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

[Heming Hu]

Hey guys

Heming Hu here from Australia. a 2xOlympian, Aussie number 1 Male player from 2017-2022, highest Men's World Ranking of 61, and 2019 Australian Singles Champion.

I'm new to this forum and looking to add as much value to you guys as possible by giving you all the insights, experience and knowledge I have, from being on the PRO scene for over a decade, coach to Club Level Players/Enthusiasts since 2012 ongoing, and now retired player who loves seeing clients improve massively.

I'm curious: What is your biggest goal in Table Tennis, and what 2-3 things do you feel are the main ones stopping you from achieving said goal?

If you guys can help me by answering this, I'll create more content that is relevant specifically to you guys, so that you improve FAST by me offering my experience and ability to teach it: Check out my content here that is relevant for any Table Tennis player (except total beginners and other full time professional players - so basically everyone on this forum ): https://www.youtube.com/@heminghu1434/videos

By the way, if you or a friend happen to know someone who is addicted to Table Tennis, good guy/gal who is really desperate to get better results, join/tell them to join my FREE Skool Community where I teach Club Level players how to increase their level by 100 points FAST, through customized video analysis and prescribed training drills, for FREE. Join here: https://www.skool.com/letsthinklikeeliteathletes/about

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

after 35 years of playing TT, get better than i ever did !
win tournaments in my veteran category, sky is the limit !

2-3 things stopping me ?
- injuries (probably my body can't sustain all that practice anymore)
- waifu getting angry that i spend so much time practicing
- too many bad habits ingrained. At the pace im improving i shall target the 90yo to be more realistic LOL

PS I am working with personal coaches, they were not olympians but they've participated in WTTC and have won some medals there. BUT one of my teammates is an Olympian ! WTF how is it even possible ?! lol

following now your YT channel and having a look

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Hey Heming!!! Awesome to have you here... Enjoyed your recent videos/discussion about changing mindset towards facing unconventional players/styles and how to use these experiences to improve.

I'm specifically trying to increase consistency in the crucial moments without being overly conservative and giving away the initiative (obstacle: need to not overthink it in the moment and play).

Sent from the land of sunshine, chik-fil-a, and pickleball.

 

[Arch]

Hello and welcome to the community.
I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering them:

One thing that pros seem to avoid answering about their gear; how different are the custom blades and rubbers top players receive to the commercial versions? Say if you were to compare H3 national BS with H3 Star National and a custom player rubber made for a sponsored international player or w968 commercial vs player custom?

How do pros actually boost their rubbers?

How does proper chinese forehand technique look like? I've seen some videos but I can't get my head wrapped around the "relax arm, tense, relax" thing.

 

[Tyce]

Welcome, great to see interaction instead of videos which are really just one-way traffic.
I'll be fair, I've had several comments before about your demeanor coming across arrogant at times. But on the other side, having conviction in your ways and methods is a great quality to have in elite sports. I do feel it's essential to remain respectful to others.

Having said that, I'm playing after a 14y hiatus and I feel like there's more potential than ever despite hitting 40. My current smaller goal is to promote one level (to 4th), so I can equalize my previous peak level on paper.
Bigger goal is to promote one more league level (to 3rd), which I think is my current peak with the effort and resources I'm putting in.

My biggest hurdles are
1 - indecisiveness on my preferred playstyle. I'm working hard on sticking with a basic set of guns rather than keep cycling through options, serves, tactics even if I already know how to beat an opponent with certainty.
2 - hours. In my time off table tennis, I found that for running, 2 times a week is just not enough for serious improvement. I think this is just as true for table tennis. 3x per week is a minimum for solid improvement to be able to develop.
3 - opportunities to play with higher ranking players. Most of my hours are vs similar rank or lower. Without a regular impulse of higher ranking play it's hard to keep track of where I want to go.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

I'm wondering, if there are methods or tricks that are recommended to help you 'peak' your performance and mindset when it comes to playing large tournaments, as well as maintaining your performance during the length of the tournament? I havent really participated in legit tournaments for about 10 years and one of the main things keeping me away from them is how inconsistent the playing time and table space is, sometimes you'll play every match back to back and other times you'll have to wait quite a while between matches and it always throws me off. I'm planning on playing in the US open this year and I'm trying to keep an open mind about the experience but past experiences have given me a more negative viewpoint on tournament participation

 

[Der_Echte]

I would say some immediate high value items that would benefit a large number of players on TTD would be...

SERVE RECEIVE

Ready Position/Reset and how to transition in a rally

BH Topspin

Tactical Intelligence - How to realize what is going on and how to adjust

Mental Performance

How to actually train

Equipment selection

How to win

How to be brave / overcome fears

How to push short

How to flick

How to push with quality

How to deal with uncomfortable players

How to defeat material players

How to get a girlfriend

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I would say some immediate high value items that would benefit a large number of players on TTD would be...

(...)

