r/tabletennis

Just for general tips and ideais about how to lift weights focused on table tennis.

what exercises you do?

what is your split?

did you notice any exercise was making you more tired than the normal?

any equipement recommendation for home training?

Came back to the game after many many years out. Used to use butterfly rubbers(Bryce so long ago) and butterfly or Tibhar blade. Came back just for a knock around initially and used Chinese stuff. Thought after a while if I don't try tensor again I'll be wondering what if.

All I can say is having tried, phenomenally impressed with the Chinese stuff. I know it's not for everyone but the quality for the price is phenomenal. There is no way I would stick with a tensor over battle 2 national blue sponge or hurricane 3 neo, short game nicer on the latter and top end pace better. Also tried a couple of people's blades and prefer the feeling with most of the Chinese blades I've tested. They are making some really good equipment, ordered another blade will see how that goes🤣

What's the difference in feel between the cybershape carbon and cybershape carbon cwt

Hey guys I bought (87g) Nittaku Hina Hayata H2 and I am not sure with backhand rubbers. I'm mainly trying to figure out the BH.

My BH is very topspin/counter-topspin oriented. I play mostly close to the table, around 0.5-1m, sometimes around 1-1.5m. I use a lot of wrist and forearm and normally play with a fairly closed racket.

I like playing the ball forward with spin and penetration. I don't mean punch/drive style when I say forward 😅 It's still a proper topspin, just not a huge high-arc loop.

I use chiquita quite a lot and obviously need to be able to open against backspin as well.

Some rubbers I've already played:

BlueGrip J2 MAX - it didn't really convince me. I could play with it, but I was missing more spin/heavy ball and especially more penetration.

Evolution MX-D MAX - I actually handle this fine now and it gives me noticeably more penetration than J2. So I'm definitely not afraid of harder rubbers or MAX sponge.

Tenergy 19 on Outerforce ALC - this was one of the responses I really didn't like. Sometimes it had this extra kick and the ball just flew off the table when I wasn't expecting it.

Glayzer 09C on Outerforce ALC - much more predictable, but for me it was too unrewarding. I wanted more from the ball when I actually accelerated.

So I'm basically looking for a BH rubber with a lot of spin and a heavy ball, good penetration, strong counter-topspin and good opening/chiquita.

I don't really care if it's a tensor or a hybrid. Actually I'd be very interested in a hybrid if there is one that has great spin/heavy ball but doesn't feel dead and still has proper penetration.

Quick disclaimer: I'm honestly not sure whether this counts as self-promotion under the sub rules. If it does, I apologize in advance, and mods, feel free to remove it or point me to the right thread. I'm mainly here to share something that's been fun to use with my players and to get feedback from other coaches.

I built an online Tabletennis Museum, an interactive website where you can through the basics visually:

What is Spin?
How to make Spin!
How pimples work?
Rules
Types of strokes
Ratings
What i Need to play table tennis
Cheap vs. Pro rackets
Fun Player type test
Fair play
Glossary

I've been coaching in our club's youth department for about ten years now, and over that time I've noticed the same questions coming up again and again, from kids, from parents, and from the adult beginners who train with me too:
How does the rating system actually work?
What kind of racket do I need? Is a cheap one fine, or do I need an expensive one? What's the real difference?
What are pimples? How do I play against them? And why does my ball keep going into the net against them?
…and so on.

At some point I started writing all these questions down. Then I thought: why not build a small interactive website where kids and adults can actually see how all of this works, a place that answers their questions properly instead of me explaining the same thing for the hundredth time.

You can find the website here:
https://smashstarter.com/museum/en.html

A quick note on how it was made: I'm a coach, not a software developer, so I built the interactive elements with the help of Claude Code to make everything as visual and easy to understand as possible.

​

Hello ,I have a timo ball alc as my blade and rxton loki 5 on both sides . I wish to go for a proper setup, i don't mind switching from chinese on fh so suggestions are appreciated but I want to switch on bh to esn 100%. So chinese and esn options on fh and esn tensor on bh suggestions please🦢

Maybe this is interesting or helpful to some...

I recently attended a speech by Sayaka Hirano. For those that don't know, she is a Japanese Olympic medalist and now a table tennis commentator on Japanese TV.

I was using my very poor Japanese and a live translate apps so I missed quite a lot and hopefully this still accurately captures what she was trying to convey.

But she had a couple of interesting things to say about practicing.

The first was along the lines of "The way you practice on a bad day is the way you will play on a bad day" basically implying that how you practice when you don't want to is the most important because this is how you will play in a match if you don't want to play or you feel things are against you!

The second was for when you feel like you are training hard but not improving, a fairly common phenomenon. Her advice here was to break training down into smaller and smaller things until you reach the level where you can directly see the improvements in what you are doing. This will help give you confidence that your training is helping even if you can't see it in the big picture.

I thought these were nice sentiments for anyone struggling with training.

This second point actually seemed to be how she approached basically any big goal. Her answers were always about breaking it down into smaller and smaller goals, then achieving those smaller goals one by one until you get back to the big goal.

The last thing was a funny bit near the end! She's 41 and retired but she so obviously still loves the technical aspects of table tennis.

