tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4360934386509442352024-02-20T09:33:36.963-08:00SamD's BlogHi, I'm Sam - future benevolent dictator over disease! I like milk tea, anime, and table tennis.
I will be blogging about my 2018 New Years resolutions and student life.
Feel free to leave a comment or email.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-18603335607756566852018-03-22T18:42:00.001-07:002018-03-22T18:42:17.317-07:00Week 10: 3/22/2018<div>
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I let myself go during spring break both in terms of exercise and diet. After seven cheat days, I gained some weight as well as had my body turn off my exercise mode. I have resorted to telling myself that I am easing off to focus on the upcoming table tennis tournament to make myself feel better. I plan on finally going into some bike shops and walmart in person to look at bikes this weekend.</div>
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Anyways, this week I did a 40 minute bike alternating between high rpm and high resistance work. It ended up being a bit more than 10 miles. At this point, the high-resistance work is the tougher half. I did a twenty minute bike focusing on high resistance yesterday after I woke up late from my nap too close to pool closing time. I put in a 50 lap swim today instead of a full workout since I was getting some shoulder and hip pain. </div>
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Table tennis wise, I feel like I am generally ready for the upcoming tournament. I hope to have a decent shot in doing well in the U1900 event as well as coaching three of my classmates to victory in their respective events. I really do wish two of them would practice more...but I understand that everyone is behind on schoolwork due to spring break blues.</div>
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I am planning on playing intramural flag football and 3v3 basketball (this Saturday!). I am not particularly skilled in either of those sports although I can throw a football a little bit and shoot a little bit. I went into the gym before my swim today and did some dribbling drills to try to regain some feel of the basketball as well as shoot around. Ended the day with 15/20 free throws and (luckily) 4/5 three-pointers. Not bad...but the bigger issue is whether I can do that in a game situation.</div>
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Note to self: This is Week 11.</div>
SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-15788509338554995222018-03-15T11:45:00.003-07:002018-03-15T11:45:38.257-07:00Week 9: 3/15/2018This is technically Week 10 but having four exams at school made finding opportunities to exercise difficult. Getting back into biking with a twenty-min stationary bike alternating between high rpm and high resistance training. I am planning on upping that to hopefully eighty-mins by the end of the month before transitioning to biking outdoors. I am unsure how to go about it so hopefully I can get some advice on outdoor riding and etiquette. Meanwhile, the search is on for a used bike. Currently, I am scouring Facebook sale groups but I may move to Craigslist if nothing seems worth spending money on.<br />
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Swimming is progessing...swimmingly. I am getting through 10x100s much more strongly. Although my speed has not increased, the amount of time I am slowing down during longer swims is decreasing. I swam at the Tom Muehlenbeck Center yesterday. The pool was nice, tasted slightly salty, and had an electronic clock which really helps since I am nearsighted. I am hoping to get a second swim somewhere before the end of the week - maybe with a 1200 test swim for time.<br />
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Also yesterday, I went to the Plano Table Tennis Club to play TT. I played three matches - against a leftie who served with decent deception and good placement (1-3), a double long-pips chop-block/attacker (0-3), and a tall Korean guy who played pretty standard (0-3). It was insightful, playing people who I understand to be my weak points or people who took advantage of a weak point I did not know about (last guy...). I have a month to work on these things before the Joplin city tournament coming up in mid-April!SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-59518292458625435932018-03-04T12:50:00.001-08:002018-03-04T12:50:44.259-08:00Week 8: March 4, 2018And...we are in March now. The weather is beginning to warm up although it is raining again today. I had a productive workout week doing two runs and two swims. I completed a 3-mile treadmill run at 1.5 incline and a 5-mile run today. I began to feel quite fatigued after about two miles and took a five-minute walk break at the 3-mile mark before finishing the run. I feel that I am starting to hit a wall that I won't be able to fully address in this following swim/bike training month.<br />
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For the first swim, I did 4x200, 2x100 for my main set. For the following swim, it was separated into 10x50, 10x100, 10x25 on a interval that really pushed my stamina. I ended up getting about 8-15 seconds rest doing the 100s on 1:45. Speaking with someone, I learned about spotting which is seeing your swimming direction during an open water swim. I am going to start practicing working on that in a pool this next swim.<br />
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The local club is hosting an unsanctioned table tennis tournament in mid-April. Three of my classmates will be doing it with me. We aim to win the U1000, U1300, and either U1600 or U1900 depending on what event I register for. One of them still needs to buy his own paddle but I have high hopes for all of them as they step into the world of competitive table tennis. For this first week, I mainly discussed working on consistency, some basic technique work, and how to read spin.<br />
