Table Tennis Stance and Ready Position

(with Fan Zhendong)

HOMETHE EXPERT TABLE TENNIS BLOGTABLE TENNIS STANCE AND READY
POSITION (WITH FAN ZHENDONG)
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.

“Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”

Table Tennis Stance and Ready Position
(with Fan Zhendong)
HOMETHE EXPERT TABLE TENNIS BLOGTABLE TENNIS STANCE AND READY
POSITION (WITH FAN ZHENDONG)
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.

“Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”

Table Tennis Stance and Ready Position
(with Fan Zhendong)
HOMETHE EXPERT TABLE TENNIS BLOGTABLE TENNIS STANCE AND READY
POSITION (WITH FAN ZHENDONG)
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.

“Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”

Table Tennis Stance and Ready Position
(with Fan Zhendong)
HOMETHE EXPERT TABLE TENNIS BLOGTABLE TENNIS STANCE AND READY
POSITION (WITH FAN ZHENDONG)
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.

“Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”

Table Tennis Stance and Ready Position
(with Fan Zhendong)
HOMETHE EXPERT TABLE TENNIS BLOGTABLE TENNIS STANCE AND READY
POSITION (WITH FAN ZHENDONG)
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.
 Table tennis stance is the second aspect of table tennis technique that I teach
to my players. The first is the correct shakehands table tennis grip.

This post is part of my How to Play Table Tennis series. Today we’ll be

whizzing through how to stand, where to stand, and why. And we’ll be using
the great Fan Zhendong as our example!

Before I start, I want to clarify the difference between “stance” and “ready
position”. You may have heard people use both terms almost interchangeably,
but here’s how I define the two;

 Ready position describes the generic, neutral stance that you might

expect to see adopted by a table tennis player before they receive
serve – feet quite wide apart, knees bent, upper body crouched
forward, both arms out in front of you, and the bat in a neutral
position. The ready position doesn’t change. If I say “ready position”,
that is always what I want to see.
 Stance describes the way in which a player is standing during any stage
of a game. For example, when serving there are correct and incorrect
stances that are specific to each individual service. Therefore, the
correct stance is dependent on the stroke being played. You don’t want
to play a forehand loop with the stance you’d use for touching a short
ball to your forehand!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the space to describe one-by-one the
correct stance for all the possible strokes and serves. In this post, I’m going to
focus specifically on the correct ready position and helping you to improve
your generic table tennis stance.

This article was originally published in March 2013 but was updated in
November 2019.

Contents
 Table Tennis Ready Position
o 1. Feet
o 2. Knees
o 3. Upper Body
o 4. Arms
o 5. Bat
 Table Tennis Stance
o “Pretend you’re a goalkeeper!”
o “A goalkeeper with a Zimmer frame!”
o Upper Body: Zimmer Frame
 Ready Position vs Stance
 Where to stand
o Have your bat in the centre
Table Tennis Ready Position
This might sound super basic but you’d be surprised how many experienced
table tennis players have fundamental problems with their table tennis stance!

Here’s a quick tip. Don’t play standing bolt upright as if you’re waiting for a
bus!

The table tennis ready position has five key components.

1. Feet
You need quite a wide base when playing table tennis. From my
experience beginners are far more likely to have their feet too close together
than too far apart.

Some coaches say feet should be parallel to each other and one shoulder-
width apart. But I would go further than that and say that your feet should be
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 shoulder-widths apart – like Fan Zhendong!

Having your feet wider apart will give you a more stable base, help you to
move, lower your centre of gravity, get you down closer to table height, and
enable you to transfer your weight from foot-to-foot to develop power.

Also, it’s a good idea to have your non-playing foot slightly further forward
than your playing foot. For example, a right-hander would have their left foot
slightly in front of their right – making them not 100% square to the table.

2. Knees

If your legs are completely straight, you will find yourself constantly off and
unable to move to wide balls. Therefore, your knees should always be slightly
bent – like Fan (above).

Don’t bend your knees too much and make sure you don’t have them bent in
a squat position either. A slight bend is all you need.

3. Upper Body
When playing table tennis your body should be crouched. This means that
your head and shoulders are forward and slightly down. It’s also why Fan
Zhendong always looks like he doesn’t have a neck in photos!

This forward-leaning ‘crouch position’ will stop you from entering into a ‘squat
position’ and will shift your weight onto your toes (the balls of your feet)
which will make it much easier to move. That would be poor form for a squat
but it’s great form for table tennis.

This crouched forward position should also stop you from drifting away from
the table as you play your shots. This is a common problem for players that
have their weight on their heels.

4. Arms

Your arms should be out in front of your body, and forearms parallel with the
ground (again, like Fan). This both helps with the crouched/leaning forwards
stance and also makes it much easier to play your shots.

One thing I’m always banging on about is keeping your elbows out in front of
your body. I see many beginners playing with their elbows back and “tucked
in” against their sides. This is not good technique. It will almost halve your
‘reach’ for wide balls and destroy your chance of ever playing a powerful shot.

Finally, most players try and keep their free arm parallel with their playing arm,
for balance.

5. Bat
The bat/hand/wrist is the final component of a correct ready position. We
always assume that we do not know where the ball is going (even if we are
doing a regular exercise) and therefore we keep our bat in a neutral position –
pointing the top edge of the racket towards our opponent. That way it is
possible for us to play either a backhand or a forehand, on-demand.

You want your bat to be an extension of your forearm – not angled up or

down. In order to make that happen, you need to keep your wrist straight but
allow the weight of the bat to drop it down. This is best explained with a
photo.

You see how Fan Zhendong’s wrist isn’t bent in or out but he has allowed it to
drop slightly so that his bat is in a horizontal position. If he had kept his wrist
up the bat would be going up at roughly a 45-degree angle and would no
longer be an extension of his forearm.

For more help regarding this, you need to check out my blog post all
about table tennis grip.

Table Tennis Stance

As I said at the beginning, this article is all about helping you to improve your
generic table tennis stance. I often call this your “shape”. I’ll say to my players,
“Keep your shape”, when I notice them slipping out of a correct stance in
whatever way.

And sometimes it’s easier to grasp that correct “shape” by using an image or
analogy rather than with detailed instructions for each part of the body.