Good to hear you are improving. Returning smashes is difficult. It's actually better to work on attacking first yourself or keeping the ball low and/or short so your opponent can't attack!
Both grips have advantages and disadvantages. However as you can see from the best players in the World, you can use either and be a great player. I'd choose the one you feel most comfortable with. I'm glad you have subscribed. Be sure to also check out our website where you can ask the coach any questions you have.
If every tutorial video would be that good, I'd free as much as few additional years of my life. Perfect, simple and precise explanation. I didn't expect to be hyped about a ping-pong video, but congratulations, really great job!
I think that you've got some excellent replies about this. You can play the penhold with a standard blade but a lot of people use specially made bats that have shorter handles.
Hi Soju69jinro, for some reason I can't reply directly to your comment. I think that it's best to use one of the standard grips. All of the top players use these two types of grips so that tells you the importance of it.
+Imzy Yes I think it's important as no top player has the pointer finger straight up the back of the bat. The reason is that it is bad for the backhand and it also limits the movement of your wrist.
Lol. When I was younger I used to hold my bat in the right way. Then I went to a course, and told me to not put my index across de bat. So I followed the advice and adapted my game. I thought I was starting to become quite good, so I went to the exact same place 3 years later for another course, and what do they tell me? You have to put your index across the bat.
Great video! Can you please make a video on the slight difference in grip that we should make while switching from forehand to backhand or vice-versa? That would be really helpful! Thanks a lot!
Great video, I'm still learning with the penhold after taking the game up again a few months back - spin is new to me and I need to get that wrist pivot. I can spin it both ways but at the moment I find myself drawing the bat across the ball to achieve it rather than using the wrist to maximise the amount of spin. One thing I always found with penhold is that I can get tremendously powerful and low forehand smashes - that is one of the reasons I always played penhold as opposed to shakehand. Penhold is great for an offensive game against our 'friendly' club players who find it difficult to deal with.
many thanks. As an update, I've got the wrist pivot now. I'm working on the reverse backhand to make sure that side doesn't get too exploited when we join a league next year.
SH is the better grip imo ... yea the PH has its advantages but your backhand is more useful than people think and when that's being hindered by the PH grip it isn't good.
It seems like there are more shakeholders in the top 100 than penholders at the moment. The reverse penhold backhand has removed some of the limitations of the backhand for penholders though.
Many Penholders such as Xu Xin and Ryu Seung Min are forehand dominant, so they really don't need their backhand much. The traditional backhand is slightly hindered, but is much easier to learn, a lot more consistent. The reverse backhand, in my opinion, is a lot more effective after lots of practice compared to the shakehand grip. It might be harder to execute, compared to the shakehand backhand, but it can generate more spin due to the extra wrist flexibility. I feel like both the penhold and shakehand grip's advantages and disadvantages even out, with neither being better than the other. The main reason why there are less penholders than shakehanders in the top 100 is because penhold is becoming less and less popular and is being taught less and less. But there wouldn't still be penhold players up there if there was such a disadvantage.
It can be especially switching between the penhold and shakehand. If you are a shakehand player you can use a slightly modified shakehand grip that frees up your wrist so you can generate lots of spin and don't need a big change to get back to your normal grip.
I don't have a lot of experience with them. The fact that none of the top players in the World use them these days makes me think that it's better to stick with either the penhold or the shakehand grip.
i have played 2 state level tournaments as a captain but both times my team lost in semis.so this year i want to win the state level. so i subscribed to pingskills. plz tell me that how should i hold the grip penhold or shakehand and a better way to defeat the opponents
Hi Alois, I was wondering which handle shape i should get. & I am not also sure what they look like. Could you please explain to me what a concave & anatomic handle shape looks like? Thanks.
***** The shape of the handle is not really important in regards to the performance of the bat. The best thing is to try out a few different bats and see what you like. The handle shape is really a personal preference.
The handle shape only affects the performance a little. I've heard that many top Chinese players use a flared (FL) handle so that it's easier to hold the bat more loosely inbetween strokes.
Try to serve with a lot of backspin. This makes it much harder to attack the serve especially if it is short and low. Check out our website for more tips.
Hi there Alois, thanks for the awesome videos, I was just wondering should the red face of the bat be on my forhand or my backhand? thanks for answering
Yes, the biggest problem with this is when you switch to your backhand. You can play just as good a forehand with the finger in the correct position and then you are also ready for the backhand, that's why the standard grip is better.
We've had quite a few questions about this on our website. Head over to the Ask the Coach section and search for "grip switching between backhand and forehand". With regards to which videos we film a response for, our premium members vote. So if you ask an interesting question you've got a good chance!
Any chance you will give a video for atypical grips and bats? I have been wanting to have some fun with some experimental ways to play ping pong, so I bought a pistol grip bat.
