Is my fast blade a “crutch”?

[ejprinz]

Kai Zhang at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UefkiSPaj2Y seems to get more acceleration earlier, he looks more relaxed.

 

[Cetus]

I am in similar situation, I switched to more flexible blade that has less immediate power and makes me work harder. Also, if you are switch to tacky rubber it will feel way slower, until you adapt.

 

[tt_kidz]

Also, it was harder for me to adapt to a new slower blade. My body for some reason needed more time to learn to put more effort into shots with slower stuff. It usually took about 20hrs to get same ball. Maybe it has to do with that I limited myself with faster stuff to not overshoot the table or something along these lines.

If now is the time that you don't lose ranking maybe its time to try something new.

BTW if what I said, is the case for people than me, than that barrier is only ones head. There is no need for blade or rubber change. There is only need for training and pushing your limits :/ Although using gear you feel is safe might also be helping to convince yourself you can hit/brush harder and use your body more efficient (efficiency is the name of the game in terms of table tennis).

I echo this comment. Rather than changing equipment, sometime is getting the right training.

At one session, the coach pointed out that I have lots of excess movements and I should try to reduce them. Make it a muscle memory not to repeat those excess movements, ie hand swinging to the back or not returning the strokes to the original point.

With more coaching, is easier to get better results than relying on equipment, unless the blade is really too fast.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

As a point of reference here is a short clip of me looping with the Nobilis. (To be fair it’s at the end of a training session when my technique was looking better) <a href="https://youtu.be/N7WsVZ59IHA" target="_blank">

I imbedded the video.

As info: Your stroke is pretty decent.

I notice that, on a lot of your loops you transfer more of your power into spin. There are a few where your contact is more direct and the sound on contact is higher pitched/ harsher where you transfer your power much more into speed. Both are fine as long as you try to develop the ability to choose either when you want. And, ideally, there would be a middle ground where you can also transfer more into speed but still transfer a decent amount of your power into spin. You have enough skill to do those things. And probably, if you were fresh, your consistency would be higher. So....the video shows both good things and things you can develop at the same time.

Your coach seems to know how to work with you. Trust that. You could ask him if he thinks you would benefit from a certain amount of time using a slower blade to try and learn how to transfer more power into the ball than you currently are. I would trust his advice.

But Brs may have a point. With someone at your level, who is doing as much right as you are, you might not need to slow down the blade. I still think it could help. But your strokes are good enough that it isn't really needed. You are not cutting down your stroke as a result of the speed of your blade. And those are the people who would most benefit from a slower setup.

 

[Haito]

I echo this comment. Rather than changing equipment, sometime is getting the right training.

I echo this comment. With emphasis on RIGHT.

 

[Lula]

I agree with what someone else above wrote that power is not everything. Think slower gear could be beneficial for placement, variation of tempo and other ways of winning the point.

Regarding the loop i think you should try to stand a little wider and or with knees pointing more out. Have hard time explaining in words but it looks like you need to go to the toilet.

If you stand more steady, it will be easier to have the feet more planted in the ground.. Now you use the body but the feet moves alot in the stroke so i think you loose power from the ground. You do not get any leverage from the ground. A little like trying to move fast on ice with shoes: you push away with power but have no anchoring with the the ice so you do not come very far since you do not get any power from the ground.

 

[Michael Kitt]

To me it feels like you actually get more power if feet are not planted at the moment of impact (one foot lifts), but instead if they are planted before building the momentum for the swing. For reference, since some of you think Aruna has the most power, that is what he does sometimes.

 

[Lula]

Yes, i think When you hit the ball the movement with the body is already done. I think some players move the feet a bit at moment at impact because the force is to strong for them to be able to stop the motion. Probably okey if they have the time? Not good to loose the foot and not be able to play forehand again. But I think they guy in the video need to do what they guy in the above comment say, try to have the feet planted more when you load the power from the body.

 

[NextLevel]

I think you should use whatever you want. It won't make your game that much better or worse - the main thing is that you enjoy playing with it and the rest becomes a matter of training hours.

IMHO, the key to fast equipment is to play for the rally and the key with slower equipment is to play for the first attack. Nowadays at the lower levels, the plastic ball has made the first attack not as devastating so being able to play for the rally has value and If your blade is too slow to do it, you will be expending a lot of energy when forced to play multiple shots. That said, you don't want something so fast that you can't touch the ball short or open against backspin consistently.

But by far and away the main factor for improving is the training hours. In fact the more training hours you put in, the faster the equipment you should use relative to what you would use without the hours.

