How to keep staying lower during the match?

[Fnub]

Hello! Recently I've noticed I can't make powerful shots because I stay pretty high. When I try to fix it and bend my knees more I still stay high. But I think I'm low. on video I'm almost strait. How to get used to staying low? And a parallel question: how to keep my body weight forward?

 

[PaddyPolar]

I think there main is to lean forward. And consciously remember that when going back, only move your feet back, keep you head forward. Remember, your head is the heaviest part of the body and depending where it is can greatly affect your centre of mass.

 

[Choosikick]

Put your feet wider

 

[Nima Abadi]

I remember myself having this issue, I thought I'm standing very low but when I saw myself on camera I was shocked to see that I was standing almost fully upright.

After looking at some recordings of myself, I noticed that I start in a low position but once I started to move around, especially when moving back, I'd forget to go back into my low position. So I made a mental check during my practices to focus on my position after moving around. It was distracting at first but then it becomes a habit quite quickly.

This is something that you have to actively work on during your game. Cause no matter how low you start, once you start moving around then you will not be in the same position as you started so you have to constantly remind yourself to stand low.

Pay more attention when you're blocking with your BH or when you move away from the table. As @_JOOLA_ mentioned, keep your feet wide open and move from one side of the table to another with your low stance and your feet wide open to get used to the low stance.

But also remember that it depends on your playstyle as well, if you are a looper then standing lower will help you but if you prefer to flathit then it will make it harder for you to execute those shots.

 

[Fnub]

I think there main is to lean forward. And consciously remember that when going back, only move your feet back, keep you head forward. Remember, your head is the heaviest part of the body and depending where it is can greatly affect your centre of mass.

Didn't hear about it before but sounds logical. I'll definitely try to lean forward

Put your feet wider

Thank for the reminder! It's much easier to put feet wider than bending knees in a narrow feet position.

I remember myself having this issue, I thought I'm standing very low but when I saw myself on camera I was shocked to see that I was standing almost fully upright.

After looking at some recordings of myself, I noticed that I start in a low position but once I started to move around, especially when moving back, I'd forget to go back into my low position. So I made a mental check during my practices to focus on my position after moving around. It was distracting at first but then it becomes a habit quite quickly.

This is something that you have to actively work on during your game. Cause no matter how low you start, once you start moving around then you will not be in the same position as you started so you have to constantly remind yourself to stand low.

Pay more attention when you're blocking with your BH or when you move away from the table. As @_JOOLA_ mentioned, keep your feet wide open and move from one side of the table to another with your low stance and your feet wide open to get used to the low stance.

But also remember that it depends on your playstyle as well, if you are a looper then standing lower will help you but if you prefer to flathit then it will make it harder for you to execute those shots.

Thanks for the detailed advice! At the moment I find it really difficult to keep in mind that I have to stand low combining it with the thought "what's wrong with my strokes". Next time I'll say that my high position is the only reason why do I miss to concentrate on it more😁

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Hello! Recently I've noticed I can't make powerful shots because I stay pretty high. When I try to fix it and bend my knees more I still stay high. But I think I'm low. on video I'm almost strait. How to get used to staying low? And a parallel question: how to keep my body weight forward?

 

[Dominikk85]

What is your weight and Fitness?

If you are overweight losing 10 or 15 pounds will make it easier to stay low. Also some strength training helps, either in the gym or just doing bodyweight squats, lunges and step ups (maybe use a backpack with some water bottles in it) and endurance training can also help.

 

[jammmail]

bend at the hips and stick your bum out - if you focus on sticking your bum out it will keep you lower.

 

[blahness]

I don't think one needs excessive bend at the knees. Some bending is good enough. Excessive bending means you're constantly in a squat position which ironically makes you slower unless you're Fan Zhendong with monster legs.

The main thing is to lean forward at the hips and stick your butt out a little. Feet width should always be wider than shoulders - select one that feels comfortable. This 2 aspects will fix most posture issues.

 

[JeffM]

Staying low consistently requires alot of energy and strength in the legs. Building up your lower limb strength will make it much easier. If you have the physical to stay low, then when you want to go low for the power shots, you will be able to without worrying about injurying yourself.

 

[Archosaurus]

I have a similar issue. Not quite as bad, but always lower than I thought I should be. Being low and leaned forward enough will feel a bit silly at first. Get used to that feeling so you can tell when it's right; it should become normal after enough time.

That being said, I injured my lower body by playing too physically intensively too soon after a hiatus. The same could happen to you if you're not conditioned enough. If you wanna play like an athlete, you gotta train like an athlete.

 

[Dominikk85]

I don't think one needs excessive bend at the knees. Some bending is good enough. Excessive bending means you're constantly in a squat position which ironically makes you slower unless you're Fan Zhendong with monster legs.

The main thing is to lean forward at the hips and stick your butt out a little. Feet width should always be wider than shoulders - select one that feels comfortable. This 2 aspects will fix most posture issues.

That's true but you also see some guys who just bend at the waist with stiff legs which isn't great either.