Imo PH attacking backhand is so good but defensive forehand is really hard to master and you have to go back a lot when blocking with each forehand and backhand
i have hold my racket very tightly for long time..so i decided to change it by loosing my wrist, my topspin against block are getting better, but now i have problem to loop backspin ball. should i change back my old style or keep practicing with this new style?
+Aninda Abhijit You're most welcome. If you ever have any table tennis questions then please use the ask the coach section of the PingSkills website. We love talking about this great sport :)
Hi there, thnx for all videos........Well, I use SH grip and am a forehand power player so I find hard on my backhand but as my opponents came to know my backhand weakness I started doing jobs on my backhand as well and I am very good at BH drives in my training sessions but I feel as if Iam loosing my FH shots as I am working with a tiny change in my grip during games i.e. I use my thumb over the rubber for BH shots and as it comes to rally for FH shots I am already used to hit it removing that thumb from rubber keeping of the top of the handle......using thumb in such manner for BH shots prevent my bat to move, and keeps bat stable during BH shots and its wondreful feeling while hitting and type of BH shots pressing that THUMB..........pls help should I still give myself bit more time to be autopilot using tiny change ..........
Hi, Recently I saw someone playing with a pointer finger moved to the middle of the bat. Then I tried to play like that, and it improved the consistency of my fh rapidly. much better control and i can hit harder. What do you think?
Hi kakashi hatake, The problem is that you need to switch it back when playing a backhand and as the rallies get faster you will get caught out. Also with some practice you can play the forehand just as well with the correct grip. I think holding it the way we demonstrate is best for players development.
Hi PingSkills. I'm trying to enter a table tennis varsity team and in order to get in I am going to compete against other players to get a spot in the team. I have a passion for table tennis but I'm not that good at the game . I am using the penhold grip with long pimples and I play offense. Should I use a different rubber since the long pimples are mostly for control? Thanks!
+Andy Zhou I think using a normal rubber would be better as it allows you to generate your own spin. Mark V or Sriver are good rubbers that we often recommend.
If you are using Penhold Grip, Its better not to have your fingers flat in the back because if your fingers are flat in the back of the bat, its harder to generate reverse backhand loop, and you do less spin from forehand loop. have your fingers line up on top of each other will help you generate more spin whne looping the ball and you can do reverse backhand loop. if you have your fingers curved at the back, you can learn "push" or "block" handball, which is a powerful backhand used by Ma Lin.
I have questions about penhold raquets: Do JPen and CPen raquets corrospond to the way you curl your fingers as mentioned in the video? Can I put rubber on 2 sides of a penhold raquet? Can JPen and Cpen raquets be held either way (contact with red side or contact with black side)?
Hi Alois, I am 13 years old and I currently use a shakehand grip. I want to use a penhold because I want to change my game to something like ma lin or he zhi wen's style. Is it bad for me to change at this stage?
hi Alois I just joined and I have a question. I feel more comfortable holding pen hold style but I play better with the shakehand grip. What should I do
Both grips are good for table tennis. So I'd suggest picking the one you think you'll enjoy using as hopefully you'll be playing table tennis for a long time.
That is a really difficult question to answer because it depends on many factors and also comes down to personal preference. Try looking at our video on how to choose a bat and let me know if that helps: www.pingskills.com/table-tennis/equipment-lessons/choosing-a-table-tennis-bat/
I wouldn't recommend holding the bat like you do a tennis racquet. All the top players in the World use either the shakehand or the penhold grip as we explain in this video.
@@pingskills Thank you so much for teaching my children so nicely. They are very much motivated after looking your videos. My son Kushagra is of age 8 but he try to play his best looking you.
Thanks pingskills bro!! u helped me a alot, but which way of holding the bat is the best???? i use the pen hold grab style bt i found that while hitting shots the ball goes in the net.. so which would be the best
+B225 B78d I like the shakehand but that's because I've always used that grip. There are World Champions who have used the Penhold and World Champions who have used the shakehand so both are good. I'd suggest you use the one that feels most comfortable to you.
I hold pens differently so my penhold grip is a bit different. My middle finger doesn't go behind the paddle; instead it sort of rests above it (on my last joint). I recently found out that I was holding the paddle wrong and tried to adapt, but whenever I play for an extended period of time, my PH goes back to the way I normally do it. Also, whenever I attempt the correct PH method, the middle joint of my middle finger rubs a lot against the back of the paddle and gets hurt. Will my old PH grip cause problems with the rules?
I use shakehand grip. How close towards the blade do I place my grip? When I keep a little distance my punches become stronger, more flexibility in my wrist but I loose in control.
Choose what you feel best for your situation. Generally though I would encourage you to be closer to the rubber. See this video for more demonstrations of Alois holding the bat with the shakehand and see where he places his hand.
Take a look at our video on the forehand smash. Most of the points are the same regardless of your grip. You can also search for "PingSkills Penhold" and see some techniques there.