That said knowing what I know now, it is possible to use equipment that is too slow for you. Really what you should be looking at is not how you loop against block (highly overrated for picking blades unless you are maximizing spin and arc), but how you loop and push backspin, how you counterloop, and how you block especially on the backhand, while noting which of these are weapons for you. For me if I feel too much tension when opening vs backspin with a piece of equipment, that tends to ensure I can't play with the rubber or blade. Since I became more mobile, I also look for sufficient speed to loop away from the table and while this compromises my short pushing ability, I accept that is what I have to work on. For another player with different focus, it can be completely different.

Also as a general rule, it is much harder to play with OFF- blades like the HL5 these days. Not unreasonable especially if you are a good defender but much harder. I suspect the pros are using something faster than the commercial HL5. The Nobilis sounds like a good blade but I haven't used it so I can't speak from experience about it.

As some have pointed out, you can get a bit more out of your technique by syncing the arm and body better.

 

[Michael Kitt]

Not good to loose the foot and not be able to play forehand again.

Yeah recovery can take a bit longer if you lift your leg. Usually you want to do it when you're pretty sure you're hitting a winner, but yeah, need good agility.

 

[JediJesseS]

https://youtu.be/XU5E_aaEBEA?t=322

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4_mWWJkfAU

https://youtu.be/cyCcKk_RWfc?t=908

These concepts were very helpful for me, maybe they will change your mindset also. You are putting in huge swings but not really getting any result, the energy transmitted to the ball is not in the right direction. We watch professional movements and try to copy but forget that the stroke must be built up, not trying to begin at the end point. Otherwise the essentials that make impact, speed, and spin are lost. Simplify and minimize no matter the blade.

 

[NextLevel]

https://youtu.be/XU5E_aaEBEA?t=322

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4_mWWJkfAU

https://youtu.be/cyCcKk_RWfc?t=908

These concepts were very helpful for me, maybe they will change your mindset also. You are putting in huge swings but not really getting any result, the energy transmitted to the ball is not in the right direction. We watch professional movements and try to copy but forget that the stroke must be built up, not trying to begin at the end point. Otherwise the essentials that make impact, speed, and spin are lost. Simplify and minimize no matter the blade.

Hinoki has a feeling that for some people discourages giving good impact to the ball. But your post is very valuable as I think people sometimes miss the essence of providing a high quality ball is to look for technique/timing that produces it, not necessarily to mimicking everything a pro does (both are not divergent for an adult learner with the right focus).

 

[Baal]

Here is something I figured out*. You have to constantly train shots on both sides where you have to move to get to the ball. If your equipment lets you hit good quality consistent shots whilst doing that then it has done its job, and maybe you don't need to worry about blades or rubber. At that point you will improve by improving anticipation, serve, return of serve, match calmness, etc. And also of course moving MORE to get to the ball. If you can't do that with any equipment, you have work to do, and you start with changing the way you practice.

* Actually former pro players I took lessons from tried to communicate this to me in various ways but it took awhile before it sunk in to my thick head. Once I really grasped it (and found training partners who also believed this), I improved really quickly. Finding good trajning partners is a key element, not always easy.

 

[BryanY]

UPDATE:

Thanks again for the feedback. I’ve been focused on making sure that my energy is more in the forward direction instead of upward while looping. It seems to be paying off and my loops are higher quality, deeper, and harder to block. Also I agree with @NextLevel that Hinoki has a certain feeling that for some people they don’t impact the ball as hard. I’m currently using the HL5 since it’s more linear than the Nobilis and has a more standard feel. (I got sheet of Dignics 09C at a discount which I’m using on forehand).

Here is a clip of me looping cross table. I feel that my motion while looping backspin is more forward than in the video from the original post.

https://youtu.be/0Tn_9R1Y9q4

Also, I’ve always had some difficulty when looping down the line (while standing on the forehand side of the table). The motion and especially the follow through always seemed awkward and unnatural to me. Maybe because it seems like I can’t rotate all the way through. Anyway, I’m using more forward motion and there is solid improvement with that too.

https://youtu.be/-2t0A_IZhsk

Next up is make sure I can keep up with the proper forward motion during a real drill with movement and also a game. Hopefully my technique won’t break down under pressure. Just getting back in shape now after quarantine.

 

[Shifu]

Much better.

You should still move a bit away from the table and lean more forward. You will have the same distance to the ball but much more space to loop forwards. Right now your center of gravity is not in front of your body.

 

[zyu81]

UPDATE:

Thanks again for the feedback. I’ve been focused on making sure that my energy is more in the forward direction instead of upward while looping. It seems to be paying off and my loops are higher quality, deeper, and harder to block. Also I agree with @NextLevel that Hinoki has a certain feeling that for some people they don’t impact the ball as hard. I’m currently using the HL5 since it’s more linear than the Nobilis and has a more standard feel. (I got sheet of Dignics 09C at a discount which I’m using on forehand).

