OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Another blog? Well, I made the first post on my other blog (Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack) almost 8 years ago, and I must say, I kind of feel like that subject is not a big issue any more.

Later I have been struggeling more with different injuries, hindering me from playing as much as I would like or as tough (for the body) as I would like. I have had problems with my neck (I am right handed but the pain is on my left side, from ear down to the shoulder and spine) for almost 3 years and during this ongoing pandemic it has gotten worse (due to bad posture when working at home). Also, this summer, I had my first more serious injury that stopped me from playing for a few weeks. I injured my lower back on the right sid, causing pain on fron and back of my upper right leg, as well as on the side (hip) of the leg. I have been doing some rehabilitations but I still feel a little pain and stiffnes in my muscles from this but I hope that I am almost recovered from that. But I need to built more muscles in those areas.

Also, and this I think many here at this forum struggles with , I am getting older (go figure ). And with that my flexibility is getting worse, I am getting slower, I am getting less "bendy" (stiffer) and it takes more time to warm up. And the body hurts more after training.

All in all, I felt I needed to take more care of my body and perhaps adapt a few table tennis related things so I can continue to play table tennis for many more years. Having pain in my back, shoulders and neck (or elsewhere) frightens me, since it may be a sign that I won't be able to play table tennis and that would be a great loss for me . But, if I adapt I may be able to keep playing until I am no more .

The first thing I changed was my blade. When I realized I needed to do something about my pain in my lower back this sumer, I changed from the rather heavy blade Stiga Clipper to a balsa blade. I wanted a real light one but I could not find any one that worked good with my anti. The only one that felt good was the Sword Final Strike at 74 grams. Well, better than 93 gram Clipper. Also, the Sword is really excellent for blocking, both with anti and with inverted. It worked rather good but the blade is incredible fast (10 mm balsa core and walnut outer ply) and I searched for a similar blade with thinner balsa core. I tried TSP Balsa 8.5 mm but the harder outer ply and carbon layers kills the back spin at blocks.

This is how my match game looks like for the moment (a month ago):


So my next move was to contact Re-Impact to ask Achim there if he had a blade that would suit my style. Anyone who has been in touch with Achim knows he won't answer a short question like that without finding out more . So we had a long conversation by mail and then he asked if I wanted to be a test player for him. That sounded like a great idea, so after more conversations I am now waiting for a blade to try, designed to work optimal for my style (he calls it Chevanti https://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=37441). And it will be designed to help me with my different lower back issues. It might even work better for my neck as well. He will put a different handle on it, like a cork screw, forcing me to hold my bat in a better position, for better looping and for better body position. I am really eager to try this one. But I do not have that blade just yet, I need to wait a little more.

So, while waiting, I wanted to try a different style. Mostly to keep the table tennis interesting during this long and booooring pandemic time (I am allowed to practice in small groups, but there is no league game and no competitions at least until end of January). Also, I have this suspicion that my neck problems may be related to my style of table tennis, with blocking close to the table and than attack back spin with loops. I got my neck problems almost 3 years ago and I started to play with anti 5 years ago. But I needed more than a year to develop this style to how I play today, keeping close to the table. So it could be because of this style my muscels in my neck slowly got more and more irritated. Therefore, I now use madium pips on BH, to play more offensive and keep the pace of the ball better on my BH side. I still use my BH to confuse my opponent but with this rubber I can attack with more speed and keep the ball going when I started my attacking game. This gives another balance to my game than with the super slow anti on BH.

So, for now I am using a Stiga Clipper Classic with medium pips Der Materialspezialist Flashback 1,5 mm red on BH and Yinhe Jupiter II on FH. I really like the Clipper blade, that was the first blade I ever bought back in 1988 (after leaving the pre-made bats). It feels so familiar to me.
This is how my game looks with this setup (well, this is a special match where I face a lefty with medium pips Keiler on FH, not your avarage opponent).


So, this blog will be about how these different paths - blades for anti and for helping my lower back, and trying other styles for balance, speed and for relaxing my neck during practice and match. If I will end up with a Re-Impact blade with medium or short pips on BH, I have no idea. As long as I can have fun with table tennis and stay healthy for a long time I am satisfyed!

Be well!

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

I had problems with my lower back for years.Also, with my hip.I discovered that by making the muscles in the back plus the glutes stronger the pain stopped.