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Time to begin my study grind for this 3-exam hell week before spring break.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-8661215153806308782018-02-24T20:57:00.002-08:002018-02-24T20:57:43.247-08:00Week 7: 2/24/18Well, my triathlon training did not exactly go as planned. I did get my weekly two workouts in though so I will still need to make up a swim next week. It has been raining this whole week with two of the days being icy rain days resulting in the pool being closed early. I finally got to swim yesterday when it 'only' thunderstormed. Overall, I am doing the yardage (2400 at the moment) although my stamina leaves a lot to be desired. I did several 50s and 100s interval training and my speed dramatically drops after about 200 yards each set. For running, I will be doing a five miler next week. It feels good to almost be at the 10k mark.<br />
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Every time a new block starts (this time it is our repro block), work always piles up regardless of my good intentions of staying ahead. I think this is due to a combination of having too many resources, lack of urgency with the exam being a couple weeks away, and trying to take care of errands that were not completed during the few days before the previous exam.<br />
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I am playing a table tennis tournament tomorrow. I invited a friend from school whose skill was surprisingly good. It will be interesting to see how he does in gameplay situations, especially playing people with strange styles and unconventional spin. I hope this will be a good experience to motivate him to improve. I am aiming to play doubles with him for the city tournament in April.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-49479283669309206432018-02-14T17:16:00.000-08:002018-02-14T17:16:24.183-08:00Week 6: 2/14/2018Happy Valentine's Day! Unfortunately, its been a busy week so I am behind on my New Year's Resolution cardio goals. I did a 2.5mile run on 1.5 incline on the treadmill at 7.0 speed. I both did not find time to swim and still have not gotten a gym membership with a pool. The current plan is to do my Week 6 swim on Friday, do the Week 7- 5mile run on Sunday, do my Week 7 swim on Tuesday.<br />
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There's not much to report on with table tennis. I am doing some multi-ball and attempting to improve how I play against long pip players and service return. We had a visitor from Springfield this past Monday who I went 0-3 against (10-12, 8-11, 14-16). To sum it up, I had trouble with his backhand serve. I plan to try being more aggressive instead of pushing when I can't read the spin. I will also try to give more spinny pushes instead of dead pushes and see if it is effective.<br />
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Back to studying for my endocrinology exam! Godspeed<br />
<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-18957407011790114072018-02-07T20:05:00.000-08:002018-02-07T20:05:07.455-08:00Week 5: 2/7/2018Late post this week. I have been feeling a bit under the weather since Sunday. I took a nap that day and ended up not waking up until halftime! Anyways, I had a decent first swim and four-mile run this past week. I forget if I mentioned it in a previous post but about two weeks ago I began to run a post-workout mile after my strength workouts. So, roughly 4 miles/wk. This week, I will do some sort of inclined-run on the treadmill. I feel that this idea of alternating between distance weeks and incline(strength?) weeks is helpful, at least where I am in the infancy of my running training.<br />
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Swimming-wise, I did a 1000 test swim with my 100-splits being 1:15, 1:22, with the last 8 100s being between 1:28-1:33. I am happy with the results. The immediate goal is to being able to hold a pace faster than 1:30 and the long-term goal is to be able to hold 1:20 pace for a whole mile. My workout consisted of a 300 warmup, test swim, 400 pull, 400 kick, 200 front crawl drills. I will be repeating the workout with a goal of holding 1:30 pace for the test swim. Unfortunately, my free trial pass to the ymca has run out. I will have to try to see if I can negotiate some sort of low-cost student membership at the YMCA or get a membership to a neighboring university's pool.<br />
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For table tennis, I am preparing to get myself into tournament shape again. After spending the past month playing matches with clubmates, I am doing this mainly through multiball to really try to make my common shots be reliable in matches. The secondary aim is to get my legs/body into being able to hold a lower position to increase stability in my movement and shots.<br />
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Well, now that this blog post is done it's time to get back to the medical school grind. A tough week seems to be ahead with a quiz coming up tomorrow and a practical exam on Friday and two exams next week. Looking forward (something I try really hard not to do...it stresses me out :x), theres a lull week followed by a mid-semester hell week - 2 exams, 1 quiz, and 1 practical all within a week. Some combination of hard work and luck will probably be necessary here!SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-40357978029381527222018-01-29T07:17:00.002-08:002018-01-29T07:17:45.223-08:00Week 4: 1/29/17I survived the GI mid-term with some trusty help from the curve. The class average was a not-so-surprisingly low 73%. I made a pact with a friend to aim for an 80% on this next exam, so I have been going full-steam ahead with studying. I feel like I am starting to lose motivation but hopefully I can make it past the bump. The main difference I am doing for this next exam is to start doing practice questions tomorrow (exam on Friday). Hopefully, this change will be effective.<br />
