Heming Hu, 2xOlympian (Rio and Tokyo) in Table Tennis here to help your game and personal struggles in the game

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Hey Mr Der_Echte,
Sorry for being slow. I don't quite get what you mean. Any chance of visual/video illustration?
For others who might not know what I am talking about, The FH/BH trip transition looks like what LYJ is here : there are countless examples u can see with FZD and almost everyone doing version of it: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx_QFi_u5dzqD6XRlb6XOOn7lcn5TjceAX?si=u5-HLqLXLH-d3vv2
Mr HH will chime in when he does, but one simple way is to have an effective arm/elbow position that allows quick, easy, smooth BH to FH and FH to BH transition.

Imagine your arm bent... locate the elbow and if you are a RH player, jam your left fist to the right and front of your right rib cage. Keep right arm bent and position the elbow touching the outside front of your jammed fist that is on the right and front side of your ribs...

Now you have a great ready position that makes it easy to transition. You will not even think of grip much (if you already have a reasonable grip) it will now be so damn intuitive to get to ball and hit it without thinking.
 
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says Australian 2xOlympian. Highest Men's World Ranking: 61...
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I don’t wanna hijack Heming’s thread but
I was also overthinking about that but after improved to relaxing my grip, it become lesser issue.

I think it’s the easiest thing to practice, just sit on a chair, then open a cheap movie, then do hundreds of times bh-fh transition (of course arm bent - correct elbow position e


Allgood man, yes improvement is a 24-7 process if you are given the right tools and strategy to get better at the game. i.e as a fanatic obsessed 16 year old, I was walking home from school visualising how I could be better. I was literally thinking about what I learnt the night before when playing practice games with William Henzell. We learn A LOT from our environment also, whether we realise it or not.

People think Time spent on table = improvement. When its really not that simple. You could be doing things wrong, and working hard will only get you better at doing things inefficiently.

You can certainly improve being away from the table. However, if you NEVER ever jumped on table tennis table again, you wouldn't get the vital real life experience you needed, to really progress largely. Improvement is a 24-7 on AND off court process
 
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Hello and welcome! I have actually followed your channel for a while but good to actually see you here and give specific advice/suggestions to player questions. I am a low-intermediate player (probably around 1200-1300 USATT)

My biggest goal in table tennis is to reach 2000 by the time I can't physically play it anymore. If accidents don't happen, that should give me 40+ years to hit; I am willing to wait :). Obstacles would include:

1. Lack of time; there are other pressing priorities in life right now so can only play for club games twice a weak
2. An old shoulder injury which requires maintenance especially I try to play every couple of days

I would love to see more serve receive based reviews of intermediate players as video content.

PS In your experience, how hard is it for early intermediate players to play and get good technique with H3Neos? I play with a hybrid and am hoping I can switch in the future. Good or bad idea?

Here is hoping success for your venture!
have i answered this one?
 
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I do not think @Heming Hu is naive about how Table Tennis Forums work, so he looks mindful of the dynamics.

The few times the forums get a legitimate pro player to talk about TT related things to benefit us forum members, whether mental or technique, the sub-1000 level armchair experts come out of the woodwork and proceed to tell the pro he or she is wrong and how it should be done.

Needless to say, current and former pro players get this bad treatment and do not stay around the forum very long.

I certainly HOPE that this kinda crowd will not treat HH like this.

It is shameful the few rare chances you get to hear it straight from a pro that it gets warped by others with less than .1% of the pro's knowledge.

One good example is from back in the about.com forum days... Werner Schlager his self came on the forum and talked about some basic technique, like maybe how to hit a FH and the huge mass of know- it-all sub-1000 experts who know next to nothing literally chased Werner Schlager out of the forum. They made it absolutely untenable for him to stay and contribute.
 
I do not think @Heming Hu is naive about how Table Tennis Forums work, so he looks mindful of the dynamics.

The few times the forums get a legitimate pro player to talk about TT related things to benefit us forum members, whether mental or technique, the sub-1000 level armchair experts come out of the woodwork and proceed to tell the pro he or she is wrong and how it should be done.

Needless to say, current and former pro players get this bad treatment and do not stay around the forum very long.

I certainly HOPE that this kinda crowd will not treat HH like this.

It is shameful the few rare chances you get to hear it straight from a pro that it gets warped by others with less than .1% of the pro's knowledge.

One good example is from back in the about.com forum days... Werner Schlager his self came on the forum and talked about some basic technique, like maybe how to hit a FH and the huge mass of know- it-all sub-1000 experts who know next to nothing literally chased Werner Schlager out of the forum. They made it absolutely untenable for him to stay and contribute.
Agree. I definitely appreciate Mr. HH's time and knowledge. Hope we can keep the interactions here civil.
 
