How often and what do you practice

I have played table tennis for 6 years about twice a week, and took lessons from time to time (after I lost my games). My rating barely passed the 1000 range.  I am still trying to figure out how to improve my BH, trying out the rubbers that people are claiming to be so good). But, I believe I should do better if I could better use my practice time.

Druing your practice, do you insist on spending some time on your basic strokes like looping, smashing until you feel comfortable, or do you always like to practice new skills like improving your RPB, a new stroke or trying a fancy new rubber... I found that I lost a lot of easy points during my game (may be due to poor or lack of practice of basic strokes).

By the way, how do the professionls practice (e.g. do they insist on spending at least some hours every day for basic strokes like looping, smashing..), then they practice new, fancy skills, rubbers..    

i train 2 days a week for 2 hour sessions. the first hour of each session is just fh, bh basics. then the last hour we do game situations that i was weak on the previous lesson. My trainer personally does a lot of game situations and "basics", but he used to be on his providence's national team in china and that is how he said they do all their training. (very aggravating and tiring to do a fh loop 500 times before you do something new)

i also play at a club nearly every free day possible, which is about 3 times a week. also practice your serves LIKE CRAZY. such a simple part of the game and you never want to mess up on something that can be fixed by a few hours of practicing.

also  i might add, playing 2 days a week is nearly impossible to get better. you have to at least play 3-4 days a week to show inprovement, or so i have read in a lot of articles.

get a coach, i found out finding a good pratice partner to do drills with is impossible, unless you live in a highly dense area of people(big city), with a high volume of TT players(very large clubs, etc).

yea i was very fortunate to find this guy, it was a COMPLETE FLUKE. i had just finished with another local trainer and was looking for something a little different, and i stumbled upon this guy. i can actually thank ALINK for this guy because he also trains with him and alink refered me to him. No i am not a professional, BUT EXTREAMLY DEDICATED ( im crazy about sports). I played baseball for 15 years, and was really good, untill i had a series of injuries (tendonitis, torn labium, torn rotator cuff) that kept me going any further. however after 2 very depressing years i discoverd table tennis and started to play. after a year and a half of on and off training and somewhat consistent club play i finally took it very serious this summer. once i met this steve guy he took me from a 1650 player ( US ) to 2000 in less than 2 months, on top of his training i had clubs to go to every day and i average about 4-5 days a week of playing 6 hrs a days for 3 months, VERY HELPFUL TO MY GAME. i am 22 years old now and i have no real pro expectations, BUT i will PROMISE i will be the best i can given the time frame i have.

I also am very fortunate to have a handful of dedicated juniors in the state ( who are all very cool and enjoyable to play with, 3-4 of which are approaching 2100) at my disposable to play anytime i want. Also everyone in michigan is always willing to drill at clubs, and always willing to give advice.  i have been playing for around 2 and a half years, and hopefully many more to come.

the 1 i play with mostly now is consistantly winning over 2100+ players in clubs, as of the past 2 months. and the other 2 have been in romania for 2 months now, previously every time they come back they gain 100-200 points. but club play is not tourneys, BUT he is playing very well. the other 2 depends on how hard they trained in their trip, but they always come back showing much inprovement (besides they both went there 2000 already when they left).

yea, 2000 is pushin it, more like 1900. So when i finally stop training and play in a tounrey ill have the numbers to prove it. I just much prefer to train, because of how little i have played, that i forget a lot about playing competative matches.

also if the next tourney goes bad or somehow i lose my focus, i will post and let u know i am full of crap.  hopefully that doesnt happen.

BigJ, I am very impressed of your rating upgrading from 1600 to the 2000 level in just a couple of months, and u r only 22. I will be looking for a partner to get some serious and systemic training like yours for at least twice a week.

Yes Harold, I am also very interested in using equipments. They might help an older guy like me to stay competitive. I have been trying out antispin rubber and long pips for a couple of years. And they helped me beat many players who were afraid of long pips. But, when I play the advanced players, they are not effective at all. May be I have not mastered the long pips that well. (It is even more difficult to find a partner to practice these long pips and antispins). There are articles in the internet for 'How to use long pips'. But, how  to practice and use it is another thing. 

tt12, maybe you should replace one of those rubbers with an inverted. Something like Globe 999 would be good to become an effective combination bat player. Try to watch videos of Cai Zhenhua, he was an extremely effective player who came close to winning two world championships and coached the Chinese team from a low back into world dominance.

Develope an effective serve and attack strategy and keep switching the sides around in a point and people will be very afraid of you.