I lift weights the days I don't train tt .Besides,for overall health, muscle growth means healthy bodies.There are also now quite a lot of supplements for joints and muscle recovery.I even use a natural supplement for the brain that helps me a lot to concentrate on my tough tt games .

Yes , the style also has a lot to do with injuries.Hence, it is mandatory to strengthen the muscles in the hip, the glutes,the hamstring,the quads.Powerful legs for a powerful game .Powerful brain for a powerful mind.In the end ,it is the mind that rules in tt.

Pain of getting older and chronic injury!

I've had a lot of issues with different nagging body parts and things. My wrist was BLOWN out and do not think it will ever recover, maybe with surgery. That one aside, my back, lumbar and hip all took a turn being jerks! I would change to different technique... it worked for a while and then BAM! Another injury to the spot that had taken up the slack. That happened a few times, just moving the chronic injuries around.

By chance, talking to one older player and asking him about his loop as well as watching players like Liu Song - I developed a 'whip' loop on the forehand side. Some people use lumbar rotation, or thoracic, or arm swing etc. I have gone the Liu Song route and try to exclusively use the hip action only. No or barely any lumbar rotation. Although mine probably uses more arm power than I should be using... at any rate, this technique change which I put into practice months ago has alleviated essentially all of my problems. I no longer feel any pain or aches in the joints, bones etc. only in the muscles themselves. That to me is a good thing, since a muscle gets sore from being worked and after resting, it comes back stronger.

Point of all that rubbish being, maybe you are suffering from some technique issues - overusing, overtensing, overcompensating etc. I find trying to relax essentially every muscle that is able to be relaxed helps remove all sorts of problems.

In addition to finding a technique that works, you can cut down on movement by focusing on the BH blocking and using that to setup your attacks - as opposed to trying to step around the BH so much. Also in my case, chopping away from the table is less damaging on my body than trying to block and side step for FH winners. Even though the legs are moving more with chopping, going in and out, the movements are less explosive and less damaging in my case.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

Thnk you for sharing! Weight lifting is important as a part of preparing the body and rehabiliting it. I believe it is even more important as you get older and muscles disappear in higher pace.

Loosing weight may be another thing to get better. I tried that this spring (7 kg) and see where that brought me . Well, it got me practicing tt more and that got me injured since my body was not ready for that... But loosing another 5 kg would do me very good, I'll try that after christmas.

That whip technique may have a lot to do with being able to relax most of the body through the stroke. I think I have some unneccesary tension in my body when playing that I need to get rid of. For example, I need to keep my left arm higher during playing. I may be having a too low position, forcing my body to work more than neccesary.

Defensive playing style may be better for some part of the body but BH chopping may be hard on your elbow, and that moving pattern may be har on your knees. But the thing with medium pips is that I can play that style as well against some opponents .

Keep sharing and let us all get older and healthier

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Just when I read you had a recurring neck issue, I immediately thought of over tensing. I was doing dips on the parallel bars one day and my neck goes POP! turns out I'd been craning my head forward like a moron for some reason! Fixed that by being aware of the body parts.

So with the neck, maybe you're being super tense in certain motions and causing the antagonistic muscles to battle each other resulting in the injuries.

I like to train on the robot and get myself sore the next day so I can see which muscles I'm over using. At first it was the upper back being sore, then it was the pec... then the shoulder, then the obliques and just recently it was the triceps. When I train sore, I can feel which muscle to relax otherwise I feel that soreness kicking in.

Has been a big learning curve!

For the chopping stuff, yeah it has a different set of demands on the body. But if you're doing big loop attempts often, to my assessment, it works the body a lot harder than running a bit in and out and left to right eith chopping. So if the actual loop is your problem, then chopping reduces the amount you need to use it. Guys like greg letts, paul pinkewich, Roland Krmaschek, the chet, bennborn and the like are older players who still use a defensive away from the table style. Just meaning that it is possible to be fairly passive chopping and not be tremendously hard on the body. I think you'll find more passive geezers than power loopers!

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

Having a little cold, so no training yesterday. But today I am more focused on mr Falck beatimng the mighty Xu Xin . Proud to be swedish!

https://youtu.be/l3KCEvIk6eo

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Back from my cold. Had a few matches yesterday, here are a few sets:
https://youtu.be/CzIooO5S8cc

Some good points, some really bad. I think that Flashback is a little too difficult, will borrow a Keiler to try and also a Pluto.

