Table Tennis DVDs
My Reviews

Learning to play table tennis for fun is easy ... but learning to play table tennis to a high standard requires much more time and effort.

Ideally, you should get some personalised table tennis coaching as early as possible in your playing career, as this'll give you a solid foundation for your game.

But in addition to that, reading coaching books and watching coaching videos can also be invaluable.

Unfortunately, there are very few table tennis training/coaching books and videos available to buy, but I've discovered some DVDs that are well worth taking a look at.

Xtreme Table Tennis Ltd, who are based in British Columbia, Canada, have produced two different series of DVDs.

They are the...

• Mastery series which teaches you table tennis stroke techniques,
  and the
• Xtreme workout series which teaches you table tennis footwork and fitness training

Xtreme Table Tennis Ltd have produced four table tennis DVDs which are designed to help you master some very important table tennis techniques.

With stroke demonstrations performed by an experienced Chinese coach (Tao Li), each DVD sets out to help you learn, practice and perfect one stroke technique at a time.

With each DVD concentrating on just one technique, the four DVDs in this series are ...

• Mastering the service
• Mastering the forehand smash
• Mastering the forehand loop
• Mastering the backhand loop

Each DVD in this Mastery series follows the same format.

The video starts with an introduction by an attractive young lady (Lee Tomaschefski or Alex Lee) and is followed by a demonstration of the strokes by coach Tao Li.

The narrator (Jeremy Brett) then explains the mechanics of the stroke being performed by Tao Li, and uses slow motion and stop frames to show precisely what you need to do in order to perform the stroke yourself.

Each video is divided into different levels, and has up to 25 drills for you to practice so that you can perfect your stroke technique.

For example, in the forehand loop video there are drills to practice a slow loop against a backspin shot and then against a topspin shot. Then there are drills to practice a fast loop against a backspin shot and against a topspin shot.

Each video finishes by showing several video clips from many of the top International table tennis events - including the World Championships - in order to demonstrate how the top professional players implement the technique in a match situation.

The quality of each DVD is excellent. They are well filmed and the demonstrations by Tao Li are performed superbly.

One minor citiscism of mine is that in the backhand loop and the service mastery DVDs, the demonstrations appears to have been performed and filmed in the changing room of a venue, rather than in the main hall of a venue.

But that's a minor point, and it doesn't really detract from the quality of the instruction being given.

After all, the aim of the video is to demonstrate each stroke technique and explain how you should go about performing and practicing that technique.

And it does that to a very high standard.

This DVD teaches you how to perform the following ...

• Forehand serve
  • with backspin / no spin / topspin
  • pendulum serve with sidespin / backspin / topspin
  • reverse pendulum serve
  • tomahawk serve
  • high toss serve
• Backhand serve
  • with backspin / no spin / side-spin & backspin / side-spin & topspin
  • tomahawk serve

As well as covering the...

• Service Rules, and
• Service fundamentals dealing with
  • the service grip
  • the optimum bounce height
  • depth of serves
  • imparting and varying spin
  • speed of serves
  • service strategies

This DVD teaches you how to perform the following forehand strokes...

• Smash close to the table / from mid-court / from the back-court
• Smash high balls
• Smash against topspin/backspin/blocks/push shots
• Smash against loop drives/slow loops/fast loops
• Counter-smash
• Serve and smash

This DVD teaches you how to perform the following forehand strokes...

• Slow loop
• Fast Loop
• Loop drive
• Loop against backspin
• Loop against topspin
• Serving and attacking using slow/fast loop and loop drive
• Receiving and attacking using slow/fast loop and loop drive
• Counter loop
• Sidespin hook loop
• Sidespin fade loop

This DVD teaches you how to perform the following backhand strokes...

• Slow loop
• Fast Loop
• Loop drive
• Loop against backspin
• Loop against topspin
• Serving and attacking using slow/fast loop and loop drive
• Receiving and attacking using slow/fast loop and loop drive
• Counter loop
• Sidespin hook loop
• Sidespin fade loop

These table tennis DVDs will be a superb addition to your table tennis collection if you're a table tennis enthusiast and want to gain a greater understanding of table tennis strokes, how spin affects the game, and watch the complexities of this great sport being clearly demonstrated.

They're also a must buy if you're an intermediate or advanced player who wants to take your game to the next level.

Coach Tao Li is superb at demonstrating the stroke techniques and they're very well filmed too.

