About ten years ago when I started playing table tennis, I was told not to use my wrist in my forehand loops - that it only adds like 1% more power and is a lazy technique for people who can't generate power from their legs and hips and that only top players sometimes do it to get that tiny extra bit of speed. So, I stuck with that advice... and still somehow became the best player at my local club. But recently, I started training with a really good coach who's one of the best players in the UK, and he told me exactly what you're saying! I couldn't believe how much he emphasized using the wrist. My game has improved so much since then that I think I'm ready to challenge Ma Long - maybe even blindfolded while playing with a frying pan... 😏
My game has improved so much since then that I think I'm ready to challenge Ma Long - maybe even blindfolded while playing with a frying pan... Mine too.
Many Thanks for this best ever coaching advice I ever received with immediate improvements !! Originally it appeared counterintuitive to having good control, but not only did this advice add explosiveness to my topspins, but also improved my control- number of topspin counter hitting rallies doubled in just two days that too with much higher quality. Thanks Again!!
God bless you, Brother Heming! I am an old, but aspiring table tennis player. I got this rare forehand phobia due to all the times I choked in front of a big crowd during a pinnacle match when I was the captain of my tennis team in high school 30 years ago. Anyways, what happens is when I have to hit a forehand in table tennis, I get all this anxiety and then my wrist just goes limp. I end up hitting the ball either sky high or straight into the net. And I remember my high school girlfriend laughing 30 years ago. It's like a conversion disorder. Anyways, thank you for breaking the topspin forehand down to the basics. I'll start working the wrist motion. Hopefully I can build that into muscle memory like playing the guitar. And then I start adding in the body motions. If that doesn't work, I'll look into a therapst. Thanks, Brother Heming. Godspeed to you.
Different people need different advice. I don't know where exactly this is coming from, but for example, Zhang Jike tells people that don't use their wrist, hit throught the ball and snap their forearm. Or does he? Probably the people he was coaching in his video had too soft of a touch and lose power on the wrist motion. They needed the advice to don't use their wrist, so their movement becomes more coordinated.
It’s quite hard to explain exactly what you do for a pro when it comes to them explaining something that to them, is super basic but to non pros, is hard This is stuff I had to learn for years as a coach to club level players, before being able to explain it to THEM. Someone like a zhang jike doesn’t spend his time coaching club level players, but coaching another world champion? He’s prob the only few people that could do that
There's a difference between having a flaccid wrist, and then actively using your fingers and wrist to spin the ball whilst increasing tension throughout the shot to get spin and speed. If you hit the ball with a flaccid wrist, you aren't using your finger and wrist muscles to actively spin the ball.
most pros or coachs on bilibili say to relax and then grab the racket tighter when hitting the ball, I think this is the closest to what he say about using wrist for forehand loop only.
Advise at the start looks good to me.. i dont use wrist.. my attack is much more stable. But now i feel I have “room” for start to learn it.. at beggining you just have a lot basic stuff to learn
Pretty sure I got that advice under one of my vids. Sometimes I just try what people recommend me but most of the time I discuss with my high level coach 😉. Greetings from Germany 🙏🏼
Actually the guy who made me have few break throughs in my technique and made quality of my balls reach to next level has a lower level technique than me. Yet he very quickly pointed out what exactly was hindering my shots and always worked like magic.
What I really struggled with is understanding why some shots have amazing spin on them after using my wrist and fingers, and then others don't. I realised that my problem was that my footwork wasn't good enough to avoid moving the shoulder and elbow leading to highly inconsistent levels of spin and therefore less consistency in general. Do you have any recommended drills that could help fix this?
I hear you. Best thing is shadow play first. When we jump out on a table, our subconscious brain will automatically be like “table, net, must get it over” and if you have bad habits on something, you’ll naturally care more about getting it on, rather than fixing an issue, away from the table we can purely focus on getting mechanics correct. Once you can do this comfortably and confidently, without having to think about it, then let’s add the ball (can be trained at home or anywhere with the goal of trying to get spin on the ball). Next step is to jump out on a table and have a robot or human giving you one ball at a time for you to go and execute a mechanically correct topspin. Then taaadaaaaa, and record videos of you doing this every step of the way on Skool, so I can give you corrections and feedback every step along the way Send me a DM on Skool and I’ll show you a video of how I recommend you to be doing this.