Here is a clip of me looping cross table. I feel that my motion while looping backspin is more forward than in the video from the original post.

https://youtu.be/0Tn_9R1Y9q4

Also, I’ve always had some difficulty when looping down the line (while standing on the forehand side of the table). The motion and especially the follow through always seemed awkward and unnatural to me. Maybe because it seems like I can’t rotate all the way through. Anyway, I’m using more forward motion and there is solid improvement with that too.

https://youtu.be/-2t0A_IZhsk

Next up is make sure I can keep up with the proper forward motion during a real drill with movement and also a game. Hopefully my technique won’t break down under pressure. Just getting back in shape now after quarantine.

It looks like your weight is still being transferred across your body to the side rather than forwards. Also, your stroke length is huge, I assume you are not looping like this in games so I'm curious what a more efficient and condensed stroke in practice looks like. These two factors combined likely explain why you have difficulty looping down the line. Lastly, it feels like your arm is swinging wildly and dragging your body along for the ride. It should be the other way around. It is important to focus not on the aesthetics of the stroke (ensuring that you are checking all the boxes for which body parts should be moving in which way) but understanding the order, reasons why, and importance of each body motion so you can adjust accordingly to the situation.

 

[NextLevel]

UPDATE:

Thanks again for the feedback. I’ve been focused on making sure that my energy is more in the forward direction instead of upward while looping. It seems to be paying off and my loops are higher quality, deeper, and harder to block. Also I agree with @NextLevel that Hinoki has a certain feeling that for some people they don’t impact the ball as hard. I’m currently using the HL5 since it’s more linear than the Nobilis and has a more standard feel. (I got sheet of Dignics 09C at a discount which I’m using on forehand).

Here is a clip of me looping cross table. I feel that my motion while looping backspin is more forward than in the video from the original post.

https://youtu.be/0Tn_9R1Y9q4

Also, I’ve always had some difficulty when looping down the line (while standing on the forehand side of the table). The motion and especially the follow through always seemed awkward and unnatural to me. Maybe because it seems like I can’t rotate all the way through. Anyway, I’m using more forward motion and there is solid improvement with that too.

https://youtu.be/-2t0A_IZhsk

Next up is make sure I can keep up with the proper forward motion during a real drill with movement and also a game. Hopefully my technique won’t break down under pressure. Just getting back in shape now after quarantine.

I think zyu81 captured most of it but something about this stroke is a massive step in the wrong direction. Your old stroke had more correct elements, this blade looks too slow for you and you are massively overcompensating and swinging across your body to a point where if you don't finish the point in a match, your recovery will be massively compromised.

 

[zyu81]

Seconding what NextLevel said, and, I forgot a piece in my earlier post. The HL5 is not a linear blade at all...small contact and the ball will barely bounce, swing hard, and it will rocket off. That is the opposite of linear I believe, but I may be wrong as this is not something I generally look at in blades. And I don't know what "a more standard feel" means but as I posted previously on this thread I am afraid you are overthinking these things for where your game currently stands.

 

[LordPippington]

I think it also depends on what kind of shot you're going for. Is your big loop a kind of suicide attack? You win it or lose it on the hefty swing? Problem there is you run into issues like Chen does at the timestamp video here. Then try to see how many are actually winners... if your attempted winners are resulting in more losses than winners... maybe they're really LOSERS!

Maybe go a bit smaller on shots you aren't sure will give you the point, bide your time for a good setup and then let loose? I don't know if the coach just wants to work on your shot in isolation, but you have what I like to call the 'ballerina pose' where you do a big swing, expecting a win so the final posture is held... only to watch the ball coming bouncing back on your side of the table! As a defender, it's probably my favorite shot to win on!

That all goes back to baal's point he made earlier. Try having to MOVE before hitting those shots and see if it all crumbles...

https://youtu.be/B51iQ8kFD4k?t=72

Anyway, just one idiot's opinion

 

[BryanY]

Okay, so this is my first time playing after six months of quarantine stuff. Current goal was to get my swing motion in the right direction and acceleration/whip. I might have gotten a little over zealous with a giant swing during those drills since footwork movement wasn't required. I've gotten corrected about that in the past by coaches for not having a compact enough swing.

Next week I'll focus on keeping the swing distance normal. Also I'll focus on keeping my center of gravity low and forward after the swing. I was so out of shape I could barely lean forward for extended periods of time.

Here is small clip of me looping random location pushes. Slightly less extreme, but garbage recovery after the swing (mostly because of fatigue). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djVavlqkW6s

@NextLevel, I'll try to get my swing more compact and then evaluate if the HL5 speed is suitable or not.