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One more week of playing table tennis matches before I go back to doing multiball. I am getting used to the new rubber and am able to hit my shots more confidently with each game. I had a disappointing 4-3 win against a pips player that I feel that I am better than and hope to redeem myself this week.<br />
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Workout-wise, I am spending more time at the gym due to finding a workout crew that, at least for now, is pretty motivated. This week, I did a 3-mile run, 2-mile run, and three 1-mile runs along with a 45 minute bike with varying resistance from 6 to 8. Biking on the stationary bike is pretty tough since, in contrast to a treadmill, my RPM will decrease when my mind wanders. I would rate the difficulty of the bike about 3/5 and running 4/5 (with 5/5 for anything over 3.5 miles currently). I would consider myself a lot more 'in-shape' than when the month started. Making progress feels good.<br />
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Swimming starts this week. I am aiming to do about 3000 in yardage with a 1000 being timed. Ideally, I would like to hold 1:30 per 100 yards but I have no idea how out of shape I am. I have managed to dig my swimming gear out of the box it was packed in when I moved so at least I am somewhat prepared.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-53870332395916118502018-01-22T15:11:00.002-08:002018-01-22T15:11:21.843-08:00Week 3: 1/22/17Today, we finished up the midterm of our GI block. Rumors are going around that it will be the lowest class average of all the exams we have this year. I have a bet with my roommate for one fried rice from China Wok whether the average will be a passing grade or not. Living-wise, we had a pretty pricy $270 electric bill last month, probably due to the multiple snow days. Asking around, it seems this big jump in electric bill is pretty common in the area - especially with only one electric company having a monopoly in the city. On a brighter note, I am excited to learn how to suture this upcoming week.<br />
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Entering the final week of the first month, I am beginning to inquire around for bikes as well as trails. Ideally, I would like to start biking outdoors around March or April at the latest. Next month will be a swimming/biking month. I will probably just pay each time and swim at the YMCA. I heard the local university pool is also available so I will have to compare how much it would cost each day to swim. For this week's workouts, I did a 35minute stationary bike at 7-resistance/90rpm. I was able to complete it without breaks so 7-resistance seems to be my current upper limit. I'll try to do a 45 minute bike next week and see if I can still hold 7-resistance and 90rpm. Yesterday, we had some nice 60degree weather so I did a 4-mile run (outdoors!). The city is much more hilly than I am used to and ended up taking three breaks. I ran with some friends so we ended doing some sprints at the end as well as getting some critique for my running technique.<br />
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Unfortunately, no mahjong practice again this week.<br />
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I am liking my new Mantra rubbers on the Nexy Rubicon blade. It plays very reliably. I'm overshooting a few balls but I can fix that with some dedicated practice. I hope to get back into it seriously next week and look for some tournaments to enter.<br />
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<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-82105159986181680262018-01-16T18:04:00.000-08:002018-01-16T18:04:06.115-08:00Week 2: 1/16/2018Due to the snow that came through, I was unable to complete my second week workouts until today. The place I live in has a driveway that slopes somewhat like a 'V' between the garage and the road. Yesterday, I was unable to get into my garage nor leave my driveway since the compact snow made the road too slippery for my car. A kind neighbor shoveled my driveway while I was out getting lunch so I'll be sure to thank them this weekend.<br />
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The GI block has been pretty tough. I am not too confident that I will do well on the exam this upcoming Friday but can't let that get me down! Need to keep grinding. On a different note, we learned the procedure for a well-patient visit, which mainly involved memorizing immunizations and screenings for different demographics on my end. Unfortunately, no progress in mahjong was made this past week.<br />
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Table tennis-wise, my experiment with using the Yinhe Pro Feeling has now ended. Before winter break, it was suggested that I try out using an ALC blade. Years ago, I tried out the Timo Boll ALC blade but was unaccustomed to the speed and disliked the feel. In addition to my blade, I tried some other ALC blades from people in my local club including TB-Spirit, Viscaria, and TB-ALC (again lol!). My conclusion was that the gears in speed for the blade was something that would take way too much adjustment and I still disliked the feeling/feedback from hitting the ball. The former criticism might be something I could work through if not for the latter reason that removes any motivation I would have. If I ever do switch to a ALC or other carbon blade in the future, I would prefer something about 90g (the TB-ALC and Viscaria was too light) and a handle height of 23mm (the Pro Feeling handle was too thick and caused some pain in my index finger PIP).<br />
