Twisting for Loops

We all know you have to twist your upper body for FH loops, winding up then uncoiling. The player who seems to do this most obviously is Chen Qi. You can see his upper body so upright, and he just twist and winds up, then uncoils to unload a devastating forehand.

I've found that when you wind up, if you stick out your open arm (non-playing arm), then pull it back right when you unwind, it helps generate more rotational power in your body. I used to tuck my open arm in, and it wasn't as effective. And watching Chen Qi, it looks like he sticks his open arm out too (not a whole lot, but it's definitely not tucked in).

Do you stick your open arm out when winding up your FH loop?

when u mean sticking out, do you mean like in tennis, ppl stick their other arm out to "aim" as well as coil up?

theman wrote: when u mean sticking out, do you mean like in tennis, ppl stick their other arm out to "aim" as well as coil up?

um im telling you the other arm whether it sticks out or not makes no difference, its just personal habit

what does matter is completely your abs, if you want to get a pro forehand, do some bicycle situps to buildup your abs and obliques so that you can explosively turn your boyd

Nice topic PPGear, I never thought about that.
Now, that that you brought it up, I stick out my arm.. it's just feels natural to me.. I have no idea why, but methinks it gives me more balance since the looping arm is in backswing position. We also do this sub consciously when we walk or run, one arm back one arm at front. When you run the more explosive your arm swing the more it helps you to generate speed. So i think your idea of using the non playing arm movement to generate more power / speed into your loop make sense..

I do "stick my arm out". The arm is important for weight balance when looping/power looping. Weight balance is key as it helps a faster transition from wind-up to stroke. You won't be able to generate the same amount of force if you don't balance your weight like this.

I used to do something similar on the BH. I would rotate my shoulder's with equal force(left arm close to the body and going backwards as though you were elbowing someone behind you) when doing a kill shot. I didn't have a BH loop and this was how I got my point across.

When throwing a ball overhand your non throwing arm will usually lead out in an arc away from your body starting the rotational force even before the ball starts to move. It would be interesting to see if the same philosophy could be applied to TT. It wouldn't be able to work exactly the same though since your recovery time would have to be much quicker.