Controlling Arm Strength
Strokes
eugene lu Asked 9 years ago
Hi alois,
When doing the forehand topspin, I often hit the ball out. My coach says I need to control my arm strength and don't hit too hard all the time. But then he wants good amount of speed on the ball. He doesn't want me to put too much speed on the ball but just enough with good topspin. How to achieve this without hitting hard?
Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago
Hi Eugene,
Focus on getting a lot of topspin on the ball. This will give you a good margin for error and allow you to get good speed at the same time. If you hit the ball flat and fast you have little margin for error which will lead to a lot of errors.
Recommended Video
Timing your forehand
Timing can help you to improve your stroke. It can also be a reason that you are struggling with your stroke. By changing the timing you can change the type of ball your opponents is facing.
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eugene lu Posted 9 years ago
But it seems like I can't brush the ball much. I can't get the right feeling. What is the right feeling when brushing the ball
Linh Vu Posted 9 years ago
I am very good with having a thin contact with the ball and brushing the ball. However, I don't know to how to loop with firmer contact. To have a thin contact with the ball and brush the ball, you should have:
1. soft rubber with some stickiness. Examples are DHS Hurricane 8 2.2mm hardness 38 no booster, DHS Hurricane Neo 3 2.2 hardness 39 with 4 layers of booster (to make it softer), Stiga (Astro) Airoc S, Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX, or any soft rubber with good (but not fast) speed.
2. carbon blade with 3-5 layers in total. fewer layers better. don't use slow to medium speed carbon blade. no fast carbon blade.
3. your racket angle should be 15-85 degree as against the ground surface. for underspin angle is near toward 85. for topspin ball angle is near toward 15. low or high ball angle is near toward 85. medium ball is near toward 15.
4. listen to the ball sound generated by your stroke. there should be no sound or little sound. if you hear loud sound, your stroke is not correct. you practice looping but no sound. don't worry about whether the ball is in the table. eventually it will be in the table after one week of practice.
5. when I first practiced the so called brushing loops, all of my balls were under the net. if all of your loops are under the net, you are doing it correctly !!! eventually it will be over the net. to begin with, it has to be under the net !!!
Mike Deubig Posted 9 years ago
Eugene,
You might be relying on your arm speed too much for the topspin. My coach tells me all the time to use my body more, turn a little with momentum going slightly forward using a shorter swing and in a good finish position. It does work, my topspin has more spin and is faster as a result. When I use too much arm, my muscles tend to tense too much which slows down my arm speed thus I end up hitting the ball rather than brushing it or if I do brush it, it goes into the net because my arm speed is slower as a result of my muscles being tense. The strength of your topspin comes mostly from your core, rather than your arm speed. Once you get your technique down, then you can increase arm speed to go faster if need be. :)
Conrad Young Posted 9 years ago
Good to hear others working on the same thing. My local coach tells me I'm using too much arm and shoulder as well, resulting in an inconsistent shot. Last night in a tournament I noticed the difficulty of timing so many different muscle groups together for one shot, especially after a few matches. For me, Jeff's FH loop is a good visual example of not using so much arm on the back swing.