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Cardio-wise, I did a 25min bike at 8 resistance. I ended up taking a break around the 15 min mark. I did a 2mile run on the treadmill at 1.5 incline. Overall, I feel slightly out-of-shape, having to push myself mentally alot more than I am used to. I felt that way as well during my weights workout, where a combination of gaining weight (177lb now) and having a sedentary lifestyle for the last 3 weeks is requiring extra effort to push through mentally.<br />
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<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-38648390866375601362018-01-07T23:00:00.004-08:002018-01-07T23:01:06.133-08:00Week 1: 01/08/2017I was almost too lazy to make my very first post. Typical New Year Reso problems.<br />
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Schools starting today with our GI block. They were not joking when they said we will be sprinting out of the gate with anatomy lab the first day back and a patient encounter a couple days later. Anatomy lab isn't my forte so I'll have to double down this semester on that.<br />
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For my triathlon goal, I decided to add two triathlon-focused workout days to my typical exercise week. This month will be spent focusing on running and biking. I am hoping the weather warms up by March so I can begin gaining experience biking outdoors. I did a 15-minute stationary bike on 12 resistance on Friday. Yesterday, I did a ~3.25 mile run but I was not feeling too well so ended up walking around the 1.5mile mark and 2.5 mile mark for about 0.7 miles total. So roughly a 2.5mile run. Not bad taking into consideration the sedentary winter break and being sick last week. I am hoping for a better run this week.<br />
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I only had one opportunity to play table tennis over the christmas holidays so I am looking forward to seeing everybody at the Joplin club. I want to play some matches to get back in the groove of things. I am hoping to maintain my skill level and improve my serving this semester. Overall, TT will be taking a backseat to my triathlon goals until summer.<br />
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Learning mahjong isn't easy! I feel like I have a basic grasp of the rules. One blog really helped me especially through focusing on the most commonly made hands. I'll list it below. The toughest part is learning the terminology. I am googling and referring to terminology databases every other sentence sometimes. Fortunately, I am starting to 'see' and name the hands but it is very slow. I am also getting better at tile efficiency, if barely. If there was a website that asked you to choose the most 'efficient' discard for each hand by scenarios, it would be great practice. Some questions that I hope to answer, especially after reading the full rules (and not just a summary): How to score? How to count yaku/fu? When should you declare Riichi?<br />
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Helpful mj things:<br />
1) http://osamuko.com/complete-beginners-guide-to-online-mahjong-part-1-how-to-play/<br />
2) https://imgur.com/9luD7tQ<br />
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Thanks for reading! I plan to format my thoughts similarly in future posts.<br />
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<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-85541239349551302272018-01-04T20:10:00.001-08:002018-01-04T20:10:38.751-08:00Happy New Year's (2018) IntroductionI have three resolutions for the 2018 year. The first is doing a weekly blog post (not including this one). I am still debating back and forth about how to organize it.<br />
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My 2017 resolutions were to lose some weight (170lb goal) and to improve at table tennis. It has had its ups and downs but I am happy with my effort.<br />
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Around late 2016, I tried different ways to lose weight. My first weigh-in at the start of the 2017 year was at 195 (yikes I may have been 200 before that). Around June, I was around 178 and very happy with my progress. I splurged during summer break confident that I could still hit my goal by the end of the year. By October, I weighed in at 172lb. I severely underestimated the amount of eating I would do during the following Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and thus, unfortunately, ended at 173lb, failing to reach my goal. Overall, the experience was very positive in building good eating and exercising habits.<br />
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For table tennis, I aimed to play more tournaments and be more self-disciplined in my own improvement. Generalizing my previous experience, improvement came mainly from playing matches with my training partners with the occasional coaching sprinkled in. Moving to a more rural town in Missouri that luckily had a table tennis club, I aimed to take more video and be more goal-oriented in each practice session. I ended 2017 with a 1580 rating. From analyzing my play, I play fairly confidently against players up to about 1700 rating but do very poorly against unorthodox style players, even those that are lower rated. So, a 1580 rating feels appropriate for my current level.<br />
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To write it down so I can keep myself accountable: For the 2018 year, my goals are to:<br />