In my opinion, these DVDs are not suitable for you if you're a beginner or a fun player hoping to implement these techniques within your game.

In order for you to perform the strokes which are explained and demonstrated in these DVDs, you'll first need to have acquired some basic table tennis skills and be able to control the ball sufficiently.

However, if you are a beginner or fun player who just wants to gain a greater understanding of spin and stroke techniques, then these DVDs WILL be a great addition to your collection.

So, in conclusion I would RECOMMEND all four of these Mastery series DVDs.

They're well filmed, well presented and they'll be a great addition to your table tennis collection.

The DVDs are "All Regions" and they're available worldwide, so no matter where you are in the World, you'll be able to watch and enjoy them.

You can buy them from Xtreme Table Tennis Ltd here...

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Xtreme Table Tennis Ltd have also produced a series of DVDs which are designed to help table tennis players improve their footwork and fitness.

These DVDs contain exercises which are specifically designed for table tennis players, rather than just general fitness exercises.

There are two programs within the Xtreme workout series...

1. Xtreme Footwork Conditioning, and
2. Xtreme Explosive Power

And each program consists of three DVDs.

Each DVD in this Xtreme Workout series follow the same format.

The video starts with an introduction showing professional table tennis players in action - which clearly shows why you need to improve your footwork and fitness levels.

This is followed by fitness instructor, Scott, summarising the exercises he is about to demonstrate.

Scott and his assistant, Danielle, then take you through each of the exercises, preceded by warm-up exercises and finishing with cool-down exercises.

The quality of each DVD is excellent. They're well filmed and the demonstrations by Scott and Danielle are easy to follow.

One minor citiscism of mine is that, if English is not your first language, you may have difficulty understanding Scott.

Scott talks quite fast and he also uses phrases and terms which may be unfamiliar to some people.

For example he talks about specific muscles and muscle groups in the body, as well as phrases such as "Contra-lateral" and "Paradigms".

But that's a minor point because it's very easy to follow the exercises just by watching Scott and Danielle.

After all, the aim of the video is to demonstrate each exercise ... and it does that to a very high standard.

There are three DVDs in this program - one DVD per module...

1. Agility
2. Lateral Velocity, and
3. Mastery

Remember, these exercises are specifically designed to help table tennis players improve their footwork in a match situation.

• Module 1 (Agility) teaches you how to perform forwards-and-backwards, side-to-side and cross-over footwork exercises.
  
  
• Module 2 (Lateral Velocity) teaches you how to perform linear and lateral jumps.
  
  
• Module 3 (Mastery) teaches you how to perform lateral shuffles, cross-overs, open-step/drop-step and weaving footwork exercises.

Within each module, there are 3 levels of exercise to perform - Easy, Faster and Fast. Each level is preceded by doing warm-up exercises and finishes with cool-down exercises.

For Module 2 you'll need a low hurdle (as seen here), although if you cannot obtain one, you can improvise and make your own.

For Module 3 you'll need 2 of these low hurdles.

There are three DVDs in this program - one DVD per module...

1. Core
2. Lower Body, and
3. Upper Body

Remember, these exercises are specifically designed to help table tennis players in a match situation by improving your general fitness and body strength for muscles you'll use when playing table tennis.

• Module 1 (Core) teaches you how to perform specific exercises to improve and tone your core body muscles, including lateral rotations, static lateral rotations and high-to-low rotations.
  
  
• Module 2 (Lower Body) teaches you how to perform specific exercises to improve and tone your lower body muscles, including squats, lateral bounds, 2-point lunges, cross-over lunges and split squats.
  
  
• Module 3 (Upper Body) teaches you how to perform specific exercises to improve and tone your upper body muscles, including the chest and shoulders.

Within each module, there are 3 levels of exercise to perform - Easy, Faster and Fast. Each level is preceded by doing warm-up exercises and finishes with cool-down exercises.

For most of these exercises you'll need a long resistance band (similar to ones shown in the picture here).

These footwork and fitness DVDs will be a superb addition to your table tennis collection if you're serious about your table tennis and want to take your game to the next level.

Scott and Danielle demonstrate the exercises very well and they're very well filmed too.

So, in conclusion I would RECOMMEND both sets of these DVDs.

They're well filmed, well presented and they'll be a great addition to your table tennis collection.

The DVDs are "All Regions" and they're available worldwide, so no matter where you are in the World, you'll be able to watch and enjoy them.

You can buy them from Xtreme Table Tennis Ltd here...

BUY NOW	BUY NOW