I have not been doing my rehab excercisis lately . I really need to get back to work with my lower back again, and some other things. I have been focusing on getting rid of my pain in my muscles in my neck. And with some success. Pressing my thumb hard into my muscles there, when they are not stretched, seem to work nice (my massage therspist taught me what to do). I just need to find a way to work with those muscles so the won't start to hurt as soon as I stop giving them massage .

Be well!

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

https://www.theragun.com/us/en-us/surpr ... ness-gift/

I used one of those for some muscle issues, worked nicely for me. Might help with your neck - giving it the BAM BAM BAM treatment.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

Interesting! Does it hit or vibrate? Pulse? Heat? Infra?
I would be a little catious to use hitting stuff to my neck, it feels weird just when pressing or tapping or whatever on the upper part of the spine (neck).

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

It's kind of like being punched by a midget that one I have from them is very good for the percussive force. Other cheaper guns have more of a vibration, brrrrrr, hitting into you. Theragun uses more of an actual punch punch feel. No heat or anything with it, but you can buy different head shapes to pinpoint or expand the punch radius. It doesn't hit hard enough to do real damage. Some people find it uncomfortable. I got mine... last year sometime I believe. Now they're getting more popular, or faddish... saw some of the world's strongest man competitors using them this year, along with crossfit etc.

Youtube massage therapist and chiros are using them now as well

I bring it to all of my table tennis tournaments just in case of any flare ups.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

I had another session today, this time with Hellcat instead of Flashback (Hellcat is more of a long short pip, more easy to hitt and drive with, less funky).

I still struggle with position, what stroke to use, standing too much BH-oriented. Hellcat is rather good for hitting actually. If you are prepared, you can hit through a spinny loop, countering the ball back. That is much more difficult with Flashback. Attacking back spin is a little more easy with Hellcat since you can add some spin on your own, making the window bigger. But that return is more easy to counter for the opponent.

https://youtu.be/muJdLhYbYv4
https://youtu.be/y25k_9KClRk

Even though I still feel somewhat slow and hestitant, and I feel like being on the wrong foot many times per set, I could play for 2 hours without feeling tired in my lower back or having any pain in my neck or hip. It may be that this journey into offensive pip land is paying off conering my health. My hypothesis before I started this was that a more balanced game (between BH and FH) would be good for me, and I would play more in higher tempo, more in the same tempo, not like staccato. Also, if I use my BH more natural for strokes forward I will release some tension in my neck and lower back. Not sure yet, but I do not feel any worse at least. But it could be all about something else as well, who really knows .

Anyway, it is more fun to play like this for now (when winning is not that important).

Next session (Tuesday?) I will hopefully be able to try Pluto on BH.

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Yesterday there was no new rubber but half way through I moved the Hellcat to my main Clipper blade, 5 grams lighter and clearly slower. That was good against one of the opponents, but not as good against another opponnet. But I feel better with the lighter blad, emergency blocks are better, I change between BH and FH faster, I do not get tired during during drills as easy and I play FH better. This makes my body feel better. The slower speed on BH I just have to get used to and practice.

https://youtu.be/bFzB7DuGc34

I will try the Pluto when I get it but I am satisfied with Hellcat for now. I will probably try Flashback on some allround blade later.

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Well, the holidays are gone and I can start focusing on table tennis again (well, besides the fact that Corona still reigns, but I am still allowed to train). So I have had one 3 hrs training session last monday and another tonight. It all felt pretty good altough I am a bit rusty and also a bit disoriented about what material to use.

I had a slight cold on X-mas eve so I stayed by myself (and the cat) on the sofa all day, and the same the day before and the day after. This was not good for my neck problems. I had a really bad neck brace ("nackspärr" in Swedish), really painful with troubles sleeping etc. Anyway, it was almost gone last monday when I got to train again. Besides from that this time away from work has been really good. I still am a bit too weak in my lower back parts so I need to get started on working out those parts. After warming up it usually takes only half an hour for me to get really tired in my lower back during training.

One of the reasons I started this new blog, like I mentioned in the first post, was that I have been in contact with Achim at Re-Impact. He produced the Chevanti blade and I got one of those a few days before Christmas. The one I have is with a propeller handle and it is at 87 grams, so not very light. But it is not head heavy, so I can still switch between BH and FH rather swiftly. It is also slightly different from some other Chevantis. This is because Achin let a few of us try different versions so we could give him feed back on how it works with different antis.