@@alicewong6875 sure When we move shoulder elbow, it will inevitably cause our wrist to not be able to move as fast as possible It’s a subtle one but try it for yourself. You literally can’t get max wrist movement if you get elbow and shoulder involved. Our fingers and wrist need to be the ones that are moving rapidly and a lot, if we were to get spin. Cos ultimately these are the two that are responsible for brush the ball, given table tennis racquets are so light. And these two hand parts do get the racquet moving faster. To get spin, it’s impossible to actually do so without your rubber brushing the ball with good contact time and speed (to create friction -> comes as spin in the table tennis form) If we use shoulder or elbow, which are so far away from the actually hand. Our impact time of racquet and ball naturally decreases = less spin Great question, I’m happy to elaborate more on a video if you want? Hope that helps
@@heminghu1434 Thanks for answering. Trying to understand this but I feel like I'm missing a piece or two. Are you saying that when we move our elbow and shoulder too, the wrist is unable to snap as quickly? It's a bit hard for me to understand why this would be the case(and also hard for me to see this in midair as I spastically flex my wrist at home).
Relax the hand and contract it on contact. That's it. If you know this, everything else makes sense. But it's “invisible”, so you'll see people moving wrists and never know how. Now you know.
Well, I was in one of those forums that gave you the idea for this video and I can tell you that I got my advice from a coach with proper credentials from coaching the national team of my country.
@@jonasaikin7616 yea, I linked to a webpage with his accomplishments on the world stage, but it got removed by youtube. what difference does it make? I think this discussion is about what is true and what works in a particular situation (saying something to a player creates an effect through interpretation ... and I would dare to say that everyone uses wrist to some extent)
How much does your wrist actually move in this video though? It looks like it’s moving as an extension of your forearm? Or it’s also because you flick?
@@heminghu1434thank you! Everyone else seems to teach the opposite but when I am relaxed and use the wrist as prime mover I seem to get more spin and it looks like I am using my big muscles to an external observer. I assumed it was wrong. Counter intuitive. You have convinced me I was not imagining things.
I love this!!!! I've noticed that high level players always use their wrist like the end of a whip. There's so many slow motion videos out there. Similar to basketball where we're told to NOT dip the ball. However, EVERYONE dips the ball. Every high level player dips. Same for ping pong with the wrist.
Basically all the Chinese great players generate a big half of the topspin with the wrist even on forehand. They keep saying how this is one thing Europeans don't teach well and the main reason why they try yet can't play Hurricane. And yet coaches and higher level amateurs in Europe often don't believe it😂
Hey guys, Alice asked this great question that I thought I’d answer to explain why what I am saying, is so. Please note: I understand some people don’t necessarily see it this way that I’m saying or have a and that’s ok. I mean no disrespect or hate when I put my stuff out here, hope you understand that I’m trying simply to teach you what I know has worked for me and every client that I’ve been able to help, as consistent advice. No hard feelings if you just don’t see it the same way, not everyone has to be on board with anyone, including me. Hope this explanation below helps either way “When we move shoulder elbow, it will inevitably cause our wrist to not be able to move as fast as possible It’s a subtle one but try it for yourself. You literally can’t get max wrist movement if you get elbow and shoulder involved. Our fingers and wrist need to be the ones that are moving rapidly and a lot, if we were to get spin. Cos ultimately these are the two that are responsible for brush the ball, given table tennis racquets are so light. And these two hand parts do get the racquet moving faster. To get spin, it’s impossible to actually do so without your rubber brushing the ball with good contact time and speed (to create friction -> comes as spin in the table tennis form) If we use shoulder or elbow, which are so far away from the actually hand. Our impact time of racquet and ball naturally decreases = less spin Great question, I’m happy to elaborate more on a video if you want? Hope that helps”
I believe the original poster meant use the elbow to finish the stroke, or perhaps we could just call it the forearm, which is what you and everyone else does, and doesn't seem incompatible with the wrist. The problem is that text without visual demonstration is open to different interpretation.
