I think I stumbled Upon A Way to Improve One's RPB

[suds79]

So scroll down for the TLDR part under the line for a quick "what this is" post.

But first, some context.

I'm a lefty penholder. I've been playing penhold for 15 years. When I started back in the day, I didn't know at the time penholders primarily use the RPB. I thought they stilled played TPB and that's what I learned. That's what I saw my brother do when I was growing up. I spent probably a few years on that before learning that it had fallen out of favor among pros and good penholders alike. The problem was I didn't have much confidence in my consistency with RPB compared to TPB. It felt so much easier to block more balls back on the table with what I knew.

No doubt in terms of speed & spin, it's not even comparable. I love how much more offensive I can be with the RPB. But if a ball is quickly fired to my backhand, I found myself instinctively blocking with TPB and if I need more consistency, that was my go to.

For some time while I thought it'd be nice to play like Wang Hao, who uses the RPB all the time. However feeling like "I'll never get to that mindset", I'll opt for a Ma Lin style, where you primarily use TPB & attack with RPB in spots. That still is a viable strategy I believe for some but the problem remained for me that I didn't think my feel was all that great with RPB. I also didn't like that when switching between "should I TPB this? Or should I RPB?" I felt that second of indecision just wasn't working for me.

So over the last week it hit me and was confirmed at club last night. Part of my problem was I didn't think my feel of the ball was as good on the RPB as compared to TPB. And why would it? All feel type shots one typically does with TPB. Pushes, lobs, fishing (I've always felt that fishing is a great shot to teach feel. At least it has been for me). As I was saying, penholders usually push on the forehand side no matter where that ball is. Forehand side, backhand side, they push with that forehand side face. I think this is a mistake. For me, the key to having a good attacking stroke is if you feel you have great feel on that side. If you have the utmost confidence in your ability to put the ball on the table no matter what the spin is because your feel is that good. This could be different for everybody but how i develop feel is if I can hit the whole gambit of shots with that side. So here's what I did.

I decided tonight I'm only going to hit backhands. Furthermore, it's only going to be RPB. This means in practice I'm trying all the shots with the RPB side. No TPB or forehands. Pushes? Yep. Push with RPB. Just like a shakehander would. Learn that feel. This way say you ever want to flip or attack on a short serve and don't like it or change your mind all of a sudden, no worries. You can push with that same RPB side. Normally you'd flip your paddle over to push on the forehand like like penholders do. I think that's slower and IMO you don't learn that feel bettering your RPB. So lets develop that RPB push feel. I also practiced chopping with RPB. Backspin chop. A more sidespin, curing type chop. Lets fish and lob a bit with RPB. Most of the time penholders will lob with TPB. Nope. Do that with RPB too. Learning this feel of the game for me helps my confidence but also my attack with the RPB.

What I learned is that all these shots with RPB isn't that hard. Just have to practice them. Counter attack vs topspin, blocking consistently vs topspin, pushing vs backspin, off the table chopping vs backspin & topspin. Fishing off the table, lobbing off the table, open up soft loop vs backspin (RPB has a naturally closed angle. I found if I hold my paddle vertical and come straight up, this was easy to open up just about any service type ball that goes long if it's some sort of backspin.)

I then started playing matches vs our more intermediate level players at club playing RPB only. Seems like suicide but I was in a mood for experimenting. That went pretty well with a few wins and one loss. Then at the end of the night I played a match vs a guy I beat maybe 20% of the time. He's legitimately a pretty good player. One of the better players at club. How this happened I don't know but i won 3-2. Normally he has a varying spin serve to my backhand I struggle with. They're serves where I knew what to do but always struggled in executing it. So I would often fall back on more passive TPB pushes on these serves allowing him to play pretty comfortable with either attacking or keep playing to my backhand side without much threat back at him. But not this time. I've been practicing RPB all night. Once that weapon was taken away meaning him getting a decided advantage off serve, and the fact that he's playing someone doing a weird style he has never seen before (a penholder standing middle of the table playing nothing but RPB) probably had something to do with it but the fact that I won really shocked me. This is a person I struggle to beat normally. But in the end I returned serve good, blocked good and hit enough attacking shots to pull off the win.

______________________

TLDR Section:

Want to get better at a shot you're not great at? Force yourself all night long at club to hit only that shot. That might sound rather unfun but I assure you you'll quickly get the hang of it when you have no other options but to figure it out. Do that not just one night but a few club nights in a row.

So for me at club in practice & matches it was hit nothing but RPB all night long. (see longer post above for details).

 

[netdriver]

i thought you accidentally stumbled across an ancient chinese secret technique that would magically turn me into a CNT level player

but yeah this seems to be about it

for me solely practicing blocking with RPB made it more comfortable to be used in places where you would instinctively use TPB

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

i thought you accidentally stumbled across an ancient chinese secret technique that would magically turn me into a CNT level player

he isnt ert haha

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

So scroll down for the TLDR part under the line for a quick "what this is" post.

