Use of 'shadow' training?

[AndyCouchman]

Hi all
Just wondered about views on use of shadow training and its effectiveness on grooving strokes etc.
Comments please

 

[NextLevel]

I've written something related elsewhere. Shadow stroking is extremely important. In fact, a coach should get you to shadow a stroke before you bring it to the table. Then you should replicate that stroke in multiball (either fed to you or off the drop) and do the proper stroke you shadowed, whether you make it or miss it. Over time, your body will adjust as long as you play with the stroke trajectory (which will fix the basic racket angle and spin) or thickness of contact (which will adjust speed on flat strokes).

The mistake most people make is to do a poor form of the shadow and focus on keeping the ball on the table. This is a huge mistake as it leads to developing a compromised form of the stroke that is unlikely to improve with more practice.

 

[Loopadoop]

It works .. I have done a lot of it .. personally.

 

[hopper]

Sice starting more intensive training 4 years ago, I've continuously added shadow training at home with great impact/results.
I simply make it a habit to do some, whenever I have a couple of minutes spare time. It helps a lot that I have a big mirror at home, so I get visual feedback.

Over a short period of time (1-2 months) I'll notice that certain elements of a stroke become more fluid / more automatic.

It's also mostly during shadow play at home, that I "discover" the need to make a correction to my stroke.
eg. last week, after I noticed at the club that I execute my FH loop vs topspin with a racket angle that is slightly too open (45 degrees, contacting back of ball).
It was only at home, making use of shadow play, that I noticed (by feeling and visual feedback) that I forced my wrist backward during backswing, which automatically rotates my underarm a little upward, resulting in a slightly more open bat.
In addition, I could groove the correct technique immediately by using shadow play again.
Of course above correction should preferrably be made by a good coach, but coachin on that level is noy available for everyone.

 

[Der_Echte]

Koreans are big on shadow stroke training. EVERY amature TT club has a huge mirror to practice this. My former club had a 2 x 4 meter sized mirror for this.

 

[Pnachtwey]

I use a mirror. I check to see if I keep the attitude of my paddle consistent during the possible contact time. I like to keep my BH strokes closer to my body. My big fault is reaching. Reaching forward deprives me of extra milliseconds and leads to poor shots because my stroke is too much forward ( speed ) and not enough up ( spin ) to go with it.

 

[raazzz]

I remember doing it a lot when I started playing. I think it can be good for the technique especially for beginners.

 

[NextLevel]

I actually like it for footwork drills. I will not dare do those while being fed balls, so shadow training at least lets me go at my own pace.

 

[raazzz]

And yes of course it can be very good for the legs and balance if you doing footwork exercises without the ball where you easier can put 100% focus on the movement.

 

[NextLevel]

The other big benefit of shadow stroking is that learning is a physical process - we just aren't conscious of the physics and chemistry that underlies it. But your muscles have to adapt, your timing has to change etc. All these things are physical processes. Shadow stroking helps build those muscles. Visualization has been found to help with improvement even in the absence of actual physical practice. Shadow stroking makes it easier for you to visualize yourself doing the action.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I am going to say shadow strokes and shadow footwork drills are great. It does help to have a big mirror. I use the group fitness rooms at the gyms I teach yoga at and do this.

They are hugely helpful in many ways.

I am going to add one thing about it that is also worth knowing. You can also do this and get a pretty good workout. You can use shadow stroke+footwork drills to increase your strength and cardio endurance while improving your technique.

When I started doing shadow drills I decided that I would try lefty too. It was pretty awkward at first but I got better at it.

Then one day I was playing someone who was 1200 and I was a little board so I switched to lefty. He didn't even notice and I was surprised that I was okay at it. Before doing the shadow strokes, if I tried to play lefty, I was absolutely terrible.

Anyway, at a certain point the guy wanted to play matches. I played one righty and it was not all that fun so I played him lefty. I lost the first match but I won the second. So it definitely helped.

But even from the standpoint of increasing your strength and cardio endurance, you can make it a great workout.


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[NextLevel]

Yes, that has been my experience as well. In fact, shadow stroking encouraged me to try lefty footwork drills. Weird but true.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

When you do lefty shadow stroke and footwork drills and then end up playing lefty against someone and realize that all of a sudden you are not bad lefty even though you were never able to play lefty before, you start realizing how helpful shadow strokes actually are for when you are playing righty as well.


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[UpSideDownCarl]

I guess there is one more detail with doing the shadow drills lefty as well. Because it is harder from a coordination standpoint and your body, your nervous system and your brain have to figure things out, a few kinks that you sort out lefty but never sorted out righty because you were coordinated enough to miss them, they get sorted out for the right side too, just because your system figures it out on the less coordinated side.

It is interesting. There is this thing you do righty and don't even realize because you are so used to it and do it well enough for it to be hard to figure out how to change it or even that it needs to be changed. You start trying strokes lefty with the help of the mirror and come up to that same thing but lefty it is really awkward. You fix it and then, without even having thought about it, you go back to right and the brain and neural pathways just sort it out without you realizing it.

So there are some left brain--right brain crossover things that are pretty cool which happen when you are trying to get the left side to learn something the right side already knows.

So doing shadow drills lefty actually also helps you get better righty.

And another side benefit from a health standpoint, you make the imbalance in left and right side that playing a racket sport can create, at least a small amount less dramatic.

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[Suga D]

I actually like it for footwork drills. I will not dare do those while being fed balls, so shadow training at least lets me go at my own pace.

And yes of course it can be very good for the legs and balance if you doing footwork exercises without the ball where you easier can put 100% focus on the movement.

Exactly. I love doing Falkenberg in Front of my mirror. It helps me a lot. If you exercise to music it' s almost like a dance.
Well it's nothing compared to guys like Xu Xin or Zhang Jike. These guys are real "dancers".
So yes, Andy, shadow"boxin" is really helpful to me.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Exactly. I love doing Falkenberg in Front of my mirror. It helps me a lot. If you exercise to music it' s almost like a dance.
Well it's nothing compared to guys like Xu Xin or Zhang Jike. These guys are real "dancers".
So yes, Andy, shadow"boxin" is really helpful to me.

It is pretty cool how when you are decent at shadow footwork drills it becomes much easier to do the same footwork drills at the table during multiball. Even though drills like Faulkenberg don't really apply to how footwork actually happens in a game.

On the table, random placement drills demonstrate more of your ability to stay in a rally and respond to shots of your opponent. And how you move to random placement is different than the way a lot of those classic footwork drills work. But they are still sort of useful fundamentals.

And in the end they set you up to be able to do things like this:

That is real actual footwork.

 

[Der_Echte]

Since Carl is Talkin' 'bout the LEFT side of the brain, here is a clip of a rock band with the same name.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

When I coached a local high school, the only time they could get technique right is when they do shadow strokes.
The moment they on the table, the technique is all gone

Obviously they had zero training before and have built up years of bad habit.
But then, they don't like shadow training, they just want to hit every ball as a killer

Shadow stroke is extremely important
It also trains the focusing of the stroke/ball, it is more than just correct movement