I will not talk much about the FH side, but it is good, with very good speed at high impact and very good control at low impact. I have also tried a friends Chevalier. The version I got seem to work best with faster antis, and not the frictionless ones I am used to. My trusted Barna SuperGlanti did not work very good on my version. This back spin on blocks was not as good as with some other blades and the arc/trajectory was too high. Also, since the blade has a cork layer that dampens the speed and makes the touch feel a little dull or almost dead, it is also difficult to attack back spin the way I usually do, with an aggressive push. But the control of this blade is very good and I could control the placement of the ball very good.

I have also tried my version of the blade with Neubauer Gorilla 1.0, Neubauer Power Attack 1,5 and medium pip Yinhe Pluto 1,5 mm. So far I think the Gorilla may be the best match, or perhaps Pluto.
Gorilla feels almost controlled on this blade and I can still play passive with rather ok effect. But this rubber works best with a little more aggressive style. So countering blocks is possible and very difficult for the opponent. Also, aggressive pushing against backspin is very good. But if you do it a little too catious or lame, your opponent will just kill it. The same goes for blocking against top spin, but here the blade helps with holding the ball a little longer, enough to guide the ball in the right angle and direction. But don't get me wrong, it is still very difficult to play with Gorilla, kind of the Flashback or Power Pipes or Aggressor. You need to be firm but not hit the ball too hard (very difficult when you are under preassure).

Using Power Attack is almost the same, but here the blocks are a little safer, at least if the attack is not very fast. A fast attack is very difficult to block, the ball goes straight forward, so you relly need the right angle. Attcking back spin is good and very fast. But countering a block or drive is more difficult with Power Attack than with my version (rather old) of Gorilla on this blade. I can hit against slight top spin but it is not much easier than with SuperGlanti. So the Power Attack feels a little pointless on this blade.

Then I have also tried Pluto on thic blade and that worked very nice. Good control and still a few odd flight curves and deception. I could hit hard against top spin, making the ball go straigt and fast like a rocket. But I can also block with a thin touch, with upward movement, to scrub the spin and pace off the ball. Block is very safe but perhaps not very troublesome for the opponent. But it is very nice to feel safe in blocks . Pushing is good but spinless (very deceptive for some opponents). I have tried this rubber on a Clipper, and that has a more direct feeling, while control is better with the Chevanti.

So, all in all, very good control on BH, you feel in charge of the ball. But also some deception is lost so you need dangerous rubbers that may be too difficult on other blades for a game based on deception with BH.

Here is a clip where I block first with Chevanti and Barna SuperGlanti 1,2 mm, then on my "normal" blade (Sword Final Strike) with SG 1,6 mm and then I use a freinds bat (the one he used against Ibrahima Diaw, as can be seen in the Barna SuperGlanti commercial clip), a 8 mm balsa with SG 1,6 mm, and then back again to the Chevanti.

https://youtu.be/r81DF4I-uYc

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

I felt that it was time to try the CLipper blade again, since I am waiting for new balsa blades. So, after 6 months with Barna SuperGlanti I revisited Störkraft again a few days ago. Here i just a short clip from one set (not complete, camera failure made the clip shorter than it should):

https://youtu.be/sVJXGrlCZM0

Störkraft is very controlled, even with 1,2 mm on my Stiga Clipper blade (rather fast blade). Spin reversal, compared to SuperGlanti is not as high on blocks, but when attacking back spin the ball is more unpredictable. Overall this rubber is more unpredictable for the opponent compared to SuperGlanti. You need to work more with the bat, finding the right angle on blocks etc, but when you get used to it you can keep the ball rather low. The best part with this rubber is doing aggressive pushes, even against no spin. It is also rather easy to place the blocks deep to the base line or closer to the net since the sponge is very soft and gives you more time to contol the ball.

I left this setup because I had troubles looping against back spin with the pain I had in my lower back/waist. That is better now, but I still have some pain after practice, so I need to keep stretching and doing specific work out to strengthen those muscles.

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Hi,D-A! Am I under the right impression that you will stop playing with anti due to your physical problems? will you play again with pips? were you just playing with pips for fun while recovering? . It would be sad for you to stop playing with anti as you have very well got the hang of the anti play . Also,your observations on antis have been very helpful indeed.Great job!!!