Wang Hao penhold grip hurting

[panphobia]

I am a penholder who is trying to learn RPB, but learning RPB using Ma Lin's grip is really difficult so I switched to Wang Hao's Grip. Usually penholders have a 2-3 cm gap between the handle and the rubber so they have room for their index finger and thumb. Wang Hao's rubber is straight up against the handle, so his index finger wraps around the handle right above the rubber and his thumb is on the rubber parallel to the blade. Now I have been playing like this for the past 2 weeks, and since I am so used to TPB, when I am in a game I use it a lot. But now my joint on my index finger is hurting a lot, is there any other grip that is good for RPB and is comfortable?

 

[Archosaurus]

When I decide to penhold for the heck of it, I use Xu Xin's grip. I have short fingers, but somehow, due to my bone structure, I make it work. It was quite painful and heavy on the fingers at first but now over the months as I've got used to it, it's very comfortable and my natural penhold grip. No pain or anything.

I would NOT suggest Xu Xin's grip if you can't get your fingers in that position at all in the first place. It will just not work, then.

Wang Hao's grip is even worse: you purposely need to distort your fingers to be able to play with it. My middle finger is all skewed due to penholding (probably also mouse) so using a very extreme grip like Wang Hao's could potentially be dangerous. Hao's middle finger is skewed like 45 degrees.

The best for you is to find what works for you, because your bone structure and proportions is not the exact same as the other guy's. The grip that you can RPB with that is natural and does not hurt is the one you should use.

 

[panphobia]

I am 6'5, so my hands are quite big. When I play RPB in any case, I can rally just fine, just when it comes to looping I feel like I am hitting it randomly. I thought that the grip might be the problem, but obviously it's probably practice.

 

[Archosaurus]

I am 6'5, so my hands are quite big. When I play RPB in any case, I can rally just fine, just when it comes to looping I feel like I am hitting it randomly. I thought that the grip might be the problem, but obviously it's probably practice.

It's just practice, probably.

I can hit quite a good penhold loop even if it's REALLY not my main style at all, but I make many mishits, due to the grip changing and the timing not being quite there yet.

You need to find the grip for you that does not hurt your hand at all, where you can play every shot you want to, and then practice control with it.