Muscle Memory
Table Tennis Strokes and Technique
Last updated 7 years ago
Behruz Basla Asked 7 years ago
Hey Alois,
I started playing at the age of 10 and now I'm 44, my question is how do I get my brain to register the topspin as my main stroke instead of a flat hit which I have learnt since I was a kid.
im an extremely fit individual and can last 2 hrs of continuous play per day at high intensity, I got back to playing TT in Jan 2016. After a lot of R&D I have settled for the butterfly M.maze blade with evolution MX-P rubbers on both wings.
I really need to develop the mindset and my brain to tell me to do opening loops instead of flat hits, it's very difficult as everything happens in a fraction of a second and one does not have the time to choose which stroke to play, it just flows naturally of what you do during practice and how your mind is trained to react to the incoming ball.
please help.
thank you & best regards
Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago
Hi Behruz,
You need to implement the stroke in a training match situation. Set yourself a task of only playing topspins for one game and see how that goes. Try to forget about the result of the game. Worrying about the result is your biggest enemy.
You could try to raise the height of the net by double in a practice situation as well. This will almost force you to play with topspin to get the ball up and down quickly enough with any speed.
Thoughts on this question
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Behruz Basla Posted 7 years ago
That's great advice, I'll try to work with that. Thank you for the quick reply. Btw, your video "recognise your feelings" is spot on, I just experienced every single condition you mentioned in that video.
best regards to you & Jeff
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Thanks Behruz. Greta to know that the advice and tutorial helped.
kathy mckelvey Posted 7 years ago
Hi Alois, Still trying to work at keeping the ball low with my backhand serve. Tried hitting it flat like you suggested. but still no luck! I do score points with the way I serve, players become confused, however, would like it to be faster and lower. Should I wait until the ball comes down lower before I stroke it! Thank's
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Hitting the ball from a lower point well help as well.
kathy mckelvey Posted 7 years ago
Thank you will try!!
Ujjal Chatterjee Posted 7 years ago
Very good explanation on shifting from flat hit to top spin style of play.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Thanks Ujjal.
Andrew Lea Posted 7 years ago
Hi Alois, l used to play a lot of table tennis from 10 to 13 and then every now and then for fun. I am now 52. In the past I have played a lot of squash and tennis but I thought table tennis would be better as I get older. I joined a club in September 2016 and am playing in the Cambridge fourth division with a 50 percent win rate. I think I am improving by looking at your videos and training once a week. Best Andrew
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Good to hear you are improving Andrew. It is definitely a good game to keep playing for a very long time.
eduardo espinosa Posted 7 years ago
I second that. I'm somewhat older and haven't played anything but Table Tennis all my life. My conclusion: Definitely good for you.
My advice to Mr. Behruz: Keep those two good rubbers aside for a while and find a pair of slower ones perhaps with less spin factor. The same thing happened to me, the blade rubber setup is too aggressive.
Sandor Istvan Posted 7 years ago
Hy Alois. The reason is because ,I have not found yet paycards.
Behruz Basla Posted 7 years ago
Hello Alois,
Thank you for making a personalised video for my query. I have been training as per your advise and make it a point to only play topspins as much as I can when I'm practicing. I definitely feel more confident attempting and playing the topspin than I did a month ago. I have put in almost 20hrs in the previous month practicing my topspin stroke and I'm far far from perfecting it, nevertheless I'm getting there :))
@eduardo, you're spot on. I did realise that my ALC blade was not supporting my learning curve, so I went back to my good ol Peter Korbel all wood blade. The rubbers remain the same but I'm using 1.9mm thickness now as that would give me greater blade feedback and help me control the ball further.
best regards,
BB
Jeff Plumb from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Congratulations BB. Keep up the good work!