The Expert Table Tennis Blog

Today I’m thinking about our training volume and intensity. This is a concept that has been around for decades in bodybuilding training but I don’t feel is discussed enough in skill-based sports such as table tennis.

The basic argument is this; is it better to practice for several hours each day but at a relatively low intensity (volume training) or to practice for much less time but work significantly harder in those short sessions (intensity training). In current professional table tennis practice it appears that there is a clear winner. Volume training. The top players claim to practice for anywhere from 25 to 45 hours per week and rightly so, we say, because it is their ‘job’ after all.

The questions I’m asking are; “Is it necessary to practice for 5-7 hours a day in order to become a top player?”. Are there any shortcuts or hacks we can use to achieve similar results with a much lower volume of practice? Does high intensity training hold any of the answers and can it be applied to table tennis?

When I’m given a new group of beginners, before I start teaching any strokes, I always go over the basics of table tennis grip and how to hold the bat correctly. It’s very important that you master this early on as it is a slow and painful process trying to alter you grip later in your development.

If you’re a beginner, well done for acknowledging the importance of a correct grip at this early stage of your table tennis. If you are reading this as a non-beginner, and realise that your grip is less that ideal, spend the time trying to correct it. Yes, it may make your shots slightly worse now but you’ll reap the rewards later on.

It’s worth pointing out that I’ll be talking about the shake-hands grip in this post. I may spend some time looking at the pen-hold grip in another post but to be honest it’s a grip that I know very little about.

I’ve taken a number of photos to highlight the characteristics of good and bad grip. I hope that this will help you to understand the important differences and ‘self-correct’ if you notice your own grip altering.

This feels like a week of firsts for Expert Table Tennis. On Friday I released my first eBook (The Table Tennis Playbook), on Sunday I published my first interview (with Kristian Karlsson) and now I’m posting the first ever guest post on the blog. If you have something to share and would like to write a post for Expert Table Tennis please get in touch.

Today’s post is written by a good friend of mine, Mark Simpson. Mark, 22, is a top 30 table tennis player from England and has been playing table tennis since he was about six or seven. Mark has a degree in Psychology from Nottingham University and is currently studying for a masters degree in Sports Psychology at Lund University, Sweden. Over the years he has played in the English, French and Swedish table tennis leagues but he is currently playing in Germany for Leutzscher Füchsen.

So Mark, it’s over to you and thank you for taking the time to write the article and sharing some of your knowledge with us!

I’ve been wanting to start interviewing table tennis players and coaches for a while now and I finally took the leap and went for it. This is the first Expert Table Tennis Interview and I hope to do many more. I’ve got a great guest for my first interview… Swedish table tennis player, Kristian Karlsson!

Kristian is the #5 player in Sweden and has enjoyed a fantastic 2012, winning the U21 event at the Korean Open and beating some top players, including none other than Kalinikos Kreanga back in February! Not surprisingly, he has shot up the ranking list moving from 424th to 133rd in just 21 months. In the interview, I ask Kristian about everything he’s learnt during his development and pick his brain for some top tips for recreating his rapid table tennis improvement.

Enjoy the interview! If there is anybody you would like me to interview in particular feel free to send me a message and I’ll do my best to get hold of them.

It is said that table tennis matches can be won and lost in the mind. Having expert physical skills is not enough if you cannot focus, perform on the day and have confidence in yourself. So how can you ensure you’re mental ready to perform to your best?

Mental preparation, in sport, is the act of becoming ready to perform at your highest level. It is made up of many different factors and you’ll naturally be better at some than others. Perhaps you have plenty of self confidence but are easily distracted or you are famously ‘slow-to-start’ but are excellent at sticking to a predetermined game plan.

Here are a few tips to help you improve your mental preparation prior to a table tennis match or tournament;