 

[Dr Evil]

Wide stance, but not so wide as to be uncomfortable. Slight knee bend. Weight forward, "shoulders over toes." Hands up, balanced. Start with this stance, but most helpful is to practice recovering to this stance. Begin with warm up drills at slow cadence, plenty of time to recover between shots. Gradually add movement and transitions, and increase the cadence. Focus on recovering efficiently to your wide stance with shoulders over toes. Also helps to keep "quiet feet." Stamping or slapping feet on the ground can mean your weight is too much back on your heals which often goes along with standing up too straight during a rally.

 

[gordonluvsu]

1 thing that is helping me ( at least for Training right now) is to move your right leg first, for forehand. That should be your first impulse when you want to play a forehand Ball.
"Find the ball with your right leg".
Watched a Video from Fang Bo and in the Training today I immediately noticed how it worked.
My insight was:
- Always right leg first for forehand
- small Steps to get stomach and chest behind the Ball for backhand
- anticipate where the ball will Come and be ready with your legs for it

Also make small Steps in between shots while keeping your heels slightly elevated.
For that purpose keep your feet strong.
Train your fascia, warm up properly, feel a balanced acitvation in your body.
From toes through calves, glutes into abs.
Especially glutes.

 

[Dominikk85]

Got those angles of a pro player

 

[dingyibvs]

I Agree with @blahness, getting low makes lateral quickness suffer, so important not to stay too low all the time. Even then, it's important to to not be upright, so to get there the first thing you'll need to have the prerequisite strength and endurance. I squat more than my bodyweight, which is trivial for a weightlifter so you can get there easily too. IMO that's important if you want to be able to stay low and still be quick laterally.

As such, it's important for you to find the optimal height where you're just low enough that you can drop lower fast enough for an incoming shot. Put it another way, you need to stay as high as you can without compromising your ability to drop low fast enough.

My endurance isn't great, 3 straight games and my legs start feeling sore and I start getting lazy. Doing endurance training would help with that, like cycling, running. I bet a cycler like @Jslick89 doenst have that problem. I was playing soccer which really helped, but now I'm out of commission for that for a while I just try to step up footwork in my TT training and started doing squats again to help.

 

[tackyfh]

it's best to do some match tactics multi-ball practice with your stance low to develop the habit

 

[latej]

How to get used to staying low?

Using brain. This is important for me, so I am trying to more or less constantly remind myself: to be wide and low, to move back and forth, and to move after each single hit. Essentially between points in match, more or less like a "baseline" thought (and check).

 

[Jslick89]

I Agree with @blahness, getting low makes lateral quickness suffer, so important not to stay too low all the time. Even then, it's important to to not be upright, so to get there the first thing you'll need to have the prerequisite strength and endurance. I squat more than my bodyweight, which is trivial for a weightlifter so you can get there easily too. IMO that's important if you want to be able to stay low and still be quick laterally.

As such, it's important for you to find the optimal height where you're just low enough that you can drop lower fast enough for an incoming shot. Put it another way, you need to stay as high as you can without compromising your ability to drop low fast enough.

My endurance isn't great, 3 straight games and my legs start feeling sore and I start getting lazy. Doing endurance training would help with that, like cycling, running. I bet a cycler like @Jslick89 doenst have that problem. I was playing soccer which really helped, but now I'm out of commission for that for a while I just try to step up footwork in my TT training and started doing squats again to help.

haha i'm not a cycler...actually i am an ex soccer player of 15+ years. Also pretty into fitness and healthy eating + good recovery habits (lots of potassium and steak). Now most of my cardio comes from refereeing high school basketball and training drills on the robot.

anyways, I've made a lot of posts about how i believe good fitness is beneficial to any table tennis player, however, when i started this sport a couple years ago, i had excellent fitness but the bad HABIT of playing too far upright and not low enough. my coaches always hammered into me to stay low and lean forward, as others have mentioned in this thread.

I think you can break this habit in a combination of ways. Of course, being in good shape is key. having strong legs is a foundation, but don't forget about your knees (search: Knnesovertoesguy on youtube for some basic knee strengthening exercises that can be done every day without any equipment except your own body).

but for me, what finally broke the habit was just lot multiball practice with an emphasis on hitting the ball about a foot or so in front of my body on my forehand strokes. the faulkenberg (spelling?) drill at a higher speed requires you to stay low to hit the ball with any sort of quality and consistency.

if that drill is too advanced, you might need to do some shadow footwork drills without hitting any balls to make sure you have the basic mechanics correct.

This is a good basic video from ti long. not only is this a good dynamic exercise to warm up....it's great mechanics for table tennis. it might seem boring to do this, but it will help. i find that many beginners / intermediate players (maybe even some more advanced) players don't want to do these kind of things to improve their mechanics. that is why they have hit a plateau in their game and i'm still advancing every week that i play.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Hello! Recently I've noticed I can't make powerful shots because I stay pretty high. When I try to fix it and bend my knees more I still stay high. But I think I'm low. on video I'm almost strait. How to get used to staying low? And a parallel question: how to keep my body weight forward?

There is a way to overcome this problem. Some say the dark side offers advantage that many considered to be unnatural.

In the Dark side, stand however you like, heck! You don't even have to move more than six inches from where you are, all you have to do is just use some famcy wrist movement and watch your opponent suffer in agonizing defeat. Tempting? Welcome to the Dark Side.

You can be 80 years old, you can weigh 125kg, doesn't matter. People may call you Gramps but with the Dark Side, you ain't no Gramps nor Chump; but a Champ.