It's not advisable to have much of a change between the backhand and forehand. In table tennis since you are standing much closer to your opponent you don't have the time to make a big change. Here's a video talking more about this question - th-cam.com/video/K69R6Cc-8UA/w-d-xo.html
i have been playing tt for more than 6 years now..i use pen hold grip..cn u do a detailed video on the hw to overcome weakness of this grip..plus most of my opponents use hand shake grip sooo cn u plz tell me hw to defeat them..thanks!!
I tend to push my my thumb and pointer and middle finger together more control. The downside is that you sometimes have the ball hit your hand which sucks.
I have been holding like the SH grip but with my thumb on the side of the racket and my finger kinda curled up across the bottom. This makes my backhand pretty useless as the ball often hits my finger. I have not tried using the original SH grip because I feel like I lose quite a bit of control. Should I try adapting to the normal SH anyway?
Hi, I have just started playing table tennis and heard that it was bad for the racket to touch the rubber (diminishes the material causing less spin). Is this true? when holding the racket isn't that touching the rubber?
Philip Ton Your hand does touch the rubber when holding it correctly but you'll notice that this is on the part of the rubber you won't hit the ball with so it's not a problem.
Hello, I watched alot of your great tips, and you motivated me to start training fresh age players. but i want to ask you about the recommended age for them to start. And should i start with regular rackets or spin and speed rackets. they will be new to the game.
It's better to get some rackets that can generate spin so they can learn about that from the start. Don't get anything that is very fast but a good pre-made racket is ideal. If this is too expensive than you can use rackets without any spin. As for a starting age, it really is dependent on each kid and how they are developing. The main thing is you want the kids to enjoy each session so they want to keep playing. This is actually more important than learning when they first start. No one keeps playing long enough to become good if they don't enjoy the sport!
Thank you v.much, but what the age of the players? Now I aiming to 10-15 yo children. Sorry for my questions but I have another one if you allow me to ask, I have now a Donic racket I bought it as one piece, are the rubbers of one piece racket replaceable ?
Yes, 10 to 15 year olds are great ages for kids to start playing table tennis! With the Donic racket you can usually take the rubbers off and then replace them. As it was a pre-made bat it might be hard getting the rubbers off the first time but after that if you use a water based table tennis glue it will be easy. We have an "ask the coach" page on the PingSkills website where you can ask your own questions and search through over 10,000 questions that we have already answered. I think you'll like it :) www.pingskills.com/table-tennis-forum#gsc.tab=0 Good luck with your teaching. It's great that you are getting involved. Cheers, Jeff.
+Muhammad Subhan There's been World Champions using both grips so either :) Having said that there seems to be more shakehand players even from China these days. If you don't prefer one over the other I'd stick with the shakehand.
hello pingskills! i hold my bat in a very untypical way. i have a backhandgrip and when im playing forehand topspin i turn my bat down. i want to create some sidespin with this technique. the problem is, that i often must loose the bat because my wrist often cant make this untypical movement. when i try to hit the ball in the side of my body it goes better but i often hit the edge of my racket. do you have tips to improve my topspin and grip? thank you PS: best tabletennischannel on youtube :)
Is it necessary to put only one finger on the backside of a table tennis racket in a shake hand grip? I am used to putting my index and middle finger both on the back so will it cause problems in technique or according to the rules of table tennis?
There is no problem with the rules using this grip but it does lock your wrist more than just having one finger on the back. It also means there is less of the racket showing when you play a backhand. We strongly recommend that you get used to only having one finger on the back. Good luck!
is it okay to use more than one finger on the backhand during the shakehand? I feel it gives me more control but does it have any major diasadvantage that I don't know of?
I wouldn't recommend it. Firstly it takes up more space on the rubber so you are more likely to hit your finger and secondly you then need to switch grips between the backhand and forehand so as you get better and the game gets faster you will get caught out.
hey coach after i saw your website many of my questions are answered unless two questions 1. if you saw ma longs gameplay when he takes the ball he touches the ball to his short cleaning it what is the advantage of that 2.when the player serving he takes his foot higher and fastly attractes to the ground what is the advantage of that
+Enes Pasha Ma Long is just making sure there is no sweat on the ball. As the guys play so intensely their sweat can get on the ball and if that happens the ball does not grip on the rubber so he just makes sure it is dry. With the serving there is no real advantage. Some players just like to do this.
Just to expand on @stawy22 's point, the penhold blade has a shorter grip as it is unnecessary to have a longer grip for the penhold. Just google images it to see a visual image.
I've played table tennis for quite a long time now and I and normally use my backhand more than the forehand, but both those grips make it hard to backhand as part of your hand is on the racket. What should I do as most the time i just grip it like a tennis racket?