How to get a girlfriend

yes please

 

[NextLevel]

I'm wondering, if there are methods or tricks that are recommended to help you 'peak' your performance and mindset when it comes to playing large tournaments, as well as maintaining your performance during the length of the tournament? I havent really participated in legit tournaments for about 10 years and one of the main things keeping me away from them is how inconsistent the playing time and table space is, sometimes you'll play every match back to back and other times you'll have to wait quite a while between matches and it always throws me off. I'm planning on playing in the US open this year and I'm trying to keep an open mind about the experience but past experiences have given me a more negative viewpoint on tournament participation

Beyond specific advice, a general rule that has worked for me is the desire to adapt. As a rule, if it sucks for you, it sucks for the opponent too, so it usually comes down to who adapts better to it.

 

[longle]

How to get a girlfriend

I won't ever have to worry about this if I have his looks and physique

 

[longle]

many thanks @Heming Hu, your video in the post helped me to solve 1 of my worst weakness: middle play

 

[Heming Hu]

Hey Heming!!! Awesome to have you here... Enjoyed your recent videos/discussion about changing mindset towards facing unconventional players/styles and how to use these experiences to improve.

I'm specifically trying to increase consistency in the crucial moments without being overly conservative and giving away the initiative (obstacle: need to not overthink it in the moment and play).

Sent from the land of sunshine, chik-fil-a, and pickleball.

WALTER!!!!! ma man thanks for saying hello. I miss you man. What actions in matches do you tend to be overly conservative with?

These you are conservative with, are a sign that they need more confidence building in the training field.

 

[Heming Hu]

many thanks @Heming Hu, your video in the post helped me to solve 1 of my worst weakness: middle play

love it man! was it this video?

Also, are you in my skool community where its basically like my YouTube but customized to you and like a much premium version? If not, join here FREE for a lot of personalized help
https://www.skool.com/letsthinklikeeliteathletes

 

[Heming Hu]

I won't ever have to worry about this if I have his looks and physique

hahaha

 

[Heming Hu]

Hello and welcome to the community.
I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering them:

One thing that pros seem to avoid answering about their gear; how different are the custom blades and rubbers top players receive to the commercial versions? Say if you were to compare H3 national BS with H3 Star National and a custom player rubber made for a sponsored international player or w968 commercial vs player custom?

How do pros actually boost their rubbers?

How does proper chinese forehand technique look like? I've seen some videos but I can't get my head wrapped around the "relax arm, tense, relax" thing.

Hello, As someone who has had the privilege of being sponsored by both Butterfly and DHS, I'll give you my thoughts on it all and experience

Hurricane 3 Neo with 39.75 degrees hardness was my choice of forehand weapon. The rubbers DHS specifically sent to my house were always better quality (never EVER bubbled, way more powerful and also way harder!) the 39.75 degrees rubbers i was getting, was harder than the 42 degrees that others were getting from the local DHS shop in melbourne, Australia. I really shit you not! haha

Hurricane 8-80 or tenergy 05 would be my backhand choices. Both worked well for me under pressure.

I would boost the living shit out of chinese rubbers 2-3 times heavily. Tenergy i would boost so lightly that its realy just enough to cover the rubber and activate the sponge to be faster and slightly softer.

pros more or less do that. You have a few that'll boost tenergy 2-3 times hard, but thats probably like 10% of players that dont mind a rubber being that soft.

there is no real such thing as "chinese technique" that just do it with a straigher arm, which if you spin the ball correctly and use your body well, it'll yield more quality than if your arm was less straight. I've seen some european pros also do this, we just see more chinese players having this, so we tend to think its "chinese technique" and no... you dont need a chinese technique to suit hurricane, thats BS

Blades with DHS, I was getting the exact handle thickness I wanted, the exact hardness, the exact thickness of the edge. I chose Ma Long 5, with modified handle and edge thickness to be thinner, and softer as a blade with 87grams. This came after A LOT of trial and error and then realising which model i best liked. They literally just kept giving me blades.

DHS was the BEST! I wish i always was sponsored by them as they gave me 100 forehand rubbers per year, 80 backhand rubbers, 10 blades.

I will say, the difference between custom stuff we got as pros VS what you buy, isnt THAT different. It's better sure, but not by that much. What Ma Long actually uses vs what is bought, isn't worlds apart.

Butterfly HOWEVER, what boll uses vs what you buy are worlds apart! I remember trying bolls racket in a practice session and just thinking WTF!! you cant miss with this shit

Butterfly was good in terms of equipment consistency. And when yu think about who and what they market to, its designed to the tt fanatic who aims to finish a tough day a work, come to a club and hit balls with good enjoyment and feeling. It's very fun playing with butterfly rubbers, but its practicality pales in comparison to DHS rubbers boosted.

Very sticky hard rubbers with untapped power like Hurricane, are spinny AND fast when hit well, and on touch shots like serve and receive, it gives you the spin and control you need. Does that mean that I can't play well with butterfly? OF course not, I won many many many great titles with it.