1) Transition from just being relatively 'fit' to being 'in shape.' I plan to participate in a few triathlons this year, with one of them being the Joplin Summer Roundup Olympic distance Triathlon (1mi swim, 25mi bike, 10k run).<br />
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2) Learn to play mahjong. I was introduced to the game during a recent New Year's party. I don't know anything about it so there isn't much to write as of this post. If I had to set a specific goal, it would be that I would feel ready to participate in a competitive tournament by the end of the year.<br />
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P.S. I'm looking for more topics to write about. Feel free to email or comment. Also, I always feel like my writing is disorganized so any suggestions are welcome!<br />
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<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-77236138350203408222015-08-11T19:56:00.001-07:002015-08-11T19:56:14.947-07:00TT Day 10 - 8.11.15Last day. More people showed up today and we had 3 people per coach.<br />
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<li>FH-FH</li>
<li>BH-BH</li>
<li>Middle Fh, Left Bh, Middle Fh, Right Fh </li>
<li>Serve, bh push, forehand loop against backspin, backhand, forehand</li>
<li>Multiball - Forehand chop, backhand loop against backspin, backhand topspin, forehand topspin</li>
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SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-17760586907497236922015-08-04T20:19:00.004-07:002015-08-04T20:19:56.653-07:00TT Training Day 9 - 8.4.2015With wang shuai single ball.<br />
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FH-FH - 30 in a row<br />
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FH-FH - 2 normal hits, 1 spinny fast loop<br />
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BH-BH - 30 in a row<br />
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BH-BH - 2 normal hits, 1 spinny fast loop<br />
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1BH, 1FH - For topspin balls, brush the top of the ball.<br />
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Serve, forehand loop, repeat 1BH,1FH - snap forearm on forehand loop and turn body upward and forward.<br />
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Stuff to practice:<br />
1. Snap forearm on forehand loop<br />
2. Brush hard on top of topspin balls on smash.<br />
3. Sidespin serve on regular pendulum position with red side of rubber.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-38765540676235156182015-07-28T19:38:00.001-07:002015-07-28T19:39:07.598-07:00TT Training Day 7 - 07.28.2015Tough day with zhe wang. Need to bring towel/water next time. :P<br />
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<li>FH-FH - For shorter shots, move both feet in: right foot then left foot. Hit forward and spin the ball instead of hitting it.</li>
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<li>BH-BH - Hit forward.</li>
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<li>Forehand topspin in middle, backhand, forehand topspin in middle, forehand topspin on forehand side: On step around, move right foot then left foot since I have trouble maintaining my stance balance when moving all at once.</li>
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<li>Serve backspin, he short push, I short push, he push to my forehand, loop the backspin, random while I return to his backhand: Stay leaning forward. Make sure to rotate on forehand. I did a good job on keeping paddle up. Need to return to ready position after the forehand loop on the backspin. Did this for about 30 mins.</li>
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<li>Serve backspin, he push long to my backhand, backhand loop, then I hit backhand, forehand on backhand side, forehand on forehand side: Had trouble with my backhand loops. Spent about 5 mins on technique. Need to work on this in future.Spent about 5-10 mins on this.</li>
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<li>Serve backspin, he push long to my forehand, forehand loop, backhand, forehand on backhand side, forehand on forehand side: I was pretty tired at this point but during some rallies I was in a zone where I could see and hit the ball really well. Last 10-15 mins felt like they lasted forever.</li>
</ul>
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Overall: Did a good job on forehand loops against backspin today. Probably 85%-90% on the weak drill backspins. Two points to forever remember: rotate body and not use just arm. And hit the ball at the peak of the flight path.<br />
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Work on long backhand loops. Stay leaning forward. Remember to brush the ball.<br />
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<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-3989363139816402722015-07-21T19:33:00.002-07:002015-07-21T19:35:27.759-07:00TT Training Day 6 - 7.21.2015Coach Mark today.<br />
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FH-FH - He was hitting the ball to me and it was strangely tough to get it back on the table just flat hitting. Got used to it after a few misses.<br />
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FH looping vs block - Graze top of ball to make the looping sound vs the hit sound. Remember to stay low after consecutive loops to get better brushing contact on ball. Try to use legs and torso on loop. Don't drop paddle too much and generally keep paddle high!<br />
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BH-BH - Nothing specific comes to mind.<br />
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BH looping vs block - I have a bad habit of lowering the paddle after the loop. Keep it high and contact closer to body without reaching. Work on this in future! Graze top of ball - should make looping sound.<br />
