Using my body more
Bobv asked 5 years ago
Hi Tom and Dan,
Been working hard on brushing the ball, and the various drills and Id like to work on getting more athletic and use my body more like I do in other sports. I play, and have played, a variety of sports and have always played them with great weight shift and it comes almost without thinking (golf, baseball, tennis, etc). How can I translate this similar movement into table tennis? It seems as though I am very arm and hand focused right now. Thanks!
Dan Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hi Bobv,
Firstly, great to hear you are implementing all the practice this is great! Also, awesome you play many other sports as this will give you a lot of good fundamental skills to transfer across to table tennis. Okay you have asked a great question and i think me and Tom should make a video on this. What I would suggest is it sounds like you have the mechanics to rotate well etc due to tennis and the other sports, so off the table training isn’t needed here. I think do simple table tennis drills to start with.
1) Forehand topspin into one position. Only use your legs and body to generate the pace into the shot. Avoid using to much arm. Don’t worry if you make mistakes etc thats all part of the learning process. Really focus on transferring your legs, torso, shoulders and then arm coming into the shot at the very last minute.
2) Now do this same drill but with footwork. So one wide forehand and then a forehand from the middle and repeat. This exercise will help you practice transferring into the ball with your weight whilst you are on the move.
3) Then practice a simple drill such as 1 backhand and 1 forehand into your opponents backhand block. During this focus on the rotation and weight transfer only, again don’t worry to much about using your arm. Relax and practice this weight transfer process.
4) Now you have worked on the weight transfer part, work on integrating it with your arm and snap into the ball like a whipping action.
A few key things I find players improve with weight transfer is creating a good base. Bend the knees and have your feet spread out quite wide, look at Timo Boll for an example of this. Now you are low, you can load your weight into your right leg, turn the torso, core, and shoulders and rotate into the ball landing in your left lg. This is for right handed players. Watch this video here: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/how-to-weight-transfer-effectively/
What equipment are you using? Sometimes players with fast bats cannot utilise their weight transfer effectively because the bat is to fast, so they over compensate by just using their arm.
Hope this helps 🙂
Dan
BobvThanks, Dan! I am an allround player with an emphasis on attack and chop, so I am using Xiom Vega Europe on both sides and a Donic DefPlay blade. Any other recommendations would be appreciated. I do like the sound of the blade/rubber combos that you and Tom use. Very solid sounding. Thank you!
martinkTotally agree with that this is a great question, and a video on this topic would be appreciated. Always trying to improve the use of my legs and body, especially on forehand topspin.