But first, some context.

I'm a lefty penholder. I've been playing penhold for 15 years. When I started back in the day, I didn't know at the time penholders primarily use the RPB. I thought they stilled played TPB and that's what I learned. That's what I saw my brother do when I was growing up. I spent probably a few years on that before learning that it had fallen out of favor among pros and good penholders alike. The problem was I didn't have much confidence in my consistency with RPB compared to TPB. It felt so much easier to block more balls back on the table with what I knew.

No doubt in terms of speed & spin, it's not even comparable. I love how much more offensive I can be with the RPB. But if a ball is quickly fired to my backhand, I found myself instinctively blocking with TPB and if I need more consistency, that was my go to.

For some time while I thought it'd be nice to play like Wang Hao, who uses the RPB all the time. However feeling like "I'll never get to that mindset", I'll opt for a Ma Lin style, where you primarily use TPB & attack with RPB in spots. That still is a viable strategy I believe for some but the problem remained for me that I didn't think my feel was all that great with RPB. I also didn't like that when switching between "should I TPB this? Or should I RPB?" I felt that second of indecision just wasn't working for me.

So over the last week it hit me and was confirmed at club last night. Part of my problem was I didn't think my feel of the ball was as good on the RPB as compared to TPB. And why would it? All feel type shots one typically does with TPB. Pushes, lobs, fishing (I've always felt that fishing is a great shot to teach feel. At least it has been for me). As I was saying, penholders usually push on the forehand side no matter where that ball is. Forehand side, backhand side, they push with that forehand side face. I think this is a mistake. For me, the key to having a good attacking stroke is if you feel you have great feel on that side. If you have the utmost confidence in your ability to put the ball on the table no matter what the spin is because your feel is that good. This could be different for everybody but how i develop feel is if I can hit the whole gambit of shots with that side. So here's what I did.

I decided tonight I'm only going to hit backhands. Furthermore, it's only going to be RPB. This means in practice I'm trying all the shots with the RPB side. No TPB or forehands. Pushes? Yep. Push with RPB. Just like a shakehander would. Learn that feel. This way say you ever want to flip or attack on a short serve and don't like it or change your mind all of a sudden, no worries. You can push with that same RPB side. Normally you'd flip your paddle over to push on the forehand like like penholders do. I think that's slower and IMO you don't learn that feel bettering your RPB. So lets develop that RPB push feel. I also practiced chopping with RPB. Backspin chop. A more sidespin, curing type chop. Lets fish and lob a bit with RPB. Most of the time penholders will lob with TPB. Nope. Do that with RPB too. Learning this feel of the game for me helps my confidence but also my attack with the RPB.

What I learned is that all these shots with RPB isn't that hard. Just have to practice them. Counter attack vs topspin, blocking consistently vs topspin, pushing vs backspin, off the table chopping vs backspin & topspin. Fishing off the table, lobbing off the table, open up soft loop vs backspin (RPB has a naturally closed angle. I found if I hold my paddle vertical and come straight up, this was easy to open up just about any service type ball that goes long if it's some sort of backspin.)

I then started playing matches vs our more intermediate level players at club playing RPB only. Seems like suicide but I was in a mood for experimenting. That went pretty well with a few wins and one loss. Then at the end of the night I played a match vs a guy I beat maybe 20% of the time. He's legitimately a pretty good player. One of the better players at club. How this happened I don't know but i won 3-2. Normally he has a varying spin serve to my backhand I struggle with. They're serves where I knew what to do but always struggled in executing it. So I would often fall back on more passive TPB pushes on these serves allowing him to play pretty comfortable with either attacking or keep playing to my backhand side without much threat back at him. But not this time. I've been practicing RPB all night. Once that weapon was taken away meaning him getting a decided advantage off serve, and the fact that he's playing someone doing a weird style he has never seen before (a penholder standing middle of the table playing nothing but RPB) probably had something to do with it but the fact that I won really shocked me. This is a person I struggle to beat normally. But in the end I returned serve good, blocked good and hit enough attacking shots to pull off the win.

______________________

TLDR Section:

Want to get better at a shot you're not great at? Force yourself all night long at club to hit only that shot. That might sound rather unfun but I assure you you'll quickly get the hang of it when you have no other options but to figure it out. Do that not just one night but a few club nights in a row.

So for me at club in practice & matches it was hit nothing but RPB all night long. (see longer post above for details).

your long post is too long
short post is too short
please include a medium one

you are correct
most times people just want to train on the fun things or the strength areas.
while people who look for improvement train more on the weaknesses and find ways to become a better player.

I use RPB full time, even when I push the ball or drop the ball short.
with enough practice on anything, you can do everything

good luck and continue to become a true RPB master!

