Technique advice for me

[loerting]

Looking at your new FH TS video I have some thoughts on what you can improve:

• You are using much hip rotation, but not that much power from the ground. Try to "jump more" off the ground without actually jumping off the ground with your right leg.
• Your arm motion is long (almost a full arm swing), it could be instable in a match situation and you wont be able to hit placements correctly. I would recommend keeping the elbow lower (and also maybe closer to the body) and using more forearm snapping. The chinese players also do this.

 

[dingyibvs]

Looking at your new FH TS video I have some thoughts on what you can improve:

• You are using much hip rotation, but not that much power from the ground. Try to "jump more" off the ground without actually jumping off the ground with your right leg.
• Your arm motion is long (almost a full arm swing), it could be instable in a match situation and you wont be able to hit placements correctly. I would recommend keeping the elbow lower (and also maybe closer to the body) and using more forearm snapping. The chinese players also do this.

Got it, I'll give it as try. Maybe I've been too focused on the hip rotation and forgot to kick with my legs too. I'll adjust my distance to the ball and try out different levels of arm extension as well. I suspect in a match I'll need to be able to execute it with various levels of arm extension.

 

[SleepyMaster]

What’s your height and weight?
It’s seems like you little bit tense the whole time, even before executing a stroke. When it should be more like relax/explode motion more. That’s why you getting out of a breath after 15-20 balls or so.
Forehand is ok to me, more looks like loop kill and not the opening loop, but i guess, that’s what you trained. Backhand seemed like little bit too wide of a motion, if you trying to shorten it by a little you will be able readjust for returning balls with more ease - and it will be more useful for real game situations 🙂

 

[dingyibvs]

What’s your height and weight?
It’s seems like you little bit tense the whole time, even before executing a stroke. When it should be more like relax/explode motion more. That’s why you getting out of a breath after 15-20 balls or so.
Forehand is ok to me, more looks like loop kill and not the opening loop, but i guess that’s what you trained. Backhand seemed like little bit too wide of a motion, if you trying to shorten it by a little you will be able readjust for returning balls with more ease - and it will be more useful for real game situations 🙂

I'm about 5'8 175lbs. Yeah I'm trying to shorten down the BH motion as well. I'm been trying to develop both a shorter motion for general use and a bigger one for the occasional opportunity balls.

I'm trying to loosen up a bit, but I think that'll come with more familiarity with the technique. Right now I'm still thinking a lot re: what my leg, hip, arm, etc. should be doing.

 

[SleepyMaster]

I'm about 5'8 175lbs. Yeah I'm trying to shorten down the BH motion as well. I'm been trying to develop both a shorter motion for general use and a bigger one for the occasional opportunity balls.

I'm trying to loosen up a bit, but I think that'll come with more familiarity with the technique. Right now I'm still thinking a lot re: what my leg, hip, arm, etc. should be doing.

How long you have training?
Shorter motions more useful for close to the table balls, and a bigger swings are good, when you make a step back, that adds some time and space to make that full and longer motion power shots

 

[dingyibvs]

How long you have training?
Shorter motions more useful for close to the table balls, and a bigger swings are good, when you make a step back, that adds some time and space to make that full and longer motion power shots

Training like this, about 3 months. My BH was weak, I used to never loop with my BH, just pushes and blocks. I had a better BH many years ago, but after I got better with my FH and footwork I started to rely on it entirely and my BH regressed a lot. I had a long break from TT and after getting back, I decided to start my trainings with the BH.

The past 3 months that's what I've been focusing on, and my BH training videos were about halfway into that training phase. Now I'm starting to work on my FH as well, trying to develop a better motion that allows for better consistency, easier power generation, and quicker recovery.

The BH is still a work in progress though, and I'm still doing some BH training in my practice sessions.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Training like this, about 3 months. My BH was weak, I used to never loop with my BH, just pushes and blocks. I had a better BH many years ago, but after I got better with my FH and footwork I started to rely on it entirely and my BH regressed a lot. I had a long break from TT and after getting back, I decided to start my trainings with the BH.

The past 3 months that's what I've been focusing on, and my BH training videos were about halfway into that training phase. Now I'm starting to work on my FH as well, trying to develop a better motion that allows for better consistency, easier power generation, and quicker recovery.

The BH is still a work in progress though, and I'm still doing some BH training in my practice sessions.

I mean, in general, table tennis, not exactly hitting on robot like this. Anyway good luck to you on your journey.
Trying to analyse own technique, and always be open to some sort of advices (especially from coaches or more experienced players) plus constant practise its the right way to progress

 

[dingyibvs]

I mean, in general, table tennis, not exactly hitting on robot like this. Anyway good luck to you on your journey.
Trying to analyse own technique, and always be open to some sort of advices (especially from coaches or more experienced players) plus constant practise its the right way to progress

Total about 4 years. I played for a little over 3 years from 2011-2014, then picked it up again last August. Switched to Cpen upon resuming TT, but switched back to SH 3-4 months ago due to wrist pain, and that's when I decided to start from the ground up with trainings to get a better foundation.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

So I just started practicing my FH today. First step is trying to get the form down. I'm developing a new FH loop drive motion vs. backspin based on advice earlier in this thread as well as instructional videos online. Let me know what you guys think.

Followthrough 3 of the first 6 shots.

Most important detail to notice: chest facing left at followthrough.

 

[dingyibvs]

Followthrough 3 of the first 6 shots.