Someone asked her a very specific question about how to return short serves to the forehand side. Up until this point she had been quite reserved and very Japanese. But as soon as it was about actually playing table tennis, suddenly she's leaping out of her chair on stage and in her receiving pose and gesturing and talking about all the different things you could do and what happens if you go here or there etc... Like suddenly someone turned on table tennis mode Sayaka!

tldr; All four shoes felt remarkably different!
Wave Medal 8 = The safest all-round choice for recreational and club players coming from ordinary indoor shoes. It offered me the most comfort, cushioning and toe-box clearance while still feeling more direct and table-tennis-specific than my old gym shoes. Probably you are able to find other gym shoes that will come close, but you want to fit the sport, so you start off with the Wave Medal 8.
Wave Medal Neo = On my feet, it felt slightly more direct and less cushioned than the Medal 8. The upper was also lower above my big toenails, and the transition into the heel padding felt rather abrupt, which is probably a personal heel problem.
Wave Drive Neo 4 = Fabulous designed shoes. More cushioned version before hitting Wave Drive 9. Seems very good for forefoot/toe players. Provided enough vertical toe space and was more direct than the Medal models without being as minimal as the Drive 9. However, the heel padding starts unusually high and irritated me.
Wave Drive 9 = The lightest and most direct shoe of the four. It should appeal to players who prioritise floor contact and quick directional changes. For me, however, the low toe box pressed against both big toenails, and the reduced cushioning made it the least comfortable option.

I play table tennis for almost 2 years and my old pairs of "normal" gym shoes broke down and had no grip left. My footwork is still underdeveloped and my worn-out gym shoes, which offered little grip and lateral support, certainly did not help.
So I started to search for "Table Tennis Shoes" and Mizuno was available and seemed good.

• All shoes I tried and described here are the same size.
• On the indoor floor where I tested them, I could not identify a meaningful difference in grip/stickiness between the four models.
• All four tested shoes have different rubber profiles. I don't know how to objectively test and tell something about it, because the shoes themself are also totally different from the ground up.
• My toenails are kept short. Wearing normal socks (Not ultra thin, not thickened).
• I had just a normal cheaper gym model. So every shoe won the table tennis category by default.
• All four Mizuno are dedicated table-tennis shoes, although some retailers list indoor shoes under the broader 'handball' categorie.

Size: Start with your measured heel-to-toe length. Do not transfer the EU or UK size directly from another brand. If you buy blindly with UK/EUR measurement coming from another brand, you will probably NOT fit!
Mizuno uses UK for their sizes, but it's important to measure your Heel-to-toe first and match that to their Footwear Size Chart. After that you can buy shoes and use UK to filter.

#1: Wave Medal 8 (81GA258221)
Sizing note: This model felt slightly more generous than the others. If your measured foot length falls just above a Mizuno size, the smaller size may still provide a snug performance fit.

+ The most cushioned of the four on my feet.
+ My toenails do not touch the top of the toe box.
+ Very comfortable. I barely notice the shoe because it does not create pressure anywhere. I could wear it all day.
+ The heel padding feels pleasant, with a smooth transition from the lower to the upper part of the heel.
- It feels like the heaviest shoe of the four, although that probably will not bother anyone coming from ordinary gym shoes.
- It provides less direct floor contact than the Drive models, but still feels more direct than my previous inexpensive gym shoes.

#2: Wave Medal Neo (81GA232531)

+ It feels lighter and provides more direct floor contact than the Wave Medal 8, although less than the Wave Drive Neo 4.
+ Less cushioned than the Wave Medal 8, but still comfortable.
+- The heel padding has a rather abrupt transition. It's strong on the upper part around the foot and has no padding in the middle and bottom. Interesting concept that might work out.
- My big toenails already touch the top of the toe box slightly. It remains tolerable, but I notice it.

#3: Wave Drive Neo 4 (81GA250031)

+ Excellent design, with blue on the lower left shoe and red on the right. Appearance should not outweigh fit and function, but this is still the best-looking model to me.
+ It felt particularly good when standing and moving on the forefoot, although I am not primarily a forefoot player.
+ My toenails do not touch the top of the toe box.
- The heel padding begins slightly too high for my heel. I find this more irritating than the slight toenail contact in the Medal Neo.

#4: Wave Drive 9 (81GA220514)
Sizing note: This model felt shorter and lower in the toe box than the others. If your measured foot length falls between two Mizuno sizes, I would lean towards the larger one. For example, with a 26.2 cm foot, I would test 26.5 cm rather than 26.0 cm.

++ Very thin sole with excellent, direct floor contact.
++ Very light.
++ Feels quick and responsive during movement and sudden changes of direction.
- Provides less ankle support than the other three models.
- Offers less cushioning than the other three models.
-- Both big toenails touch the top of the toe box. I dislike this sensation, even though I keep my toenails short.

I chose the Wave Medal 8 (2nd: Wave Medal Neo) because it was the only model I could imagine wearing for hours without thinking about the shoe. I play for enjoyment rather than competition, so comfort and a pressure-free fit mattered more to me than minimum weight or maximum floor contact.

What do you think of my choice? Are there any other table-tennis shoe brands available in Europe that I should try next?