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says Australian 2xOlympian. Highest Men's World Ranking: 61...
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I do not think @Heming Hu is naive about how Table Tennis Forums work, so he looks mindful of the dynamics.

The few times the forums get a legitimate pro player to talk about TT related things to benefit us forum members, whether mental or technique, the sub-1000 level armchair experts come out of the woodwork and proceed to tell the pro he or she is wrong and how it should be done.

Needless to say, current and former pro players get this bad treatment and do not stay around the forum very long.

I certainly HOPE that this kinda crowd will not treat HH like this.

It is shameful the few rare chances you get to hear it straight from a pro that it gets warped by others with less than .1% of the pro's knowledge.

One good example is from back in the about.com forum days... Werner Schlager his self came on the forum and talked about some basic technique, like maybe how to hit a FH and the huge mass of know- it-all sub-1000 experts who know next to nothing literally chased Werner Schlager out of the forum. They made it absolutely untenable for him to stay and contribute.
appreciate you man!
 
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I do not think @Heming Hu is naive about how Table Tennis Forums work, so he looks mindful of the dynamics.

The few times the forums get a legitimate pro player to talk about TT related things to benefit us forum members, whether mental or technique, the sub-1000 level armchair experts come out of the woodwork and proceed to tell the pro he or she is wrong and how it should be done.

Needless to say, current and former pro players get this bad treatment and do not stay around the forum very long.

I certainly HOPE that this kinda crowd will not treat HH like this.

It is shameful the few rare chances you get to hear it straight from a pro that it gets warped by others with less than .1% of the pro's knowledge.

One good example is from back in the about.com forum days... Werner Schlager his self came on the forum and talked about some basic technique, like maybe how to hit a FH and the huge mass of know- it-all sub-1000 experts who know next to nothing literally chased Werner Schlager out of the forum. They made it absolutely untenable for him to stay and contribute.
well, I think Heming is different to other pros.
His income stream lies in coaching amateur club players, so the forum members will fit that profile.
So every post, every minute spent in forums has a gain for him, not necessary by income, but by understanding the market needs.

However, forum members needs to behave, or we will just need to teach Heming on how to ignore the member, since the button is not yet back.

Otherwise, one needs passion, but its hard to speak to people if they don't have the same TT language
not to mention, every pro I know, will not have the energy to be talking to strangers. (and I'm sure Heming is pretty busy too)
life is hard being a pro, especially from tier 1 TT countries where schedules are packed to the tee.

I was at a pro team mid-autumn day party last week, one of TPE national coach told me, the year isn't over and few of his juniors has already played nearly 20 events. He said by the end of the year, it will be just a bit more than 2 a month (or give and take, 14 weeks of traveling per month). This doesn't include the domestic competition.
Why? they need to gain certain WR to maintain budget, or to reach higher tiers to get more money.

There are a team of 4 coaches that alternate taking the players out on tour.... the coaches can rest, the players can't.

Happy to say, I'm busy arranging one of them to play league in Europe for the 2nd half of season.
 
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says Australian 2xOlympian. Highest Men's World Ranking: 61...
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This was asked by one of my lovely members on my FREE Skool community. I had to share this given a lot of you are curious about pro tt life. So here is a glimpse of the post from my community right onto here below:

Here goes:

I was asked why certain pros don't play certain tournaments.

its hard at pro level to:

1.) Play these events week in week out. It's a lot of travelling which mentally and physically fatigues the shit out of humans.
2.) These guys are already constantly playing competitions. Sometimes you need a break. As well, you need a dedicated amount of time just to focus on practice and building your game without the adrenaline and stimulus of matches that require you to perform rather than be able to focus on building your game. Training serves that purpose whereas matches dont.
3.) Chinese players don't actually get to keep all their prize money. A fair chunk goes to coaches and people who invested in them in their earlier years.

Hope that clears up why and why it's not always fun to go play more and more matches. A lot of non pros play the same players in the same club (which isnt a bad thing at all) but don't have to constantly go travel and deal with the same level of expectations as guys like FZD and Truls do. For these guys, sponsors and way more is on the line. Believe it or not guys, these guys experience WAY more pressure than you all. The better you get the more expectations you put on yourself results wise, thus more pressure. They just are better at dealing with that high level of pressure than even someone who experiences way less pressure but struggles to even handle that amount.