Hi PingSkills. I was playing table tennis regularly when I was in elementary school all the way to high school. Even played in competitions for our age. Sadly, had to abandon my passion for work, but now returning to TT (age 32, but feel like 18 lol). Unfortunately, all of my bats are out (aka RIP), therefore looking for something new. Preferably custom made. Any recommendations?
info0 Gaming Yes. Try the PingSkills Touch with Mark V. It will be perfect for getting back into the game. We get a lot of people in your situation who are returning to the game after a long break. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun for you. Make sure to sign up on our website for our free newsletter. We'll send you tips each week. Good luck!
Hi Alois, i am used to hold the bat handshake style, but not with the finger pointing across the bottom. i've been like that for some years. now that i try to use the pointing finger across, it's like i am holding a more lightweight bat, and i can't really control the ball like the style i used to. how should i proceed? Thanks.
+Dionisius Dani We recommend that you use the grip as shown in the video. It will take some time to get used to but I think it will be better in the long run. It really depends if you want to put the effort in to make the change though.
+PingSkills i've tried for couple days right now. i have a bit problem, when i used this grip style, my holding hand tend to tired more quickly than when i used my old style. is that mean my grip is wrong?
+Dionisius Dani Hmmm, perhaps. You need to hold the bat quite loosely. If you grip it too tight your hand will get tired quickly. Do you feel you are gripping the bat tightly?
Hi! I have few question, but first sorry my bad english im 13 years old and im from hungary. So the first: I want changing shakehand to penhold. And i want use the flat technic... So i need the backhand this technic? Or i use the classic forehand defend... I only play a few minutes with the flat, but i think i can play with that. So what you can say?
If you are using penhold then you can use the same side of the bat for the forehand and the backhand, however more and more penholders are using the reverse penhold backhand. As for hitting the ball flat, certain players are very good at this and it can be effective. In the past there were more players of this style but it seems now that more are using topspin.
Good to hear you are improving. Returning smashes is difficult. It's actually better to work on attacking first yourself or keeping the ball low and/or short so your opponent can't attack!
Great. I'm glad you found the video useful.
Well, this tutorial really helped correct my grip anomalies. Now, I make less errors while serving and returning.
Both grips have advantages and disadvantages. However as you can see from the best players in the World, you can use either and be a great player. I'd choose the one you feel most comfortable with. I'm glad you have subscribed. Be sure to also check out our website where you can ask the coach any questions you have.
Do people switch between penhold and shake hand grip
Like for top spin use penhold and for rallies use shake hand
@@sharath1857 I have not seen that before. I would suggest it is much better to pick one grip and then stick with your choice.
If every tutorial video would be that good, I'd free as much as few additional years of my life. Perfect, simple and precise explanation. I didn't expect to be hyped about a ping-pong video, but congratulations, really great job!
Thanks for the questions. The best place to ask these questions is on our website under the ask the coach section. We have more room there to answer.
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
I think that you've got some excellent replies about this. You can play the penhold with a standard blade but a lot of people use specially made bats that have shorter handles.
Love his voice, so calming and relaxing!
Hi Soju69jinro, for some reason I can't reply directly to your comment. I think that it's best to use one of the standard grips. All of the top players use these two types of grips so that tells you the importance of it.
+Imzy Yes I think it's important as no top player has the pointer finger straight up the back of the bat. The reason is that it is bad for the backhand and it also limits the movement of your wrist.
Lol. When I was younger I used to hold my bat in the right way. Then I went to a course, and told me to not put my index across de bat. So I followed the advice and adapted my game. I thought I was starting to become quite good, so I went to the exact same place 3 years later for another course, and what do they tell me? You have to put your index across the bat.
+William Lowry Doh! Well I think it's worth holding it the right way to keep developing your game. At least you know the best way now. Good luck.
Damm
Great to hear. Keep working hard and I'm sure you can improve even more.
awesome grip pingskills keep it up plz.. pray for me to be a professional table tennis player like you
Good luck with your table tennis!
thnxs.. :-)
Great video! Can you please make a video on the slight difference in grip that we should make while switching from forehand to backhand or vice-versa? That would be really helpful! Thanks a lot!
Great video, I'm still learning with the penhold after taking the game up again a few months back - spin is new to me and I need to get that wrist pivot. I can spin it both ways but at the moment I find myself drawing the bat across the ball to achieve it rather than using the wrist to maximise the amount of spin. One thing I always found with penhold is that I can get tremendously powerful and low forehand smashes - that is one of the reasons I always played penhold as opposed to shakehand. Penhold is great for an offensive game against our 'friendly' club players who find it difficult to deal with.
It's great to hear you are getting back into the game. Good luck with your table tennis.
many thanks. As an update, I've got the wrist pivot now. I'm working on the reverse backhand to make sure that side doesn't get too exploited when we join a league next year.
Great to hear you are joining a league next year. Good luck!
SH is the better grip imo ... yea the PH has its advantages but your backhand is more useful than people think and when that's being hindered by the PH grip it isn't good.
