OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thanks Brett! Yeah, very true.. the only reason I get unhappy now is because of my expectations, that I now should start to be even better because I know better. Like what Fruitloop said in one comment, I'm now putting a lot of effort into getting better so it all means more to me. But I still have nothing to be unhappy about and I've started to realize how much unnecessary pressure I put on myself. Its been a gradually increasing realization since you commented on the first vid I posted here about needing to work on my mental game actually.. funny how you picked up on that then.

I watched parts of that documentary and will watch it all. It's so easy to take things for granted, I'm very guilty of this.

Watch Bojan Tokic sometime and tell me what you think about his non-playing arm. If it can improve your shot quality and balance and you can incorporate it, great. If not, I wouldn't really think about. Ma Long does a very different thing with it from many of his teammates and I wouldn't say just because he is Ma Long we should all emulate him.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I think you are overthinking this. Basically, the underlying principle I have worked out is to propel the shoulder joint (and tracking any fixed point on the body similar to the shoulder like the head will likely have a similar result on the backhand though on the forehand, since you rotate, tracking the shoulder or racket is almost the only option). As long as you propel it mostly with strong muscles from the body, you will be fine. What the video shows is Brett doing that with his legs and his bowing and unbowing. In the specific video you just saw, Ma Long did a bit more work with his back and hip muscles (forward thrust) and it was a point and not multiball, so strokes usually look smaller. Brett also plays a bit off his right hip (or left if he flips the film) while Ma Long is more squarely balanced. But most of the differences you are looking at are more likely related to how their respective techniques (Ma Long vs Brett) evolved to use the body and less about the underlying principle of using the body to propel the shoulder joint quickly through a large distance to get power. Less use of the upper arm, more use of the body.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Yeah.. he doesn't appear to be "using" it much. Maybe it's not the end of the world, as you say it could help with balance. Time will tell if I can make use of it, if I can't I won't worry too much.. Using my body better on my fh against backspin is still my biggest concern and not stepping in so much on my fh's.

If NL thinks you are overthinking then I think you must definitely be massively overthinking. NL thinks about TT 25*8, so if you are thinking more than NL thinks you should think then I think it must be too much thinking on your part, don't you think?

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Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

I just read that to my wife replacing "NL" with "Laj" and she cracked up. Thanks.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

This thread has gone full role reversal. I'm over thinking technique, Laj is multiballing and looking for quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iG1SfJ ... e=youtu.be

The feeding is inconsistent to put it mildly but if I didn't take it, maybe I have to wait forever and maybe pay someone?

But there were a few good shots in there. More late ones than good ones but some good ones.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

All of these players and none of them can feed. How did you end up in TT hell?

I tried to teach one of my students, you would have thought I was teaching rocket science.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

The end of that documentary was kinda depressing. Really sad that Europe lost such a great player to something so stupid.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Backhand arm structure.



Does this look better? It honestly feels better and it seems to have helped out in fixing some serve return errors, which I will post about in my next video.
I've come to realize that improving my backhand is a process.

Step 1 is to get the body right.
Step 2 is to get the arm right.
Step 3 is probably the wrist as sometimes being a bit more stiff is useful.
Step 4 is probably unknown to me right now.

Somewhere in there I probably need to be hitting a bit more from low to high too.

Your elbow is straightening a bit too much on some of the shots and I think you are losing the "C" structure and sometimes engaging the upper arm. Fix the upper arm a bit more relative to the body on some of these shots I think , get your body closer to the ball so you can hit the ball with the body without engaging the upper arm so much. Maybe there is a better way to explain it, but that is what I see.

You are getting pretty good whip though and some of that may go away with my advice so you can ignore my advice if that is the priority.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Here I am getting side back/side/side top serves to my wide backhand.




This is what I would call a backhand final exam. I have to make a small step (first with the right leg!) to my backhand side. I have to keep a good arm structure. I have to fold and unfold. I have to track a ball with side spin going away from me. I have to determine the spin of the serve.

Many times I just sort of bunt it back - but this is a major upgrade from what it was before. I'd grade myself a B- because I am doing most of the things here but it's obvious I'm struggling at times.

You are working on the right things. Not a time to play around too much with technique. If you are missing try to change either the contact point on the ball, the shape of your stroke or both.

The arm structure thing is for another time...

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus