Help with forehand topspin

[pedro.dantas]

I realized that I wasn't lowering my center of gravity enough, and when I was going to perform forehand topspin I was just rotating my torso while standing, and because of that I missed a lot of balls. I'm trying to correct my movement without balls at home, and then apply it in training sessions. Can you give me any advice to improve the movement?

 

[mocker88]

Your right leg. You need to get the power from it, like pushing away when jumping. The leg together with your torso, arm and wrist will have to move simultaneously to give you the speed and power you need for looping.

 

[pedro.dantas]

Your right leg. You need to get the power from it, like pushing away when jumping. The leg together with your torso, arm and wrist will have to move simultaneously to give you the speed and power you need for looping.

Like using the leg to going foward?
Thanks

 

[NextLevel]

I realized that I wasn't lowering my center of gravity enough, and when I was going to perform forehand topspin I was just rotating my torso while standing, and because of that I missed a lot of balls. I'm trying to correct my movement without balls at home, and then apply it in training sessions. Can you give me any advice to improve the movement?

What you are doing now witn bending the right knee works better for close to the table counterlooping. But for adding topspin to a base shot, not so much. You should not cave in the right leg so much, you should just push through to get back to your beginning position on most regular forehand topspin shots.

 

[mocker88]

Like using the leg to going foward?
Thanks

Yes. In the direction you hit the ball, to create more power together with your torso and arm.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Like using the leg to going foward?
Thanks

You need to feel the body weight transfer/shift from right leg to left leg.
The power is from that transfer
Your rotation is a byproduct

 

[pedro.dantas]

Is it better now? But i still can't put much spin and speed in the ball.

 

[fore.n.back]

First, let's look at the lower body. In terms of weight transfer, you've done alright, your right heel has lifted up after stroke which indicated a complete transfer. But there're some mistake
- Overly bent knee, in some strokes your right knee bent to almost 90 degrees. The further you bend the more you will need to push your right leg to transfer weight, and it will cost more time to complete the stroke. Additionally, this also stress your knee and could result in injury. Try to bend it at an angle larger than 90 deg (as you did in this picture).
- Your weight focuses on the right heel, it's not desirable since: 1/ It limits the force you can impact on the ball compare to when you lean forward; 2/ In actual play you can lose balance due to reflex when facing an incoming ball. So try to lean forward by standing with the upper part of your foot (where the orange arrow points).

For the upper body, I feel like your shoulder is a little stiff. When you retract to prepare for the stroke, try to relax it more, if you feel your arm can drop to your back that means you've loosen your shoulder right. At the moment you hit the ball, tighten your belly and let your arm snap like a whip, then immediately relax to recover.

Edit: you hold the racket too close to the base, this could help you put more force into the ball but at the cost of spin

 

[Lazer]

Is it better now? But i still can't put much spin and speed in the ball.

Excellent camera angle for this purpose.

You are jumping and moving your left leg backward, this will forfeit your weigh transfer. Ideally your left leg should be planted with all the weight on it at the end of the stroke.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[blahness]

Pretty sure the grip is not correct - it looks way too stiff. Also dont move your left leg backwards after the stroke.

 

[jk1980]

Acceleration seems to coming from the shoulder only and not by underarm and wrist movement

 

[Takkyu_ga_suki]

In the most recent photo, it appears to me you are standing up too straight. Knees not sufficiently bent and body not bent forward at waist/hips. That combined with your racket ending up above your head on follow-thru, creates a very steep swing plane, meaning it's way more brush than speed. (I'm assuming those aren't underspin balls you're hitting, and if they were, then you would definitely need to bend your knees more.)

Also, as Lazer pointed out, your left foot is moving backwards (on every shot). This too will sap speed/power from your swing.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

The video of you actually hitting the ball looks like an ACTUAL TT stroke. The shadow stroke looks weird and totally unrealistic and if you keep trying to do shadow strokes like that you could end up with some bad habits that are hard to unlearn. I would ditch it and try and get a shadow stroke that looks more like your real stroke when the ball is there and then try to use the right leg to push and then transfer the weight through the hips into your left leg.

The comments about the left foot in the video where you are actually hitting the ball are good. The weight should go from your right foot, across your hips and end up grounding your left foot where it is. If your left foot moves back, the energy you are trying to power into the ball is moving away from where you want the ball to go. That will do the opposite of helping you.

Whatever else you do, don't let what you are doing in the shadow strokes get into muscle memory. The stance is unrealistic. Your stance is way longer than when you are actually hitting the ball. Your hips are way more turned towards the right in the shadow strokes than during the real stroke. You can turn open a little. But in the shadow stroke you have turned open way too much.

The shadow stroke is sooooo different from your real stroke that it may not do anything bad to your stroke. But it could and at best what you are doing is a waste of your time. But you really don't want what you are doing there to get into muslce memory. Whereas, if you use shadow strokes intelligently based on the actual form of a real TT stroke, done well, shadow strokes could help you improve.

 

[pedro.dantas]

In the most recent photo, it appears to me you are standing up too straight. Knees not sufficiently bent and body not bent forward at waist/hips. That combined with your racket ending up above your head on follow-thru, creates a very steep swing plane, meaning it's way more brush than speed. (I'm assuming those aren't underspin balls you're hitting, and if they were, then you would definitely need to bend your knees more.)

Also, as Lazer pointed out, your left foot is moving backwards (on every shot). This too will sap speed/power from your swing.

you're right, it was just brush.
Thanks everyone for the answers!

 

[pedro.dantas]

Hey guys, just a little update, i still too straight, will try do bend more the knees next time.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Is it better now? But i still can't put much spin and speed in the ball.

you jumping upwards, and loosing your power and rotation by pull your weight upwards, make sure your weight is always lower than your hip area and leaning forward

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Hey guys, just a little update, i still to straight, will try do bend more the knees next time.

here your brushing angle is on the upwards, almost like you are pushing the ball out with an angle.

try and catch the ball with a horizontal angle, and focus on finishing the shot by bring the bat to your forehead, and let that action be nature
hitting of the ball is between the horizontal and forehead finish area.

your hand, just focus on that action and allow the rotation of the body to give you the power.
don't use power from your arm/shoulder for the shot

the focus on that finishing action will give you more grip. If you don't get this right, and use power, your balls will all go long and no grip

 

[pedro.dantas]

Hey guys i tried to apply some tips, please give a look.