It seems like there are more shakeholders in the top 100 than penholders at the moment. The reverse penhold backhand has removed some of the limitations of the backhand for penholders though.
I know you both focus on shakehand stuff. but you could you try to do a reverse penhold backhand tutorial? Thanks.
Google "pingskills penhold techniques" and take a look at that video. We do cover that shot briefly.
PingSkills Ah great, thanks!
Many Penholders such as Xu Xin and Ryu Seung Min are forehand dominant, so they really don't need their backhand much. The traditional backhand is slightly hindered, but is much easier to learn, a lot more consistent. The reverse backhand, in my opinion, is a lot more effective after lots of practice compared to the shakehand grip. It might be harder to execute, compared to the shakehand backhand, but it can generate more spin due to the extra wrist flexibility. I feel like both the penhold and shakehand grip's advantages and disadvantages even out, with neither being better than the other. The main reason why there are less penholders than shakehanders in the top 100 is because penhold is becoming less and less popular and is being taught less and less. But there wouldn't still be penhold players up there if there was such a disadvantage.
Hello pingskills
I feel comfortable serving with PH grip and immediately switching back to SH for further play... Is that legal?
Thanks
I was wondering the same thing. I can imagine grip switches being pretty difficult to keep up with.
It can be especially switching between the penhold and shakehand. If you are a shakehand player you can use a slightly modified shakehand grip that frees up your wrist so you can generate lots of spin and don't need a big change to get back to your normal grip.
PingSkills I'll definitely look into it! Also, what's your opinion on the V-grip and Seemiller grip?
I don't have a lot of experience with them. The fact that none of the top players in the World use them these days makes me think that it's better to stick with either the penhold or the shakehand grip.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hmh
Hello, I'm a beginner in table tennis and I think this video has really taught me ways to hold a bat which is quite good.
My gym grade depends on me winning lol so I came here for tips. Thanks.
i used to grip my bat with 2 fingers , and then when i watched this video it changed the way i play and i am much of a better player, thanks alot
His name must be Skills
@cycl0ps__ ahahaha awesome
This was 6 years ago nice
I play with the shakehand grip as it is more convenient.
Amazing video! Exactly what I was looking for :)
i have played 2 state level tournaments as a captain but both times my team lost in semis.so this year i want to win the state level. so i subscribed to pingskills. plz tell me that how should i hold the grip penhold or shakehand and a better way to defeat the opponents
Hi Alois,
I was wondering which handle shape i should get. & I am not also sure what they look like. Could you please explain to me what a concave & anatomic handle shape looks like?
Thanks.
***** The shape of the handle is not really important in regards to the performance of the bat. The best thing is to try out a few different bats and see what you like. The handle shape is really a personal preference.
The handle shape only affects the performance a little. I've heard that many top Chinese players use a flared (FL) handle so that it's easier to hold the bat more loosely inbetween strokes.
Try to serve with a lot of backspin. This makes it much harder to attack the serve especially if it is short and low. Check out our website for more tips.
Hi there Alois, thanks for the awesome videos, I was just wondering should the red face of the bat be on my forhand or my backhand? thanks for answering
Excellent video. Thank you!
You're welcome *****
Great Video !!! I'm gonna use this in my learning material / slide presentation. Good job Coach !!!
Thank you soo much sir. Very useful and i am doing my best from this video. ❤❤
the best tutorials of table tennis >.
Thanks harol artola
Very clear explanation.
Yes, the biggest problem with this is when you switch to your backhand. You can play just as good a forehand with the finger in the correct position and then you are also ready for the backhand, that's why the standard grip is better.
Not really. The two grips we show here are the main grips and what we recommend.
the grip with 1 finger has made my game better ... now i have better control on my shots
Thank god i found this!! Thank you so much!!♡ i think i'm muc h more confident now.. now that i've watched your videos. :)
i like the hand shake one
Thanks. Yes we will be updating a lot of our older videos to full 1080p HD!
We've had quite a few questions about this on our website. Head over to the Ask the Coach section and search for "grip switching between backhand and forehand".
With regards to which videos we film a response for, our premium members vote. So if you ask an interesting question you've got a good chance!
Any chance you will give a video for atypical grips and bats? I have been wanting to have some fun with some experimental ways to play ping pong, so I bought a pistol grip bat.
Sorry we don't have any videos on that. Enjoy experimenting.
Imo PH attacking backhand is so good but defensive forehand is really hard to master and you have to go back a lot when blocking with each forehand and backhand
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
i have hold my racket very tightly for long time..so i decided to change it by loosing my wrist, my topspin against block are getting better, but now i have problem to loop backspin ball. should i change back my old style or keep practicing with this new style?
Great point! Thanks for sharing.
