Cross-Training for Table Tennis
Recently I came across two recommendations on a forum:
"Perform low weight high speed high rep exercises."
"If you are weight training for a particular sport, then there is much evidence to support doing weights in a similar fashion to how you use it in the sport."
Actually, the evidence is that performing movements in the gym (under resistance) which are similar to those you perform in your sport will alter the neurological and muscular process in a way that does not benefit the athlete. Some people here have probably experienced this "neurological confusion" when switching from a heavy bat to a light bat, or vice versa. The brain gets used to performing a movement with a given amount of resistance; if the same movement is performed with more resistance, the brain habituates by altering the muscular firing patters and activates stabilizer muscles. Work on your stroke at the table. Use the gym to develop strength and power in general.
Furthermore, performing exercises with light weight will encourage the recruitment of slow-twitch muscle fiber. This sort of fiber comes into play during long periods of exercise at low intensities. The table tennis player must be able to generate lots of power in a short period of timed (like a sprinter). Hence, he must train to recruit fast-twitch muscle fiber.
Some wonderful exercises for table tennis:
Front squats @ 85 - 90% of you 1 rep max.
Bulgarian Squats @ 85 - 90% of you 1 rep max.
Lunges @ 80% of you 1 rep max.
Box jumps.
The Clean and the Snatch (if you don't know how to do these, LEARN).
Uphill Interval Sprints - Sprint up a hill, jog for a minute, repeat.
Medicine ball training.
If you squat regularly, you will naturally become more comfortable staying low and moving quickly at the table.
All throwing and hitting movements are deceptive in that they look like they require significant upper-body strength. This is why amateurs (whether they are playing table tennis or throwing the discus) train their upper bodies extensively and try to generate all the force with their arms. In reality, 99.9% of the power a professional athlete generates comes from the legs (hamstrings), the torso, and proper technique; the arm functions like the end of a whip. This is true of table tennis (short hits, blocks, and pushes near the table excepted).
If one doesn't know how to train for table tennis, all one has to do with watch. Look at this picture I put together:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/Unisonus/Comp2.jpg
Which other activity does this remind you of? Certainly not jogging on a treadmill. Ma Lin is structured much like a sprinter or a long-jumper. Leg-development is prioritized; the rest of the body is trained secondarily.
No where here do I suggest that upper-body training won't help. It will. I just want to make it clear that the legs should be the center of attention.
The upper body should be strengthened via general free-weight compound movements (e.g. push press, military press, pull-ups, rows, and the incline bench press). As with the leg exercises, the load should be heavy. Deadlifts are excellent for overall development. Avoid isolating muscles; curls, triceps extensions, and flys are worthless.
Here is another picture. Kim Taek Soo and a discus-thrower. Hmmm...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/Unisonus/Comp1.jpg
Oh, and check out Dan John's great presentation on squatting form:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529481301858251744
"Perform low weight high speed high rep exercises."
"If you are weight training for a particular sport, then there is much evidence to support doing weights in a similar fashion to how you use it in the sport."
Actually, the evidence is that performing movements in the gym (under resistance) which are similar to those you perform in your sport will alter the neurological and muscular process in a way that does not benefit the athlete. Some people here have probably experienced this "neurological confusion" when switching from a heavy bat to a light bat, or vice versa. The brain gets used to performing a movement with a given amount of resistance; if the same movement is performed with more resistance, the brain habituates by altering the muscular firing patters and activates stabilizer muscles. Work on your stroke at the table. Use the gym to develop strength and power in general.
Furthermore, performing exercises with light weight will encourage the recruitment of slow-twitch muscle fiber. This sort of fiber comes into play during long periods of exercise at low intensities. The table tennis player must be able to generate lots of power in a short period of timed (like a sprinter). Hence, he must train to recruit fast-twitch muscle fiber.
Some wonderful exercises for table tennis:
Front squats @ 85 - 90% of you 1 rep max.
Bulgarian Squats @ 85 - 90% of you 1 rep max.
Lunges @ 80% of you 1 rep max.
Box jumps.
The Clean and the Snatch (if you don't know how to do these, LEARN).
Uphill Interval Sprints - Sprint up a hill, jog for a minute, repeat.
Medicine ball training.
If you squat regularly, you will naturally become more comfortable staying low and moving quickly at the table.
All throwing and hitting movements are deceptive in that they look like they require significant upper-body strength. This is why amateurs (whether they are playing table tennis or throwing the discus) train their upper bodies extensively and try to generate all the force with their arms. In reality, 99.9% of the power a professional athlete generates comes from the legs (hamstrings), the torso, and proper technique; the arm functions like the end of a whip. This is true of table tennis (short hits, blocks, and pushes near the table excepted).
If one doesn't know how to train for table tennis, all one has to do with watch. Look at this picture I put together:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/Unisonus/Comp2.jpg
Which other activity does this remind you of? Certainly not jogging on a treadmill. Ma Lin is structured much like a sprinter or a long-jumper. Leg-development is prioritized; the rest of the body is trained secondarily.
No where here do I suggest that upper-body training won't help. It will. I just want to make it clear that the legs should be the center of attention.
The upper body should be strengthened via general free-weight compound movements (e.g. push press, military press, pull-ups, rows, and the incline bench press). As with the leg exercises, the load should be heavy. Deadlifts are excellent for overall development. Avoid isolating muscles; curls, triceps extensions, and flys are worthless.
Here is another picture. Kim Taek Soo and a discus-thrower. Hmmm...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/Unisonus/Comp1.jpg
Oh, and check out Dan John's great presentation on squatting form:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529481301858251744
Comment
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Comment by fotta on April 18, 2008 at 5:26pm - Good post man!
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Created by martinspin Dec 10, 2009 at 12:30pm. Last updated by martinspin Dec. 10, 2009.
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