OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Well I recently upgraded my set up and saw a nice deal on Evolution rubbers, I wanted to try two of the rubbers and it was a nice deal so decided hey I read some people put slower rubbers on back hand and faster on forehand. I decided to get 1.9 FX-P and EL-P. Side story- At the start I messed up my right shoulder and really wanted to play ping pong, so I played with my left and never stopped so somehow my backhand is better than forehand on my left hand side, my forehand on the other hand is not bad by any means but it needs its practice. So the moment I put EL-P on my forehand holy, the ball flew off every time and when I did get a nice forehand hit it sure felt nice with the rubber, but I certainly needed something slower and with more control. On the other hand FX-P backhand felt real nice and at home, had my control and was much faster than my old rubber and feels very good.

I tried this for 2 days but my forehand just wouldn't like the EL-P so I decided let me switch after reading that some put faster rubbers on backhand since it was dominant. It feels better, I would need to get heavily use to the EL-P since I didn't think the difference between speed and power of the 2 was going to be like this. In the long haul with practice maybe keeping backhand EL-P could benefit me? I'm not sure how long it would take someone to get use to this sort of set up? I really want to not let the EL-P be put to the side, as I've used it for only a few days. I could get an FX-P rubber and easily be happy switching those out, maybe putting the EL-P up for trade or something. What do you guys think? How long do you think it would take someone to get use to this sort of set up, and do you think it would benefit to get use to the faster EL-P over the FX-P on both sides? Thanks for any advice

To tell it bluntly: In my opinion, the problem here is not the rubbers, nor the minor difference between them.
But even if it were, a 2d-test is way too short to tell for sure. I would say it comes down to the level and technique of the player here.

It is correct that a lot of people do use a slower/softer rubber for one side but it's not naturally related to dominance.

If it would be domination-related people often use a simple 729, Sriver, SriverFX etc. on their less dominant side. It is a question of safety and comfort.
Some do use a softer rubber on their forehand even if it's the more dominant side, it depends on style, experiences made with different rubbers and so on.

May I ask what your previous setup has been and what blade you are (and maybe were) using?

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

Well I've used mark V rubbers on an all blade by recommendation, then I saw the sale and I thought sure let's buy it and wanted something faster. I think the fx-p is a great upgrade but I did want to try both rubbers. I won't doubt my technique is to be improved plus more practice. I kept it on an ALL blade for now. What do you guys recommend?

Edit: Someone that played in their country at the state/country level told me since I am more dominant on the backhand to add the softer/slower side to that one (we're talking the fx-p here so it's not slow by any means) but it adds to my control, and I know my motion and can hit harder with this side. He told me to use the faster EL-P on my forehand and use it as a simple means to return the ball on the table but to get very use to it, this helps as I am returning the ball faster as before I would simply pop up the ball with the mark v to get in back on the table, so i practiced this method today, and I can see how it can work as now I can return a faster ball with my forehand but still will need more practice. I'm still debating getting FX-P on my forehand, I guess it goes back to the comfort feeling you are talking about since there is no for sure better method.

I was worried that you'd switched the blade with a (way) faster one, too. It is good you did not.
The Evolution-series should have somewhat more catapult compared to Mark V, so I guess your strokes need some time to adapt.

You possibly got used to longer, stronger strokes that let the ball edge into the rubber in order to get spin and speed into the ball.
Now you should try to reduce the energy used for the forward-move, try to hit the ball somewhat earlier with focus more on spin.

Don't hit too cautiously! Try some harder strokes first on a training day or while warming up.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

I wouldn't dream of getting a faster blade with these rubbers yet, I still want my control , yea my backhand got use to the FX-P by just adding more spin than hitting and is working great and just needs time. My forehand though needed a whole reboot since I would use long strokes to hit with low spin, and I was constantly trying to play like I did with mark v. Well he told me focus on getting the ball on the table simply with the EL-P. Once I get it on the table just start brushing the ball and so far thats worked today and got the hang of it, I just need to get use to the speed of this rubber and hold back on my forehand power. He says that with due time this option is really good since the speed and power of the rubber can compensate for my weaker forehand hits giving my opponent a faster ball. So far though I can definitely say that these rubbers are awesome. Still going to try the EL-P out this week and see how it goes, hopefully some more people chime in and see what they say.

If you think about it, a LOT of players actually use the opposite - they like a faster rubber on the backhand and a pretty slow one on the forehand. Who are these people? Top Chinese players like Ma Long. They like something like Hurricane on the forehand and something like Tenergy on the backhand. They will actually flip the racket around when hitting against lobs.

Iskandar