GFS
i started with the shakehand grip, but i find the penhold grip a lot more interesting so i decided to switch grip
Thank you so much pingskills
i like your table tennis videos a lot. thx for the help
+Aninda Abhijit You're most welcome. If you ever have any table tennis questions then please use the ask the coach section of the PingSkills website. We love talking about this great sport :)
Hi there, thnx for all videos........Well, I use SH grip and am a forehand power player so I find hard on my backhand but as my opponents came to know my backhand weakness I started doing jobs on my backhand as well and I am very good at BH drives in my training sessions but I feel as if Iam loosing my FH shots as I am working with a tiny change in my grip during games i.e. I use my thumb over the rubber for BH shots and as it comes to rally for FH shots I am already used to hit it removing that thumb from rubber keeping of the top of the handle......using thumb in such manner for BH shots prevent my bat to move, and keeps bat stable during BH shots and its wondreful feeling while hitting and type of BH shots pressing that THUMB..........pls help should I still give myself bit more time to be autopilot using tiny change ..........
I have been playing TT for 5 years and I am still watching this video😂
Shake hand grip is the best one and is suitable to majority of players
Hi,
Recently I saw someone playing with a pointer finger moved to the middle of the bat. Then I tried to play like that, and it improved the consistency of my fh rapidly. much better control and i can hit harder. What do you think?
Hi kakashi hatake,
The problem is that you need to switch it back when playing a backhand and as the rallies get faster you will get caught out. Also with some practice you can play the forehand just as well with the correct grip. I think holding it the way we demonstrate is best for players development.
Hi PingSkills. I'm trying to enter a table tennis varsity team and in order to get in I am going to compete against other players to get a spot in the team. I have a passion for table tennis but I'm not that good at the game . I am using the penhold grip with long pimples and I play offense. Should I use a different rubber since the long pimples are mostly for control? Thanks!
+Andy Zhou I think using a normal rubber would be better as it allows you to generate your own spin. Mark V or Sriver are good rubbers that we often recommend.
If you are using Penhold Grip, Its better not to have your fingers flat in the back because if your fingers are flat in the back of the bat, its harder to generate reverse backhand loop, and you do less spin from forehand loop. have your fingers line up on top of each other will help you generate more spin whne looping the ball and you can do reverse backhand loop. if you have your fingers curved at the back, you can learn "push" or "block" handball, which is a powerful backhand used by Ma Lin.
I have questions about penhold raquets:
Do JPen and CPen raquets corrospond to the way you curl your fingers as mentioned in the video?
Can I put rubber on 2 sides of a penhold raquet?
Can JPen and Cpen raquets be held either way (contact with red side or contact with black side)?
i like this video alot i used to hold the penhold grip wrong but now i do it right
i like the penhold better because i can spin it better
Hi Alois,
I am 13 years old and I currently use a shakehand grip. I want to use a penhold because I want to change my game to something like ma lin or he zhi wen's style. Is it bad for me to change at this stage?
Hi Terry Curve,
No it's not bad for you to change. If you think you prefer the penhold grip then give it a go.
I am the exact same thing, but started as pen and prefer both
here in greece some players have their thumb on the grip and the other fingers on the one side of the bat !Is that a nice way to hold the bat??
hi Alois I just joined and I have a question.
I feel more comfortable holding pen hold style but I play better with the shakehand grip. What should I do
Both grips are good for table tennis. So I'd suggest picking the one you think you'll enjoy using as hopefully you'll be playing table tennis for a long time.
PingSkills thanks a lot
Hi! May you tell me what is the best table tennis racket, I am going to buy but I just don't know what may be the best brand. Thank you!
That is a really difficult question to answer because it depends on many factors and also comes down to personal preference. Try looking at our video on how to choose a bat and let me know if that helps: www.pingskills.com/table-tennis/equipment-lessons/choosing-a-table-tennis-bat/
i am now playing table tennis thanks for the videos.
For the Shakehand grip can I put the top of my thumb on the back of the racket?
Is it correct to hold racket in tennis style you have said it's hard but it's correct or not
I wouldn't recommend holding the bat like you do a tennis racquet. All the top players in the World use either the shakehand or the penhold grip as we explain in this video.
@@pingskills Thank you so much for teaching my children so nicely. They are very much motivated after looking your videos. My son Kushagra is of age 8 but he try to play his best looking you.
@@dr.meenusharma1535 That is great to hear. I'm glad we've been able to encourage them to play table tennis. Wish them all the best from us.
@@pingskills Thank u so much
धन्यवाद 🙏
Thanks pingskills bro!! u helped me a alot, but which way of holding the bat is the best???? i use the pen hold grab style bt i found that while hitting shots the ball goes in the net.. so which would be the best
+B225 B78d I like the shakehand but that's because I've always used that grip. There are World Champions who have used the Penhold and World Champions who have used the shakehand so both are good. I'd suggest you use the one that feels most comfortable to you.