 

[pingpongpaddy]

SUDS
its great when the secret to success becomes clear:
Do a proper thorough job!
good luck

 

[POPTWEEK]

So scroll down for the TLDR part under the line for a quick "what this is" post.

But first, some context.

I'm a lefty penholder. I've been playing penhold for 15 years. When I started back in the day, I didn't know at the time penholders primarily use the RPB. I thought they stilled played TPB and that's what I learned. That's what I saw my brother do when I was growing up. I spent probably a few years on that before learning that it had fallen out of favor among pros and good penholders alike. The problem was I didn't have much confidence in my consistency with RPB compared to TPB. It felt so much easier to block more balls back on the table with what I knew.

No doubt in terms of speed & spin, it's not even comparable. I love how much more offensive I can be with the RPB. But if a ball is quickly fired to my backhand, I found myself instinctively blocking with TPB and if I need more consistency, that was my go to.

For some time while I thought it'd be nice to play like Wang Hao, who uses the RPB all the time. However feeling like "I'll never get to that mindset", I'll opt for a Ma Lin style, where you primarily use TPB & attack with RPB in spots. That still is a viable strategy I believe for some but the problem remained for me that I didn't think my feel was all that great with RPB. I also didn't like that when switching between "should I TPB this? Or should I RPB?" I felt that second of indecision just wasn't working for me.

So over the last week it hit me and was confirmed at club last night. Part of my problem was I didn't think my feel of the ball was as good on the RPB as compared to TPB. And why would it? All feel type shots one typically does with TPB. Pushes, lobs, fishing (I've always felt that fishing is a great shot to teach feel. At least it has been for me). As I was saying, penholders usually push on the forehand side no matter where that ball is. Forehand side, backhand side, they push with that forehand side face. I think this is a mistake. For me, the key to having a good attacking stroke is if you feel you have great feel on that side. If you have the utmost confidence in your ability to put the ball on the table no matter what the spin is because your feel is that good. This could be different for everybody but how i develop feel is if I can hit the whole gambit of shots with that side. So here's what I did.

I decided tonight I'm only going to hit backhands. Furthermore, it's only going to be RPB. This means in practice I'm trying all the shots with the RPB side. No TPB or forehands. Pushes? Yep. Push with RPB. Just like a shakehander would. Learn that feel. This way say you ever want to flip or attack on a short serve and don't like it or change your mind all of a sudden, no worries. You can push with that same RPB side. Normally you'd flip your paddle over to push on the forehand like like penholders do. I think that's slower and IMO you don't learn that feel bettering your RPB. So lets develop that RPB push feel. I also practiced chopping with RPB. Backspin chop. A more sidespin, curing type chop. Lets fish and lob a bit with RPB. Most of the time penholders will lob with TPB. Nope. Do that with RPB too. Learning this feel of the game for me helps my confidence but also my attack with the RPB.

What I learned is that all these shots with RPB isn't that hard. Just have to practice them. Counter attack vs topspin, blocking consistently vs topspin, pushing vs backspin, off the table chopping vs backspin & topspin. Fishing off the table, lobbing off the table, open up soft loop vs backspin (RPB has a naturally closed angle. I found if I hold my paddle vertical and come straight up, this was easy to open up just about any service type ball that goes long if it's some sort of backspin.)

I then started playing matches vs our more intermediate level players at club playing RPB only. Seems like suicide but I was in a mood for experimenting. That went pretty well with a few wins and one loss. Then at the end of the night I played a match vs a guy I beat maybe 20% of the time. He's legitimately a pretty good player. One of the better players at club. How this happened I don't know but i won 3-2. Normally he has a varying spin serve to my backhand I struggle with. They're serves where I knew what to do but always struggled in executing it. So I would often fall back on more passive TPB pushes on these serves allowing him to play pretty comfortable with either attacking or keep playing to my backhand side without much threat back at him. But not this time. I've been practicing RPB all night. Once that weapon was taken away meaning him getting a decided advantage off serve, and the fact that he's playing someone doing a weird style he has never seen before (a penholder standing middle of the table playing nothing but RPB) probably had something to do with it but the fact that I won really shocked me. This is a person I struggle to beat normally. But in the end I returned serve good, blocked good and hit enough attacking shots to pull off the win.

______________________

TLDR Section:

Want to get better at a shot you're not great at? Force yourself all night long at club to hit only that shot. That might sound rather unfun but I assure you you'll quickly get the hang of it when you have no other options but to figure it out. Do that not just one night but a few club nights in a row.

So for me at club in practice & matches it was hit nothing but RPB all night long. (see longer post above for details).

Nice read! Definitely I'm trying this one, currently I'm studying RPB and your experience playing in both TPB and RPB styes are much like mine, my goal is to gain confidence using RPB more.