OOAK Table Tennis Forum

A colleague at work who is fairly new to TT uses the same grip as you and also tries to play almost every shot as backhand block. I had an old all-speed wood blade and put on it for him a sheet of Gipfelsturm 1.5mm on the BH plus an old sheet of TSP inverted for his occasional FH hits.

He now has a very effective game even against some of the better recreational players with sound technique as he is very mobile with strong legs that allows him to move side to side and block most balls off the bounce. The Gipfelsturm medium pips is ideal for this blocking style as it does not require much variation in bat angle and is good for both soft and hard blocks, hits through spin and can Create a little topspin or backspin with some wrist rotation in the block. Downside of this grip as you have found it is very difficult to play forehand shots so unless you have very good mobilty a better opponent will ruthlessly exploit this weakness.

So From experience I could recommend a medium pip like Gipfelsturm for your backhand with your current grip but to be honest if you have movement issues the best long term route would be to change your grip to the classic shake hand which you will see players well into their 70s using effectively for both sides. Any other grip just reduces the range of shots you can do and requires compromises on at least one side.

Appreciate the input, thanks. Sounds like he has become, and is getting to be a really good blocker. Not much variation in the bat angle would be a big plus for me. I can still move fine, but as you say, it is a big weakness as my forehand attack is not good. I miss those shots a great deal. I can get hot on them sometimes, as I will turn sideways and get a good hit, but I think my thumb changes the angle of the bat, which causes me to miss a lot of them. Shakehands feels absolutely awful, I have a terrible time with it. Tried it before, but I go right back to the thumb grip haha. Feels like I don't have control when I try shakehands, and I can't use any of my "pickel jar" serves. Got some tricky ones. I will have the bat turned upside down and come up on the ball, and the throw is low and fast. Problem is, it misses a lot. My game is just a mess haha, what can I say? I'd like to get better, but it will probably be hard all things considered. That was nice of you to help that guy out on the setup, and he is doing great with it.

I wonder if the LKT Toxic 3 with long pips would be a good setup for me? Plus a regular but safe offensive rubber.

One of the American vendors has some I think. Otherwise they are hard to find. I managed to get one from Eacheng a few months ago but haven't done anything with it yet.. I have two sheets of 802 for it (for hardbat).

Iskandar

here is a West Australian guy (in black) playing with a seemiller grip, anti on the backhand - twiddling often to receive serve.

Colestt.com has it (good place for OP to get his stuff from). It is quite slow - I have Toxic 5 which is supposedly a bit faster. Never tried it with LP though - it's my hardbat, which I don't use much.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Thanks guys. In your opinion pgpg, would it help my game? I know I will have to relearn a bunch of stuff, or unlearn may be a better way to put it. Zeropong is usually where I order from in US, but I will check out the dealer you mentioned.

Thanks for the video of the Australian Seemiller grip player. One thing I noticed is that he had trouble with his forehand the same way that I do, but of course he is better.

I guess I want to get better the fastest way possible. My goal right now, as I have rethought things, is to get to 1500 by Christmas (maybe using my style). How hard would this be guys? 1000 to 1500?

Thank you for the video.

I have been hitting all day today, and I stink. I need to decide on one of the three:
1. Keep my grip, but go to a new setup with long pips. Probably an LKT blade unless someone advises me differently.
2. Short pips on forehand with a Japanese penhold grip (or the one mentioned by some advice here)
3. Seemiller with Anti and a Tenergy rubber etc. Probably a Grubba Pro
Possibly, a way outside chance is the shakehands grip, which is very mechanical and complicated. I watched some table tennis university videos, and wow, that is a lot of work! So precise and technical. If you just misadjust your thumb or forefinger on a forehand drive it can miss by 10 miles. I want to get to 1500 fast. I think this grip would require the most coaching, and the closest coach is 1 hr and 1/2 away, charges about $40 an hour and puts you in with groups, I hear. I don't think I'd learn much that way. The table tennis univ. guy, I bet he is an awesome coach.


I know this is probably a lot of trouble, but could someone post what Dan Seemiller's actual grip looks like from a forehand and backhand view. I have looked all over the net and I see 1 zillion different pictures. If I don't get this right, I'm sure the rest won't make any difference. Thank you guys for being so king. Pickelman

The quickest way to 1500 is long pips on one side, easier than anti. Here is info on how to do it with lots of videos to self coach you.

A lot of info here in one place. Read the intro then make your decision, well worth 5-10 minutes of your time.

Link .... North Little Rock Table Tennis Group timeline page on Facebook

https://m.facebook.com/NorthLittleRockT ... =bookmarks

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Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

Yeah, I disagree with the Northrock guy.. but it's already been posted elsewhere. Playing Seemiller style doesn't mean adopting Seemiller's equipment. I'd lay off the Tenergy and the Grubba blade for now. There is lots of stuff that will be cheaper, easier to obtain and easier to control that would work better for you at the moment.

As for getting to 1500 by Christmas.. it is possible, but I think a year would be more realistic, and it would require coaching and practice.

Iskandar

Please correct me if I am wrong but I do not see how a Dan S grip can be an easy transition from a thumb behind grip, in fact I would think it would be hard than switching to a shake hand.grip.

Two suggestions
1. Whichever grip use, try a short or medium pimple on the BH that is fairly forgiving and spin insensitive such as Degu, 802, Gipfelsturm on a blade not faster than All+. This will allow you to play both slow or fast without having to use the range of blade angles and spins needed with inverted and with much shorter learning curve and limitations than LP.
2. With the above short or medium pip then try out shakehand again for a few days and if not convinced the perhaps try a pen holder grip.

Going to slower blade (Mazunov is quite fast) will help. You never mentioned how cost sensitive you are - is spending 50-60$ on a new setup OK for you? If you are fine with that - just get one and see how it feels.

As far as getting to 1500 by Christmas - I think it's VERY unlikely, since we are talking about jumping 2 levels while also changing your equipment. How accurate is your current 1000 number by the way, is it actual rating or an estimate? People frequently overestimate someone's level based on casual play - tournaments add pressure and you have to play folks you've never seen before, which is not easy.

For the reference it took me a year to get from 1100 to 1400 and it involved around 10 tournaments. LP might help or not - I see several folks who are stuck at ~1200 despite having pips on BH.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Would using anti on one side and long pips on the other be a bad idea? With my basement thumb grip?

Thanks.