Thanks!!!! U helped me a lot man..
+B225 B78d You're welcome.
You're welcome!
I hold pens differently so my penhold grip is a bit different. My middle finger doesn't go behind the paddle; instead it sort of rests above it (on my last joint). I recently found out that I was holding the paddle wrong and tried to adapt, but whenever I play for an extended period of time, my PH goes back to the way I normally do it. Also, whenever I attempt the correct PH method, the middle joint of my middle finger rubs a lot against the back of the paddle and gets hurt. Will my old PH grip cause problems with the rules?
THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US HOW TO HOLD A RACKET
You are welcome.
I use shakehand grip. How close towards the blade do I place my grip? When I keep a little distance my punches become stronger, more flexibility in my wrist but I loose in control.
Choose what you feel best for your situation. Generally though I would encourage you to be closer to the rubber. See this video for more demonstrations of Alois holding the bat with the shakehand and see where he places his hand.
Take a look at our video on the forehand smash. Most of the points are the same regardless of your grip. You can also search for "PingSkills Penhold" and see some techniques there.
Oh
Should you chamge the angle of the SH grip when changing from forehand to backhand like you would in tennis?
It's not advisable to have much of a change between the backhand and forehand. In table tennis since you are standing much closer to your opponent you don't have the time to make a big change. Here's a video talking more about this question - th-cam.com/video/K69R6Cc-8UA/w-d-xo.html
Hey can you tell that ghost serve is possible on offensive xx it has spin and speed 92 and control 96
I haven't heard of that bat. As long as the rubber has enough grip to be able to spin the ball then you can do it.
i have been playing tt for more than 6 years now..i use pen hold grip..cn u do a detailed video on the hw to overcome weakness of this grip..plus most of my opponents use hand shake grip sooo cn u plz tell me hw to defeat them..thanks!!
I tend to push my my thumb and pointer and middle finger together more control. The downside is that you sometimes have the ball hit your hand which sucks.
are there any special bats for penhold or can you play penhold with the same bat which you used for shakehand game?
thank you pingskills for making an excellent video
ive checked your site. it really helped me in my proper posture .
but i still cant return heavy smashes. :(
I have been holding like the SH grip but with my thumb on the side of the racket and my finger kinda curled up across the bottom. This makes my backhand pretty useless as the ball often hits my finger. I have not tried using the original SH grip because I feel like I lose quite a bit of control. Should I try adapting to the normal SH anyway?
I'd recommending giving the normal shakehand a go. Try it for a month and I'm sure you'll get used to it.
Hi,
I have just started playing table tennis and heard that it was bad for the racket to touch the rubber (diminishes the material causing less spin). Is this true? when holding the racket isn't that touching the rubber?
Philip Ton Your hand does touch the rubber when holding it correctly but you'll notice that this is on the part of the rubber you won't hit the ball with so it's not a problem.
Good information for beginner player
Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful.
Great to hear. Checkout our website for more table tennis tips.
If your pointer finger goes over the rarcquet that much how do you hit a proper backhand? Shouldnt almost the whole finger rest on the racquet?
Hello,
I watched alot of your great tips, and you motivated me to start training fresh age players. but i want to ask you about the recommended age for them to start. And should i start with regular rackets or spin and speed rackets. they will be new to the game.
and sorry for my bad english
It's better to get some rackets that can generate spin so they can learn about that from the start. Don't get anything that is very fast but a good pre-made racket is ideal. If this is too expensive than you can use rackets without any spin. As for a starting age, it really is dependent on each kid and how they are developing. The main thing is you want the kids to enjoy each session so they want to keep playing. This is actually more important than learning when they first start. No one keeps playing long enough to become good if they don't enjoy the sport!
Thank you v.much, but what the age of the players? Now I aiming to 10-15 yo children. Sorry for my
questions but I have another one if you allow me to ask, I have now a Donic racket I bought it as one piece, are the rubbers of one piece racket replaceable
?
Yes, 10 to 15 year olds are great ages for kids to start playing table tennis! With the Donic racket you can usually take the rubbers off and then replace them. As it was a pre-made bat it might be hard getting the rubbers off the first time but after that if you use a water based table tennis glue it will be easy.
We have an "ask the coach" page on the PingSkills website where you can ask your own questions and search through over 10,000 questions that we have already answered. I think you'll like it :)
www.pingskills.com/table-tennis-forum#gsc.tab=0
Good luck with your teaching. It's great that you are getting involved.
Cheers,
Jeff.