Pro players have the problem of playing TOO MANY tournaments. Whereas non pros often don't play enough matches and get enough experience under pressure

Hope this answers your question Bob and shines some light as to PRO TT vs Club Level Enthusiasts. It's a different lifestyle.
 
says Australian 2xOlympian. Highest Men's World Ranking: 61...
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well, I think Heming is different to other pros.
His income stream lies in coaching amateur club players, so the forum members will fit that profile.
So every post, every minute spent in forums has a gain for him, not necessary by income, but by understanding the market needs.

However, forum members needs to behave, or we will just need to teach Heming on how to ignore the member, since the button is not yet back.

Otherwise, one needs passion, but its hard to speak to people if they don't have the same TT language
not to mention, every pro I know, will not have the energy to be talking to strangers.
life is hard being a pro, especially from tier 1 TT countries where schedules are packed to the tee.

I was at a pro team mid-autumn day party last week, one of TPE national coach told me, the year isn't over and few of his juniors has already played nearly 20 events. He said by the end of the year, it will be just a bit more than 2 a month (or give and take, 14 weeks of traveling per month). This doesn't include the domestic competition.
Why? they need to gain certain WR to maintain budget, or to reach higher tiers to get more money.

There are a team of 4 coaches that alternate taking the players out on tour.... the coaches can rest, the players can't.

Happy to say, I'm busy arranging one of them to play league in Europe for the 2nd half of season.
you sure are correct, the guys are certainly giving me market feedback to a tee. Best way I can craft my content, messages and teaching is by literally understanding how you guys think, your struggles, fears and frustrations, etc.

Can be real tough to remember exactly when I was in a lot of you guys' shoes exactly. Definitely helps hearing the consistent and massive influx of feedback from the guys
 
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yep, get paid double per match in a pro club, say in Bundesliga, then you have 3 times the burden to win, than say earning par and having no pressure.

Few players have told me that when they earn more money, they struggled to win as much as before. The hidden pressure does exist.
 
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Allgood man, yes improvement is a 24-7 process if you are given the right tools and strategy to get better at the game. i.e as a fanatic obsessed 16 year old, I was walking home from school visualising how I could be better. I was literally thinking about what I learnt the night before when playing practice games with William Henzell. We learn A LOT from our environment also, whether we realise it or not.

People think Time spent on table = improvement. When its really not that simple. You could be doing things wrong, and working hard will only get you better at doing things inefficiently.

You can certainly improve being away from the table. However, if you NEVER ever jumped on table tennis table again, you wouldn't get the vital real life experience you needed, to really progress largely. Improvement is a 24-7 on AND off court process
Wishing the best for everyone's improvement, unfortunately I just tore my ACL so no training for me for the meantime sadly.
 
I follow a Chess channel where, even though the game is not live, the YouTuber shows his thinking process while commenting the game. it goes at the real clock pace.
Table tennis is high-level chess!;)
 
says Australian 2xOlympian. Highest Men's World Ranking: 61...
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@Heming Hu

There is one kind of content i'm interested in and I don't think i've ever seen it in videos from pros:

I follow a Chess channel where, even though the game is not live, the YouTuber shows his thinking process while commenting the game. it goes at the real clock pace. The YouTuber will show the moves he considers first but then he changes his mind because of this or that, he starts considering other possibilities, he finds moves etc... he expresses his emotions in all this. his excitement or panic...
he doesn't show the correct move first so we can also think of a position "together" with him
IMO its really a good viewing experience.

---
well for TT i'd like to see a player commenting his match in the same way. Between points: ok that serve didn't work, i'll try this one now. or... i must play more BH down the line or stuff...
of course, in the next point you don't necessarily play that BH down the line if the opponent played on your FH ... but i think its interesting to understand how (pro) players make a game plan, change it etc...

in match interviews, the player answers are always boring: "i just focused and played point by point and kept on fighting". They never say for example: i decided to serve long to her middle 50% of the time because i noticed some weakness there and then put a bit more sidespin to my FH drive

I don't know why. Maybe they want to keep silent their tactics so it might still work in the next match ??? but surely pros will watch the videos of their previous match in their preparation and they can understand what happened, or even remember every match they played so whats the point not talking about it ???

I think we'd learn a lot from that. Instead we watch match videos and see great shots and entertainement but we don't understand whats really going on in the match

thanks. btw watched a lot of videos of your channel. I like that it has original content such like mental issues... keep it on !
https://www.skool.com/pingpong/heav...players-vs-when-i-played-at-semi-propro-level

Signup is FREE guys, don't worry

Check it out here guys! I talk about when I was stuck at club level, feeling like my training was good but I couldn't deal with "dodgy" players and what works at that level VS What works at Semi Pro/Pro Level.

How they are similar vs different

How pressure hits you and how to deal with it+ think during crunch times

A bomb video review
 
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