Economical movement
Training and Drills
D K Asked 4 years ago
Greetings Team,
I havent contacted you for a while.
I was able to catch an eye of powerful coach,who now occassionally spars with me.
I was tired from the training more than from any previous table tennis.
Thus I started thinking,how can I find out if my movements are economical etc?
So that I spend minimal energy?
Thanks
Dan
Alois Rosario Answered 4 years ago
Hi Dan,
I think one way is to do the swing without the ball and feel what that is like. You can even close your eyes and try to tune into the feelings in all parts of your body. Start with the bigger muscles like your legs and waist. Then start to think about how the muscles of the shoulder, upper arm, forearm, then wrist and fingers feel while swinging. As you swing with the ball think about how you can make the same swing with less effort in each of these parts.
Then swing with the ball and see where the differences lie. Again go through the same process and see if you can see how little effort you can take with each of those muscle areas without changing the stroke.
This will take some time going backwards and forwards through the process to get the feeling to stay while hitting the ball.
Thoughts on this question
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D K Posted 4 years ago
I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing.
Firstly,with closed eyes I am barely able to normally move,I need to see my arm to swing correctly.
I can identify the feelings,but I do not have active muscle memory.
Meaning,I am able to recreate a movement only by sight. By feeling,I can only identify if this is similar to any previous feeling.
I am talking about economical movement in similar situation like : I have seen a question in our coach license exam,which consisted of the coach trainee choosing one player from a tournament and analyze him/her. The question was "Do you think the player's movement is economical and why?"
Nigel C Posted 4 years ago
DK,
I think Alois is referring to when a person plays a stroke they should be on the whole relaxed. If you tense muscels and try too hard to hit the ball fast then it is actually counter productive and the ball will not go as fast as when they are relaxed. They are also wasting energy and will tire quicker.
Are you referring to returning to ready position or appropriate position for the next shot and keeping strokes compact i.e. not long follow throughs. Foot work needs to be correct i.e using the appropriate foot to move in for short balls.
I would think a good coach would consider all the above and probably more things that I've missed.
D K Posted 4 years ago
I am aware of the power of relax.
There is only a single instant during a stroke where a tension is required,and it is the acceleration moment. That is what Chinese insist on.
I am able to fully relax,at least my upper body.
Though,I need to consciously focus on that.
I am not sure how well I am doing considering the followthroughs,because I need to conscously focus on the movement
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 4 years ago
Hi Dan,
For economical movement I think the best thing is to test yourself with speed and reducing your time. This will force the economy of movement. You will find better ways. This may not be technical advice but try this approach.
D K Posted 4 years ago
I am not exactly sure what test do you mean,Alois
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 4 years ago
Just get your training partner to play faster to see how you adapt to the faster ball.
D K Posted 4 years ago
hmm,I will try.