Thank you coach, see you on the page :)
which grip is better? i can play with both grip but i want to set one grip and keep play with that. please advise
+Muhammad Subhan There's been World Champions using both grips so either :) Having said that there seems to be more shakehand players even from China these days. If you don't prefer one over the other I'd stick with the shakehand.
hello pingskills!
i hold my bat in a very untypical way. i have a backhandgrip and when im playing forehand topspin i turn my bat down. i want to create some sidespin with this technique. the problem is, that i often must loose the bat because my wrist often cant make this untypical movement. when i try to hit the ball in the side of my body it goes better but i often hit the edge of my racket. do you have tips to improve my topspin and grip?
thank you
PS: best tabletennischannel on youtube :)
I use pin hand, and I find it easier and more comfortable.
Go Team Penhold!
Is it necessary to put only one finger on the backside of a table tennis racket in a shake hand grip? I am used to putting my index and middle finger both on the back so will it cause problems in technique or according to the rules of table tennis?
There is no problem with the rules using this grip but it does lock your wrist more than just having one finger on the back. It also means there is less of the racket showing when you play a backhand. We strongly recommend that you get used to only having one finger on the back. Good luck!
PingSkills thanks
Thank you so much🙌
You're welcome 😊
Thank you PingSkills its very excellent i can defeat my schoolmates..
God bless you sir fr
is it okay to use more than one finger on the backhand during the shakehand? I feel it gives me more control but does it have any major diasadvantage that I don't know of?
I wouldn't recommend it. Firstly it takes up more space on the rubber so you are more likely to hit your finger and secondly you then need to switch grips between the backhand and forehand so as you get better and the game gets faster you will get caught out.
thnx
You're welcome.
hey coach after i saw your website many of my questions are answered unless two questions
1. if you saw ma longs gameplay when he takes the ball he touches the ball to his short cleaning it what is the advantage of that
2.when the player serving he takes his foot higher and fastly attractes to the ground what is the advantage of that
+Enes Pasha Ma Long is just making sure there is no sweat on the ball. As the guys play so intensely their sweat can get on the ball and if that happens the ball does not grip on the rubber so he just makes sure it is dry.
With the serving there is no real advantage. Some players just like to do this.
Well thanks no more questions left thanks for you coach and for all who works in pingskills
+Enes Pasha You're welcome :)
Thanks for the video, I used to hold the bat with 4 fingers on the back haha
You're welcome. I hope the new grip has helped your table tennis.
Just to expand on @stawy22 's point, the penhold blade has a shorter grip as it is unnecessary to have a longer grip for the penhold. Just google images it to see a visual image.
I've played table tennis for quite a long time now and I and normally use my backhand more than the forehand, but both those grips make it hard to backhand as part of your hand is on the racket. What should I do as most the time i just grip it like a tennis racket?
Hi PingSkills. I was playing table tennis regularly when I was in elementary school all the way to high school. Even played in competitions for our age. Sadly, had to abandon my passion for work, but now returning to TT (age 32, but feel like 18 lol).
Unfortunately, all of my bats are out (aka RIP), therefore looking for something new. Preferably custom made. Any recommendations?
info0 Gaming Yes. Try the PingSkills Touch with Mark V. It will be perfect for getting back into the game.
We get a lot of people in your situation who are returning to the game after a long break. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun for you. Make sure to sign up on our website for our free newsletter. We'll send you tips each week. Good luck!
Can you make video how to.do reverse penhold backhand?
Take a look at this video. We cover the reverse penholder backhand along with other strokes: th-cam.com/video/iUK7-z7Zv3Y/w-d-xo.html
Is any hold Legal because I grew up holding the bat my way. If I will be trying to change it, it will be really hard because I started with that hold.
Yes you can hold it however you like. The ones we show though are the recommended way.
Hi Alois, i am used to hold the bat handshake style, but not with the finger pointing across the bottom. i've been like that for some years. now that i try to use the pointing finger across, it's like i am holding a more lightweight bat, and i can't really control the ball like the style i used to. how should i proceed? Thanks.
+Dionisius Dani We recommend that you use the grip as shown in the video. It will take some time to get used to but I think it will be better in the long run. It really depends if you want to put the effort in to make the change though.
+PingSkills Then i will try. Thank you.
+Dionisius Dani Keep at it, I'm sure you'll get used to it.
+PingSkills i've tried for couple days right now. i have a bit problem, when i used this grip style, my holding hand tend to tired more quickly than when i used my old style. is that mean my grip is wrong?
+Dionisius Dani Hmmm, perhaps. You need to hold the bat quite loosely. If you grip it too tight your hand will get tired quickly. Do you feel you are gripping the bat tightly?
Thanks
Hi! I have few question, but first sorry my bad english im 13 years old and im from hungary. So the first: I want changing shakehand to penhold. And i want use the flat technic... So i need the backhand this technic? Or i use the classic forehand defend... I only play a few minutes with the flat, but i think i can play with that. So what you can say?
If you are using penhold then you can use the same side of the bat for the forehand and the backhand, however more and more penholders are using the reverse penhold backhand. As for hitting the ball flat, certain players are very good at this and it can be effective. In the past there were more players of this style but it seems now that more are using topspin.