I dont agree with this.. and first time herd from you.. My experiense is that use of body and forearm, shoulder, proper swing, proper angle, balanse, stand, compact body are much more important then wrist… for me wrist just give me hard time.. my stroke become ustable.. so im maybe in about final stage of learning proper technike for fh and bh topspin on (topspinc and backspin)… now im much more focused on moving, and ball placment reading.. becouse my technike when im training is very good about 80 % but in game its like 10%.. ther is no 5 proper point s in whole match.. and that is becouse im freezed in game, so start to learn move and participation of game.
I think a lot of people try to use wrist though? More often than not in my experience. But the way they use it rotates everywhere and messes with contact point. I don’t add extra wrist on bigger swings, it seems to make me miss more. Only on brushing loops, or for more arc near table.
If we look a video of them actually playing a topspin, we will almost certainly see shoulder and/or elbow being used, but which severely cuts down the amount of grip action you get on the ball when making contact
So basically, find a coach and listen to them. Table tennis is a system of mechanics and habits, it is not like sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper on dinner, arbitrary to your tastes. HOWEVER, I think Heming misunderstands the original poster. That guy was saying that HIS coach taught him to start with forearm movement, then waist, then shoulder THEN wrist, as a kind of progression of gradually adding more elements to the forehand stroke while learning. This is not what Heming demonstrates at the beginning with the weird stroke smacking the ball! Total straw man!
Excellent!!! Very nice explanation about fh spin. You are the best on youtube😊!!
About ten years ago when I started playing table tennis, I was told not to use my wrist in my forehand loops - that it only adds like 1% more power and is a lazy technique for people who can't generate power from their legs and hips and that only top players sometimes do it to get that tiny extra bit of speed. So, I stuck with that advice... and still somehow became the best player at my local club.
But recently, I started training with a really good coach who's one of the best players in the UK, and he told me exactly what you're saying! I couldn't believe how much he emphasized using the wrist. My game has improved so much since then that I think I'm ready to challenge Ma Long - maybe even blindfolded while playing with a frying pan... 😏
My game has improved so much since then that I think I'm ready to challenge Ma Long - maybe even blindfolded while playing with a frying pan... Mine too.
Many Thanks for this best ever coaching advice I ever received with immediate improvements !!
Originally it appeared counterintuitive to having good control, but not only did this advice add explosiveness to my topspins, but also improved my control- number of topspin counter hitting rallies doubled in just two days that too with much higher quality. Thanks Again!!
You are right 100 %. I found out about it myself half a year ago after 5 years of wandering around.
God bless you, Brother Heming! I am an old, but aspiring table tennis player. I got this rare forehand phobia due to all the times I choked in front of a big crowd during a pinnacle match when I was the captain of my tennis team in high school 30 years ago. Anyways, what happens is when I have to hit a forehand in table tennis, I get all this anxiety and then my wrist just goes limp. I end up hitting the ball either sky high or straight into the net. And I remember my high school girlfriend laughing 30 years ago. It's like a conversion disorder. Anyways, thank you for breaking the topspin forehand down to the basics. I'll start working the wrist motion. Hopefully I can build that into muscle memory like playing the guitar. And then I start adding in the body motions. If that doesn't work, I'll look into a therapst. Thanks, Brother Heming. Godspeed to you.
Can you provide a link to the video that describes the grip?
Being physics professor and table tennis player of distt. Level I 100% agree.
The key to a good looking forehand is the free hand... Once you know it you'll notice it every time.
Different people need different advice. I don't know where exactly this is coming from, but for example, Zhang Jike tells people that don't use their wrist, hit throught the ball and snap their forearm. Or does he? Probably the people he was coaching in his video had too soft of a touch and lose power on the wrist motion. They needed the advice to don't use their wrist, so their movement becomes more coordinated.
It’s quite hard to explain exactly what you do for a pro when it comes to them explaining something that to them, is super basic but to non pros, is hard
This is stuff I had to learn for years as a coach to club level players, before being able to explain it to THEM.