Most important detail to notice: chest facing left at followthrough. View attachment 24510View attachment 24511View attachment 24512

Is that good or bad? That was what I was trying to accomplish. I noticed that when Ma Long loops he'd finish with his right shoulder pointing forward on cross table shots, so I was trying to emulate that.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Is that good or bad? That was what I was trying to accomplish. I noticed that when Ma Long loops he'd finish with his right shoulder pointing forward on cross table shots, so I was trying to emulate that.

Ma Long's base technique is not that:

Think about this: if you are trying to drive the ball forwards, why would your stroke go so far to the left and not really go forwards at all?

Your followthrough looks closer to the followthrough in a tennis stroke. But in a tennis stroke the racket gets over there from a whipping motion without the body being thrown so off balance.

The classic description of the finish for a table tennis stroke is a "salute" where the arm has not crossed the midline of the body and the racket is approximately forehand height....just like what you see in those two photos of Ma Long during training. In a match, while moving, he might go a little farther. But the base technique is more like the photos above.

You can make your own choices. But....I would try and find information that actually shows the base technique from good sources. Often when people try to copy what Ma Long does while he is moving in a rally as their base technique, they end up with shoulder injuries, in part from not quite understanding what they were looking at.

But....lets see if someone who can explain solid FH technique will say.

 

[blahness]

hi dingyibvs, it's blahness from myTT and I just realised that TTD seems to have quite a bit more interesting activity haha...so decided to necro my account here.

Your FH loopkill looks really good now, especially the hip rotation and how the body is powering the stroke. Very solid.

But, in an actual match, not all balls can be loopkilled, only opportunity balls and balls you are in very good position for.

I would recommend in addition to loopkilling, training a lot of slow spinny looping where you brush a lot more, throw your upper arm less and it's a much smaller stroke (only 90 deg rotation) where your shoulders are square to the table at the end so that it's easy to be ready for the next ball be it BH or FH. In fact I would make the slow spinny loop the major focus of the FH training because at higher levels most balls will not be that easy or predictable as that coming from a robot. The slow spinny loop is really what wins most matches imo.

 

[latej]

I like that dingyibvs gets really low and stands wide.

Carl, I agree what you say about the base technique. But I think what dingyibvs does on the video is full power loop kill. More like what ML does at the start of that video (I didn't quickly find better one). So ends up fully rotated. I also think it would be good to train the base technique.

Have you seen this video, dingy? I lost it and re-found it under diff. url.

 

[NextLevel]

I read some comment and I shake my head. Reminds me of the mytt days where people would write some very elegant posts full of scientific knowledge about how racket angle should never change and couldn't hit a backspin ball to save their lives. Everyone should be forced to post video of themselves when commenting, it will make some people very humble.

 

[NextLevel]

Followthrough 3 of the first 6 shots.

Most important detail to notice: chest facing left at followthrough. View attachment 24510View attachment 24511View attachment 24512

IMHO, the Chest facing left is actually correct, it would be a much bigger problem if the arm came across the body and the chest wasn't facing left.

 

[NextLevel]

How long you have training?
Shorter motions more useful for close to the table balls, and a bigger swings are good, when you make a step back, that adds some time and space to make that full and longer motion power shots

Bigger swings are good close to the table as well, the question is what happens if the ball comes back, but just about every Chinese player (and many top non-Chinese players) use this stroke close to the table. But of course, on a ball that is not designed to come back.

 

[NextLevel]

So I just started practicing my FH today. First step is trying to get the form down. I'm developing a new FH loop drive motion vs. backspin based on advice earlier in this thread as well as instructional videos online. Let me know what you guys think.

The stroke is good for what it is. The muscle sequencing is much better now. You will probably need extremely good serves to get a ball that you can apply this to on a regular basis. But as a stroke, I don't see anything significantly wrong with and am intrigued as to how it would look in a match. This is one of my favorite shots even with my inability to execute it perfectly and it was something that opened my eyes to third ball table tennis.

 

[dingyibvs]

Ma Long's base technique is not that:

View attachment 24513View attachment 24514

Think about this: if you are trying to drive the ball forwards, why would your stroke go so far to the left and not really go forwards at all?

Your followthrough looks closer to the followthrough in a tennis stroke. But in a tennis stroke the racket gets over there from a whipping motion without the body being thrown so off balance.

The classic description of the finish for a table tennis stroke is a "salute" where the arm has not crossed the midline of the body and the racket is approximately forehand height....just like what you see in those two photos of Ma Long during training. In a match, while moving, he might go a little farther. But the base technique is more like the photos above.

You can make your own choices. But....I would try and find information that actually shows the base technique from good sources. Often when people try to copy what Ma Long does while he is moving in a rally as their base technique, they end up with shoulder injuries, in part from not quite understanding what they were looking at.

But....lets see if someone who can explain solid FH technique will say.

Thanks, I think I'm overdoing it a bit, I'll try to make some adjustments. Watching various videos it does get. A bit confusing at times. For example in this one Wang Hao would have a much more exaggerated arm motion.

 

[NextLevel]

Thanks, I think I'm overdoing it a bit, I'll try to make some adjustments. Watching various videos it does get. A bit confusing at times. For example in this one Wang Hao would have a much more exaggerated arm motion.

No you aren't, your shot is as legitimate as Wang Hao's. There isn't a single way to hit the ball in table tennis.

 

[latej]

For example in this one Wang Hao would have a much more exaggerated arm motion.

I like this video, better than the "new-found" mine above. Thanks.