Well, one vital part of any table tennis-specific fitness programme is plyometrics! Plyometrics are exercises designed especially to improve our fast and powerful movements. They are explosive, exerting maximum force over the shortest amount of time.

The end goal? To increase power, not just brute strength.

Here are a few lower-body plyometic exercises for you to try out. I’ve hand-picked ones I think are most suited to table tennis players.

1. Lateral Jump to Box

The easiest of the bunch. For this one you’ll need an exercise box or step.

• Stand to one side of it in your standard table tennis stance.
• Then bend down and jump onto the box.
• Try to land softly before stepping back off the box and repeating.

2. Box Drill with Rings

This exercise is similar to the ‘Japanese footwork’ regular drill (if you know what that is). You’re going to need some rings or some way of marking out a box on the floor.

• Start in one box in your table tennis stance, and then jump into all the rings, one at a time, either moving clockwise or anticlockwise.
• Keep your body facing forwards, as if facing the table.
• You can have the rings close together to work on speed or further apart to work on generating more powerful jumps.

3. Lateral Hurdle Jumps

We’re back to the exercise box or bench now but this is bigger movement.

• This time you need to stand beside the bench and you’ll be jumping clear over it.
• Once you land, immediately jump back over to your starting position.
• Then repeat.
• Be careful not to catch your feet on the bench on your way back but at the same time try not to tuck your legs up too high as you jump. We want to keep the movement side-to-side rather than up-and-down.

4. Zigzag Hops

If you have one of those agility ladders it’ll come in handy here, otherwise just mark out two lines roughly a foot apart.

• Start at the end and to one side of the ladder and then begin jumping up and across it in a zigzag manner.
• You can do it with both feet or you can hop on just one foot.
• You can also do it facing forwards or backwards.
• As you get better you can increase the lateral distance you are jumping to make it more like moving side-to-side across the table.

Once you understand the basic principles of plyometrics it’s easy to come up with your own exercises. In table tennis it’s particularly important to have powerful legs so you should probably focus most of your efforts on lower-body training, instead of push-ups and chin-ups etc.

Remember to go easy at first and build things up over time. It’s a good idea to warm up your muscles before starting a workout, as explosive movements can cause tears and strains if muscles are cold. Also listen to your body. If you feel a slight pain or possible injury stop training or switch to a different, less stressful exercise.

Thanks to Sport-Fitness-Advisor.com for their animated GIFs.

Enroll TODAY!

Table Tennis University is a revolutionary online training program created by Coach Tao Li.

Tao played table tennis professionally in China and even won a gold medal at the Chinese National Junior Championships!

Table Tennis University gives you a world-class table tennis education. Whether you want to turn pro or just beat your mates, we’ll help you get there.

It’s time to turbocharge your table tennis. Click here to enroll TODAY!

The post Develop Speed and Power with Plyometric Training appeared first on Table Tennis University.

The following video drill demonstrates the FH/BH combo and is taken from Level 2 of our TTU online table tennis training program.

This drill might appear simple but even the top professional players will perform this kind of training at the start of a session to get their shots feeling good and their feet moving.

Here are five key points to remember…

1. Don’t change your grip

Check that you aren’t changing your grip when switching between forehand and backhand strokes. You might not even realise that you are doing this but lots of beginners do it subconsciously.

In tennis players are encouraged to have a different grip for the forehand and backhand. Unfortunately, table tennis is simply too fast a sport to be able to make any major grip changes between strokes.

Some players will raise their thumb when playing a backhand but that’s about all you can get away with. You certainly shouldn’t be rotating the angle of the racket handle in palm.

2. Side shuffle into position

You might be tempted to just stand flat footed in the middle of table and reach across to play your forehand and backhands. But don’t!

You’ll get much more out of this training drill if you continue to use the side shuffle footwork we shared last week to get yourself into the perfect position for each stroke. In the video, you see that Tao performs a side shuffle in between each and every shot he plays. This is very important.

If you are struggling to move just ask your practice partner to place the ball a little wider into the corner of the table. This will force you to move.

If your movement feels awkward and unnatural you may need to go back to shadow training and make sure you have perfected the basic side shuffle in both directions before returning to this rally drill.