But, if i was to start my career again, I'd go onto DHS right away. Blades didn't bother me as much as rubber choice. Blades are kinda like a tennis racquet frame, and rubbers like the strings. Strings/rubbers are far more important, even though blades/frame does matter to some extent but not nearly as much

Also, butterfly only gave me 24 pairs of black and red rubbers per year and 1/2 woods. you may look at this and think WOW thats so much... But its really NOT... when I'm training 2-5 hours per day, playing competitions 3-6 times per month and hitting hard, using soft rubbers that die way faster than DHS

 

[Heming Hu]

Beyond specific advice, a general rule that has worked for me is the desire to adapt. As a rule, if it sucks for you, it sucks for the opponent too, so it usually comes down to who adapts better to it.

this is very true! humans do things in matches based on what they THINK will work best based on what they think opponents hate. Likely, they hate the same exact thing

 

[Heming Hu]

Welcome, great to see interaction instead of videos which are really just one-way traffic.
I'll be fair, I've had several comments before about your demeanor coming across arrogant at times. But on the other side, having conviction in your ways and methods is a great quality to have in elite sports. I do feel it's essential to remain respectful to others.

Having said that, I'm playing after a 14y hiatus and I feel like there's more potential than ever despite hitting 40. My current smaller goal is to promote one level (to 4th), so I can equalize my previous peak level on paper.
Bigger goal is to promote one more league level (to 3rd), which I think is my current peak with the effort and resources I'm putting in.

My biggest hurdles are
1 - indecisiveness on my preferred playstyle. I'm working hard on sticking with a basic set of guns rather than keep cycling through options, serves, tactics even if I already know how to beat an opponent with certainty.
2 - hours. In my time off table tennis, I found that for running, 2 times a week is just not enough for serious improvement. I think this is just as true for table tennis. 3x per week is a minimum for solid improvement to be able to develop.
3 - opportunities to play with higher ranking players. Most of my hours are vs similar rank or lower. Without a regular impulse of higher ranking play it's hard to keep track of where I want to go.

hey man, 40 is definitely still considered young in todays age for sure. I hope you are able to hit your dream level as a macro goal

You are croatian right? out of curiosity

Thanks for sharing

1.) Indecisiveness can happen due to not developing enough confidence in a shot where in training it can still feel like its good, but buckles under match pressure. say for example, being able to backhand topspin against backspin. It's not enough to only be able to do that against a regular backspin push. You ALSO must be able to consistently do this against varying lengths, amounts of backspin, speeds of push, sidepsin serves, etc. Indecisiveness can also come when you are "not bad" at many many different things rather than having 1-2 clear clear strengths. I suffered from this for a long time in my earlier years as someone who was "ok" at a lot of different skill sets. When pressure hit and i really "needed this next godddam point" it got tough and I lost alot of matches under this pressure. IF you're struggling with this, you're not alone. You really wanna develop 1-2 clear clear strengths that are go to's when you are in this situation.

2.) what you actually practice, is way more important than time. Time itself does nothing and can actually do harm if you practice the wrong things. Practice is merely building of havbits that you practice. If they happen to be things that aren't conducive to fixcing problems that you encounter in matchplay, then improvement wont happen. If they are, you'll improve. You will sometimes see really fat guys be good table tennis players. I say this with kindness but physicality wont fix pretty much all problems that club level players face, in their quest to reach new levels.

3.) I hear you here, not an easy situation to be in without better players to learn from in how to play the game more efficiently

 

[Heming Hu]

I'm wondering, if there are methods or tricks that are recommended to help you 'peak' your performance and mindset when it comes to playing large tournaments, as well as maintaining your performance during the length of the tournament? I havent really participated in legit tournaments for about 10 years and one of the main things keeping me away from them is how inconsistent the playing time and table space is, sometimes you'll play every match back to back and other times you'll have to wait quite a while between matches and it always throws me off. I'm planning on playing in the US open this year and I'm trying to keep an open mind about the experience but past experiences have given me a more negative viewpoint on tournament participation

Great question! Life is full of change and uncertainty. during my best and most mature playing years, I stopped getting attached to the fact that I have to "play well" or "feel good". I literally just gotta get to 3 or 4 sets before my opponents do. That process can feel great or horrible, my mission doesn't change.

To expect to or want to be at "peak" performance is an unrealistic expecation that non pros have. It will set you up for disappointment. Pros understand this and try to be as good as they can be, regardless of how they feel on a certain day. How you feel will always constantly change, so our emotions are not REAL. Because they are so everchanging, we don't treat it as such a high importance to always be at a peak. What is important, is trying to find solutions to win, with what tools and skillsets you got. Thats what matchplay is about.

The training arena is where you physically work on things that you want to build, so they can unconsciously happen and come out in matchplay. Training is a vehicle to build more "weapons" and match play is a contest to see who can use their "weapons" to best find ways to win points.

In a tournament that is loinger than a day, I would DEFINITELY NOT be expecting to be feeling great throughout the whole experience. I can barely control how I'm gonna feel in a day, let alone a week.

Hope that eases things for you and helps

 

[Brozi]

Hi Heming! I've had really high hopes for your free course on Skool, but got quite disappointed when I noticed you didnt add any more videos to your free course. I understand that of couse, you want to earn some money on that, but I was under the impression that the free course was going to stay free for everyone.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Hey Heming
welcome and good to see you on TTD
you doing a lot of great work mate, for putting good content up.
Hope your venture blossoms - as that would mean more and more players benefit from your guidance!