when I get the elbow roughly on similar height as the ball. Then the ball seems to do a nice little arc. So if I the ball is low I get the whole body lower, if the ball is high I stand up more. Its not 100% rule. Its just something I observed, I have not crystalized any hypothesis yet. This seems to matter more for BH, but I've been working on the FH recently and it seems to help a lot, especcially with super duper heavy backspin. If I get my whole body lower, and the elbow is roighly on similar level as contact point or maybe a racket heads worth higher, its much easier to get the ball on the other side.

Agreed. Gotta get those knees involved to adjust to the height of the ball. @gozo Toward the end of the second video you actually start getting lower and it looks better, and your foot movement is better. I wonder if your flat-hit habit is in part due to standing too straight.

Another thing I noticed is that as @Metaxa mentioned you tend to keep your elbow locked and swing with your shoulder. Not every time, but a lot of the time. You then start compensating for the lack of topspin by lifting your arm and trying to wrap over the top of the ball at the last second. Conversely, your loops at 2:10 and 2:18 look better - and your partner also missed their blocks.