Someone like a zhang jike doesn’t spend his time coaching club level players, but coaching another world champion? He’s prob the only few people that could do that
There's a difference between having a flaccid wrist, and then actively using your fingers and wrist to spin the ball whilst increasing tension throughout the shot to get spin and speed. If you hit the ball with a flaccid wrist, you aren't using your finger and wrist muscles to actively spin the ball.
most pros or coachs on bilibili say to relax and then grab the racket tighter when hitting the ball, I think this is the closest to what he say about using wrist for forehand loop only.
very nice info, everyone has his/her own ways to play the game, even at topmost level
Very well explained video!!!
Advise at the start looks good to me.. i dont use wrist.. my attack is much more stable. But now i feel
I have “room” for start to learn it.. at beggining you just have a lot basic stuff to learn
This is the basic which a lot of people do not know how to do it !
Pretty sure I got that advice under one of my vids. Sometimes I just try what people recommend me but most of the time I discuss with my high level coach 😉. Greetings from Germany 🙏🏼
@@limittless. hey Man
Thanks for your comment. Are you on IG?
Actually the guy who made me have few break throughs in my technique and made quality of my balls reach to next level has a lower level technique than me. Yet he very quickly pointed out what exactly was hindering my shots and always worked like magic.
What I really struggled with is understanding why some shots have amazing spin on them after using my wrist and fingers, and then others don't. I realised that my problem was that my footwork wasn't good enough to avoid moving the shoulder and elbow leading to highly inconsistent levels of spin and therefore less consistency in general. Do you have any recommended drills that could help fix this?
I hear you. Best thing is shadow play first. When we jump out on a table, our subconscious brain will automatically be like “table, net, must get it over” and if you have bad habits on something, you’ll naturally care more about getting it on, rather than fixing an issue, away from the table we can purely focus on getting mechanics correct. Once you can do this comfortably and confidently, without having to think about it, then let’s add the ball (can be trained at home or anywhere with the goal of trying to get spin on the ball). Next step is to jump out on a table and have a robot or human giving you one ball at a time for you to go and execute a mechanically correct topspin.
Then taaadaaaaa, and record videos of you doing this every step of the way on Skool, so I can give you corrections and feedback every step along the way
Send me a DM on Skool and I’ll show you a video of how I recommend you to be doing this.
Can you elaborate on why shoulder and elbow action by definition reduces the spin on the ball if its in the same direction of the wrist movement?
@@alicewong6875 sure
When we move shoulder elbow, it will inevitably cause our wrist to not be able to move as fast as possible
It’s a subtle one but try it for yourself. You literally can’t get max wrist movement if you get elbow and shoulder involved.
Our fingers and wrist need to be the ones that are moving rapidly and a lot, if we were to get spin. Cos ultimately these are the two that are responsible for brush the ball, given table tennis racquets are so light. And these two hand parts do get the racquet moving faster.
To get spin, it’s impossible to actually do so without your rubber brushing the ball with good contact time and speed (to create friction -> comes as spin in the table tennis form)
If we use shoulder or elbow, which are so far away from the actually hand. Our impact time of racquet and ball naturally decreases = less spin
Great question, I’m happy to elaborate more on a video if you want? Hope that helps
@@heminghu1434 Thanks for answering. Trying to understand this but I feel like I'm missing a piece or two. Are you saying that when we move our elbow and shoulder too, the wrist is unable to snap as quickly? It's a bit hard for me to understand why this would be the case(and also hard for me to see this in midair as I spastically flex my wrist at home).
@@alicewong6875 if you send me a DM @heming_hu21 on IG, I’ll personally help you with this
just remember to maintain a loose and relax grip
Relax the hand and contract it on contact. That's it. If you know this, everything else makes sense. But it's “invisible”, so you'll see people moving wrists and never know how. Now you know.
Well, I was in one of those forums that gave you the idea for this video and I can tell you that I got my advice from a coach with proper credentials from coaching the national team of my country.
Name this coach
@@jonasaikin7616 yea, I linked to a webpage with his accomplishments on the world stage, but it got removed by youtube. what difference does it make? I think this discussion is about what is true and what works in a particular situation (saying something to a player creates an effect through interpretation ... and I would dare to say that everyone uses wrist to some extent)
How much does your wrist actually move in this video though? It looks like it’s moving as an extension of your forearm? Or it’s also because you flick?