3. Keep a closed racket angle

During the video, Tao mentions the all-important 45 degree racket angle. Playing your forehand and backhand drives with a closed racket angle will force you to use good technique and add some topspin to your strokes.

It is bad technique to simple ‘tap’ or ‘pat’ the back of the ball. Instead, you should always be ‘stroking’ the ball and swinging your racket with a slight upward trajectory. Sometimes new players forget this once they start thinking about combining strokes and moving their feet.

Remember… stroke it, don’t poke it!

4. Adjust the positioning of your feet

In the demonstration, Tao is playing into the backhand feed of a left-handed partner. The direction of the feed will require small changes to your foot positions.

For example, in the video Tao was able to play with his feet quite square to the table for both the forehand and backhand. However, if the feeder had been using his forehand to control the rally Tao would have needed to get his feet quite side on for the forehand drive.

It’s important to bear these small adjustments in mind otherwise you’ll find your strokes feeling awkward and you may end up making unforced errors due to poor foot placement.

5. Switch roles with your practice partner

Some players find it boring to be the ‘feeder’ and control the rally for their partner. This is a wrong way of looking at it.

When you are the feeder you actually have a very good opportunity to improve your control and accuracy. In fact, many new players find it more difficult to be the feeder than the player doing the drill. That’s why it’s important that you switch roles and have a go at doing both.

It’s also a good idea to practice controlling the rally with both your forehand and backhand. This will change the drill slightly for your partner too – giving them a new target to aim towards.

Enroll TODAY!

Table Tennis University is a revolutionary online training program created by Coach Tao Li.

Tao played table tennis professionally in China and even won a gold medal at the Chinese National Junior Championships!

Table Tennis University gives you a world-class table tennis education. Whether you want to turn pro or just beat your mates, we’ll help you get there.

It’s time to turbocharge your table tennis. Click here to enroll TODAY!

The post How to Combine Your Forehand Drive & Backhand Drive appeared first on Table Tennis University.

The following video drills are taken from Level 2 of our TTU online table tennis training program.

Drill #1

In this video, Tao demonstrates the correct footwork to use when transitioning between forehand and backhand strokes.

Drill #2

In this video, Tao demonstrates how to use good footwork to cover the whole table with just your forehand stroke.

These drills are vital for beginners and improvers to master. They also work well as a warm-up exercise for players of all abilities.

Here are five key points…

1. It’s called the “side shuffle” because you should be shuffling over the ground by using a side-step. You don’t want to be jumping up and down, as this is not efficient. Stay low and shuffle from left to right.
2. You will need to begin your backswing before you have stopped moving. Once you have stopped moving and your feet are planted, you are ready to begin the forward swing.
3. Just use one step to move across from the backhand side to the forehand side, and vice versa. Taking lots of little steps will waste time.
4. Try to get into a rhythm when doing this shadow training drill. Move, stop, hit. Move, stop, hit. Some players like to practice with a metronome to keep them on beat, or alongside music with an appropriate tempo.
5. Make sure you get your feet into the correct position. You don’t want to end up reaching for the ball on the forehand side and getting cramped up on the backhand side. Give yourself a good amount of space to play a forehand with nice technique.

Additional instruction

Once you have got the hang of the side shuffle footwork make sure you check your forehand technique.

Many players find that they stop using a good body rotation and weight transfer once they introduce the side-to-side movement. It is important that you continue to twist your torso as the forehand drive/topspin is a whole body stroke.

It can be helpful to practice in front of a mirror or maybe even to record your training on video to watch back.

Finally, don’t be surprised if you find it more difficult to move from the backhand side to the forehand side, than from the forehand side to the backhand side. In one direction, you are moving with the direction of your stroke, body rotation, and weight transfer. In the other direction, you are moving against all of these.

Good luck with your footwork training!

Enroll TODAY!

Table Tennis University is a revolutionary online training program created by Coach Tao Li.

Tao played table tennis professionally in China and even won a gold medal at the Chinese National Junior Championships!

Table Tennis University gives you a world-class table tennis education. Whether you want to turn pro or just beat your mates, we’ll help you get there.

It’s time to turbocharge your table tennis. Click here to enroll TODAY!

The post 2 Drills to Improve Your Table Tennis Footwork appeared first on Table Tennis University.