Forehand Topspin

Mizutani syndrome.  With the elbow fixed, the forearm is also under restrain, leading to too much upper arm movement again.

Your loop looks good for the speed of the feed and you absolutely need the stroke you are using now to handle rallies at that speed.  You may want to consider stepping back and using a larger stroke with a slightly straighter backswing on some balls as well as being able to use a straighter backswing to attack weak balls.  You could also benefit from pushing the shoulder through the contact point more forward to get more power as you sometimes don't get much body weight or core rotation behind the ball.

Edited by NextLevel - 06/23/2016 at 6:40pm

Yes, your forearm has very limited participation in the entire stroke due to your locked elbow.  You need to liberate it and let the forearm drop a bit more to create room for acceleration.  Currently, that burden is unduly placed on your upper arm.  The primary role of the upper arm is to mediate the transfer of momentum between the shoulder and the forearm.  Alone by itself, the upper arm cannot generate much momentum of its own.  Hence, your trunk and in general the upper body should be working in unison with the upper arm.  Your swing speed is severely hindered as it is right now.

Edited by zeio - 06/23/2016 at 10:43pm

mickd wrote: @NextLevel When you say push the shoulder through the contact point, are you referring to more forward weight transfer? I think my stance is making it hard to get good forward weight transfer in. Do you think I should be a little more side on to the table? Generally I get more side on the further back I move. What do you think about the current distance I am from the table? Should I get more side on from there as well? Or is it something more fundamental than that I should be doing to help with that issue without having to get more side on?

Thank you for the clarifications, zeio and NextLevel. I think I have a much better idea of what I need to change to get a better relationship between body and arm now.

mickd wrote: Thank you for the clarifications, zeio and NextLevel. I think I have a much better idea of what I need to change to get a better relationship between body and arm now. Finding a better practice partner will be difficult. The balls in the videos are actually relatively slow and consistent compared to what I get with a lot of other players. Though now that you guys mention it, a much slower block would definitely be better for me at this stage. The good news is that I did buy the Amicus Pro. But since it's currently out of stock, I probably won't get it for a month or so.

I think the responsibility lies with you just as much as it does with your blocker. Communicate that you are trying to go slower and try to get the former right and not so much hit the ball with power. I still think your current loop is largely fine so these are all nuances.

The upper arm should only move with the core. Don't use it by itself for the most part. Keep the elbow down - adjust it's positioning to the incoming ball early so that you don't raise it parallel to your wrist to strike over the ball. You do this well now so don't overthink kt.

Your arm should feel like a whip. Think of how the arms behave when running.

When you loop, try to turn your core until your right shoulder is facing your opponent on the backswing. Somewhere around that spot you are looking at is where you should hit the ball on your forward swing. This will ensure that you are hitting the ball while rotating. In terms of consistently looping with easy power, hitting the ball while rotating is the most important thing. The precise point in your swing where you contact the ball is secondary to this. Timing the backswing so that you do not stop abruptly and lose the momentum when you swing forward is helpful as well.

It is possible to get a lot of easy power with this motion. And you can do it as slowly or as quickly as you want. If you use your elbow as a lever, this improves the whip of the forearm and wrist and raises your spin tremendously. Again, you don't have to do any of this hard or fast.

pipigrande wrote: I'd like to say that the advises here are very very nice. Specially the way that it's explained. Good job guys. I have learned a couple of things myself. Zeio and Nextlevel, are you guys coaches?

pipigrande wrote: I'd like to say that the advises here are very very nice. Specially the way that it's explained. Good job guys. I have learned a couple of things myself. Zeio and Nextlevel, are you guys coaches?

I've never recorded myself before... but I'd like to record myself quite soon to see my many flaws. I might reach out to you guys for great advices, as I need tons of improving; hopefully you guys can help