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Serve, chop, loop the backspin then play out (FH then BH) - On opening loop, put more spin to keep it on table instead of driving the ball. After the first topspin, back up a little bit to have more room to react. Remember to keep paddle up! On wide shots, you can take time to rotate torso but on middle shots keep stroke shorter to get a better shot. Aim to loop each ball.<br />
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Serving - placements, mixing spins, same motion - different placements. FH pendulum, reverse pendulum, backhand serves. Note to self: On Friday, I will work on reverse pendulum and backhand serves. Especially reverse pendulum focusing on getting backspin and serving to their forehand side.<br />
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Receiving serves: Watch elbow and follow thru to figure out spin. Spent 10 mins receiving Coach Mark's serves. Probably returned about 15% (probably generous) and scored on about 5%.<br />
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Notes: Keep paddle up, even on looping. Backup half step after first topspin shot. Work on backhand looping contact point topspin and how to loop backspin backhand. Work on serving reverse pendulum backspin and to forehand. Aim to spin loop each ball.<br />
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<br />SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-12520691528112003352015-07-14T20:19:00.002-07:002015-07-14T20:19:27.807-07:00TT Training Day 5 - 7,14.2015Not really liking the new blade still. Will try an experiment with different rubbers on old andro blade and new blade this Friday.<div>
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First 30 mins with zhe wang. </div>
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<li>FH-FH - I need to stay leaning forward after I hit. Some of my forehands are more vertical and my body follows so need to keep my stroke forward.</li>
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<li>BH-BH - Move to ball, don't reach.</li>
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<li>BH, FH on bh side, FH on FH side - I need to move after I hit the ball and stay moving. Focus on top spinning on the second forehand and stay leaning forward. Need to move faster too...</li>
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<li>FH in middle, BH on bh side, FH in middle, FH in fh side - Remember to hit middle shots with forehand! My forehand backhand switching is slow. </li>
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Second 30 mins with wang shuai - multiball.</div>
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<li>He serves shot backspin, I push long, he will either push to my fh or loop it. If he loops, I block to his bh and random multiballs come and I topspin smash the forehand shots. If he pushes, I loop and multi-ball randomly comes and I topspin smash the forehands. - I need to move my body instead of just using arm for forehand. Make sure backhands are pushing forward and that my blocks are also moving forward. I'm having trouble blocking the second loop...need to practice this.</li>
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<li>He sidespin/no spin short, I BH flick it to bh, BH to BH until random forehand where I topspin smash. - Make sure to spin the ball on the flick.</li>
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<li>Same as above except long serves are mixed in. - I need to work on returning those long serves. He added some side-topspin serves at the end that I'm having trouble contacting. Got one good one at the end though.</li>
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Notes:</div>
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1) Work on blocking loops correctly, especially second loop.</div>
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2) Forehand moves with my body.</div>
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3) Stay leaning forward and increase stamina...</div>
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4) Maybe switch back to old paddle... :( ask wang shuai about this next week. Also come 15 mins early to warm up.</div>
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SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-8765957871650678332015-07-07T19:49:00.000-07:002015-07-07T19:49:28.987-07:00TT Day 4 - 7.7.15Got put into wang shuai's group today. All single ball drills. The multiball coach was late so one person got assigned to mark hazinski (lucky!) and they worked on serve and serve receive (double lucky!). Day 1 playing with new paddle. Previous one was andro temper tech off- with calibras. New one is ai fukuhara zlf with mx-p. The weight is actually pretty average but much heavier than the featherweight andro paddle I had before so will take some adjustment time.<br />
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<li>FH/Fh- Began with forehand warmup counterhitting. Next we did 2 controlled forehand strokes, then one power shot with focus on snapping of forearm and rotation of torso to generate speed and spin. Then repeat.</li>
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<li>Bh/bh - Backhand counterhit first. Then we did 2 controlled backhand then one small loop focused mainly on wrist rotation and having a small stroke. Main purpose is to change the timing of the ball with more arc and spin.</li>
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<li>1 FH, 1 BH - Similar to previous days. Focus on keeping my paddle up. Don't need big strokes for topspin shots. I need to work on my movement and timing for different balls (long/short/wide).</li>
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<li>Serve short backspin to left, return backspin to my FH, loop the backspin to right, return to my middle, FH topspin to right, return to my forehand, FH topspin to right, return to my left, BH topspin to right, then play out - </li>
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I missed a lot of opening loops (maybe due to paddle?). It got better when I focused on snapping my forearm. Aim for 80% on opening loops on forehand! I feel like I move right a bit too slowly but coach didn't say anything about it.</div>
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<li>Coach serves short to my BH, BH push to his bh, he short push to my FH, BH push to his BH, he long pushes to my FH, FH loop the backspin, then play out -</li>
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Again, focus on getting 80% of my FH loops in the table, snapping forearm, and hitting forward. To do this, it is necessary to hit the ball at the top of the bounce instead of waiting too long.</div>
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Conclusion:</div>
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1) Need to improve my coordination - moving and hitting balls that are slightly different (long/short/wide) with better timing (and footwork).</div>
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2) Remember to snap forearm on FH strokes. Continue making sure I rotate my torso on FH shots.</div>
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3) Practice the 2 control 1 power shot this Friday. </div>
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I wanna get better. (time to quit my day job? lol)</div>
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SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-65574076769117015172015-06-30T19:34:00.002-07:002015-07-02T07:23:41.389-07:00Day 3 - 6/30/2015It was raining in the evening and not as many people showed up ~4 people. So among the 3 coaches (or is it 2 coaches and a multiball guy?), I got to get individual training today.<br />
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FH warmup - I'm leaning forward now. Still need to add spin? by using a little bit of wrist I think. Still don't fully understand.<br />
Edit 7/2/15: I think this may address what I was not understanding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J10WMtibEZk<br />
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BH warmup - Need to move for differences in length. I have a tendency to reach for short balls rather than moving.<br />
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1 FH, 1 BH - need to move better by taking small steps laterally and make sure I hit the balls in the sweet spot on my forehand rather than reaching. Make sure to move to bh shots as well. Spin the ball on fh to get it on table however: My backswing is sometimes too far back. Keep paddle up and don't backswing farther than body.<br />
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Serve backspin, short backspin, short backspin, long to middle, loop backspin, then BH topspins, then random forehand:<br />
I had a lot of trouble with this, especially on the random forehand. I tend to just use my arm and need to rotate my torso on the forehand shot. I found it became easier when I'm leaning forward. I tried to stay on my toes but it didn't help much.<br />
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Serve backspin, get long push to backhand, backhand loop to bh, backhand topspin to bh, forehand on bh side, forehand on fh side:<br />
On the backspin loop, keep arm loose/relaxed and keep stroke small and moving forward. A mistake is that my stroke was too vertical/stiff. On forehand on backhand side, my feet should be more vertical. On the long movement from fh on bh side to fh on fh side, need to shuffle there (crossover if the distance is very large only). I need to focus on keeping my balance/weight transfer on my strokes. I tend to over transfer weight and my movements tend to become very stationary because of it.<br />
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Focuses for next time:<br />
1) Rotate on bh to fh shots.<br />
2) Stay relaxed/short quick stroke on bh loops vs backspin<br />
3) Transfer weight on shots but keep my balance so that my movements don't slow because of it --> footwork --> move faster!<br />
4) And contineu working on the new backhand over the table loop.<br />
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Other notes: Continue remembering to stay leaning forward to make movement easier. Racket on backhand topspins started becoming more upward facing....hmm.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-46527061604180744262015-06-23T21:35:00.004-07:002015-06-23T21:35:43.649-07:00TT Day 2 - 6/23/15Today was half single ball and half multiball. Less people showed up than day 1 - roughly 7 people split into 2 coaches/tables. I've improved on my things from last week although unfortunately without practice due to working on hospice training and med school apps. and anime/manga.<br />
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Began with single ball drills similarly to last week. Coming in, I focused on last weeks points of staying closer to the table and hitting in front of my body.<br />
1) FH<br />
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2) BH - need to stay low and not stand up vertically after certain hits.<br />
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3) FH/BH - make sure to rotate on fh and not to stay with weight forward. Make sure to add spin on the fh to get it over.<br />
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4) serve into short chop into fh backspin loop into bh, fh on bh side, fh cross table. I think my longest was getting 2.5 rounds in. I'd like to be able to do it 5 rounds by end of summer. I need to make sure to take my backspin loops earlier instead of getting into the habit of spinning them up.<br />
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Notes: Something about snapping (wrist? or elbow) on fh hit to add spin.<br />
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Next came multi-ball stuff. Overall, it was much more complicated than what I was used to and I got to learn some things.<br />
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1) bh chop to short right, ball gets chopped long to my fh, loop the backspin, fh topspin in midde, fh in fh side, bh down the line to finish. - Same as above, I need to take my backspin loops earlier at the peak. Rotate body slightly left for bh down the line shots instead of only changing the racket angle with my wrist.<br />
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2) backhand flick to bh, bh topspin to right corner, bh topspin to left corner, fh smash to finish. - Make sure to get enough brush on fh smash to get on table. This is my first time trying to bh flick with this technique - bending my wrist far enough that the racket faces me (similar to the pro videos) and rotating my wrist and elbow while keeping elbow in place.<br />
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3) fh chop in my short right corner, bh loop on my bh, fh smash on my fh side. Although this is probably the easiest of the drills, I had the most trouble with this at several points - transitioning from fh short chop to backhand loop. And again having troubles not getting enough brush on fh smash.<br />
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Summary:<br />
To work on - fh smash, fh to bh loop transition, new short bh flick technique.<br />
Remember - stay on same plane and rotate horizontally.<br />
Random thought before I sleep - returning no spin serve with a side spin return instead of my typical weak chop or weak topspin.SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-65269236136912785162015-06-16T19:54:00.002-07:002015-06-16T20:11:22.542-07:00Table Tennis Training - Day 1 6/16/2016Summer Table Tennis Camp at X-treme Table Tennis - once per week, 1 hr.<br />
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Today was mostly technique work. I was put into a group of 2 other people. The coach was the tall, soft voice guy that speaks kinda fast. The training group did single ball practice rotating every 5 balls. Doing the drills, I'm doing well looping the long backspin balls and having trouble looping the shorter backspin balls. On short high balls, I need to step forward w/ left foot and attack. My overall reaction time (or movement?) is too slow but I'm probably not used to someone blocking that well for me. Overall tiredness level: Low. Also, Mark hazinski has an amazing bh.<br />
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Notes - things I need to focus on:<br />
1) Hit in front of body<br />
2) Keep paddle up, especially when switching from fh to bh I tend to drop my paddle.<br />
3) Get closer to the table (1 paddle off). I always thought to stand one arms length from the end of the table but apparently thats too far.<br />
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Other notes coach told training mates:<br />
1) rotate on fh<br />
2) keep elbow relatively still close to body<br />
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Questions:<br />
1) Shuffle, small steps, or crossover?<br />
2) Something about using wrist on backspin looping that I didn't understand b/c my chinese is poor.<br />
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Drills to improve in Friday TT:<br />
1) Bh/Fh<br />
2) Serve backspin, chop, forehand loop vs backspin, then bh, fh on bh corner, fh on fh corner<br />
3) Same as above except random after loop vs backspinSamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-41144053444801635682011-04-10T10:07:00.000-07:002011-04-10T10:11:57.595-07:00Geometry Spring Week 8Chapter 15<br /><br />4) 24 un. squared<br />5) (x-1)^2 + (y+2)^2 = 9<br />6)a. (-1,1)<br /> b. 5<br /> c. Yes, OK = 5<br />12)a. Collinear<br /> b. Noncollinear<br /> c. Collinear<br />16)a. y = 7<br /> b. y = 3-x<br /> c. x = 6<br /> d. y = 1-4x<br />17)a. y = 2<br /> b. x = -5<br />24) x^2 + (y-9)^2 = 25SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-27888593137749929082011-03-28T20:55:00.000-07:002011-03-28T21:00:34.327-07:00Geometry Spring Week 7 Answer KeyChapter 14<br /><br />1)#1<br />6)60<br />7)35sqrt(3)<br />9)9sqrt(3)<br />10)104<br />11)52<br />12)17.5<br />13)162<br />14)52+36sqrt(3)<br />15)a. 8<br /> b. 2sqrt(11)<br /> c. about 3.04<br />20)5<br />21)a. 9/11<br /> b. 55<br />23)45<br />26)12<br />33)47<br />37)about 161.4<br />41)260<br />54)4sqrt(3)SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-65681243236350234522011-03-28T20:53:00.000-07:002011-04-03T08:20:57.083-07:00Geometry Spring Week 6 Answer KeyChapter 13<br /><br />5)14<br />6)1 or 21<br />7)18<br />8)2<br />13)5<br />14)12<br />19)9pi<br />20)about 40<br />25)2.7SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-72021430710707365452011-03-04T21:09:00.000-08:002011-03-04T21:12:42.464-08:00Geo Spring Week 5 Answer KeyChapter 13<br /><br />5. 14<br />6. 1 or 21<br />7. 18<br />8. 2<br />13. 5<br />14. 12<br />19. 9pi<br />20. about 39.986<br />25. 2.7SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436093438650944235.post-61019509611802346572011-03-04T20:46:00.000-08:002011-03-04T20:52:09.095-08:00Geo Spring Week 3 Answer KeyChapter 12<br /><br />1. 66 degrees<br />2. 52.5 degrees<br />3. 25 degrees<br />4. 66 degrees<br />5. 12.5 degrees<br />6. 38 degrees<br />7. 66 degrees<br />8. 61 degrees<br />9. 24 degrees<br />10. 75 degrees<br />11a. 36 degrees<br />11b. 30 degrees<br />12. 26 degrees<br />17. x=82, y=59, z=39SamDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06121038946650755213noreply@blogger.com0