No, it’s the main driver of the shot on the arm, the answer: maximally
I swing with my wrist back and through the ball. It may appear I’m using other parts of my arm, but I’m not
Does the same thing not apply to the backhand also?
@@TripodianTT it does, as far as brushing the ball goes
What about the wrist? It seems you are saying wrist is prime mover in forehand is that right? Is the backhand the same or different in this respect?
@@TripodianTT to get spin, it’s both the same
@@heminghu1434thank you! Everyone else seems to teach the opposite but when I am relaxed and use the wrist as prime mover I seem to get more spin and it looks like I am using my big muscles to an external observer. I assumed it was wrong. Counter intuitive. You have convinced me I was not imagining things.
@@TripodianTT haha I’m glad, good to hear man.
I love this!!!! I've noticed that high level players always use their wrist like the end of a whip. There's so many slow motion videos out there.
Similar to basketball where we're told to NOT dip the ball. However, EVERYONE dips the ball. Every high level player dips. Same for ping pong with the wrist.
When I started playing I got some poor (unsolicited) advice from other club members to not use the wrist!
Basically all the Chinese great players generate a big half of the topspin with the wrist even on forehand. They keep saying how this is one thing Europeans don't teach well and the main reason why they try yet can't play Hurricane. And yet coaches and higher level amateurs in Europe often don't believe it😂
Hey guys, Alice asked this great question that I thought I’d answer to explain why what I am saying, is so.
Please note: I understand some people don’t necessarily see it this way that I’m saying or have a and that’s ok.
I mean no disrespect or hate when I put my stuff out here, hope you understand that I’m trying simply to teach you what I know has worked for me and every client that I’ve been able to help, as consistent advice. No hard feelings if you just don’t see it the same way, not everyone has to be on board with anyone, including me. Hope this explanation below helps either way
“When we move shoulder elbow, it will inevitably cause our wrist to not be able to move as fast as possible
It’s a subtle one but try it for yourself. You literally can’t get max wrist movement if you get elbow and shoulder involved.
Our fingers and wrist need to be the ones that are moving rapidly and a lot, if we were to get spin. Cos ultimately these are the two that are responsible for brush the ball, given table tennis racquets are so light. And these two hand parts do get the racquet moving faster.
To get spin, it’s impossible to actually do so without your rubber brushing the ball with good contact time and speed (to create friction -> comes as spin in the table tennis form)
If we use shoulder or elbow, which are so far away from the actually hand. Our impact time of racquet and ball naturally decreases = less spin
Great question, I’m happy to elaborate more on a video if you want? Hope that helps”
I believe the original poster meant use the elbow to finish the stroke, or perhaps we could just call it the forearm, which is what you and everyone else does, and doesn't seem incompatible with the wrist. The problem is that text without visual demonstration is open to different interpretation.
I dont agree with this.. and first time herd from you..
My experiense is that use of body and forearm, shoulder, proper swing, proper angle, balanse, stand, compact body are much more important then wrist… for me wrist just give me hard time.. my stroke become ustable.. so im maybe in about final stage of learning proper technike for fh and bh topspin on (topspinc and backspin)… now im much more focused on moving, and ball placment reading.. becouse my technike when im training is very good about 80 % but in game its like 10%.. ther is no 5 proper point s in whole match.. and that is becouse im freezed in game, so start to learn move and participation of game.
I think a lot of people try to use wrist though? More often than not in my experience.
But the way they use it rotates everywhere and messes with contact point.
I don’t add extra wrist on bigger swings, it seems to make me miss more. Only on brushing loops, or for more arc near table.
If we look a video of them actually playing a topspin, we will almost certainly see shoulder and/or elbow being used, but which severely cuts down the amount of grip action you get on the ball when making contact
What people think they do versus what they actually do are so often, not the same
So basically, find a coach and listen to them. Table tennis is a system of mechanics and habits, it is not like sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper on dinner, arbitrary to your tastes. HOWEVER, I think Heming misunderstands the original poster. That guy was saying that HIS coach taught him to start with forearm movement, then waist, then shoulder THEN wrist, as a kind of progression of gradually adding more elements to the forehand stroke while learning. This is not what Heming demonstrates at the beginning with the weird stroke smacking the ball! Total straw man!