Wednesday 23rd January 2008
It's been about a month since my last blog update, so I thought today would be a good time to report in on what I've been up to lately.Training
I've been quite pleased with how my new approach to training is working out. You may remember that I had changed tack, aiming for just a minimum of 30 minutes training per day, with the possibility of doing more if I felt like it.This has worked very well for me so far - I think I have missed doing some form of exercise on just one or two days since my last report. Most of the time I'm still feeling OK after 30 minutes, so I typically go to around 40-45 minutes or so. And three times a week I have table tennis training in a group in the evening as well, so I'm getting a consistent amount of training in.
More importantly, when I start my day I know I only have to do that 30 minutes of exercise to make the day a success. That really makes a difference for me on the days when I'm a bit tired mentally or physically. Those are the days in the past where the thought of having to do two hours of training would just be all too hard, so I'd do nothing instead and often start munching on anything in sight.
Now, I know I only have to do 30 minutes worth of exercise, which is nowhere near as daunting a thing to face, so I'm getting it done almost every time. Being successful with my exercise then makes it easier to stick with good eating habits for the day. So my weight is slowly coming down again, and I feel that this is a regime that I can maintain forever, rather than burning out after 6 weeks or so like last time. I'm still mentally fresh and physically good most days, so I'm feeling quite positive that I'll be in decent shape for the Australian Open in July.
Moral of the Story - you need to find what works for you, not everybody else. If conventional approaches aren't working, don't be afraid to try something radical!
Having reevaluated my attitude to training, I also thought it might be a good idea to take a fresh look at the type of training I was doing. I've been working with a number of exercises that had a random component, but I wasn't entirely happy with some of my fundamentals - some of my footwork and forehand looping technique isn't quite as good as I want it to be. I needed to go back to some simpler fixed drills in order to iron the kinks out of these areas, since the random drills were a little too difficult to complete for successfully grooving in these basics. Once I'm happy that I've got my technique and footwork back in order, I'll bring back the random drills to mesh everything together properly.
Moral of the Story II - use drills appropriate for what purpose you are trying to achieve - more complex drills are not necessarily better! And don't just mindlessly repeat the same training session every time - make sure that you are working on what you need to be improving.
One other thing that I found when I went back to a simple forehand loop drill was that I was overhitting my forehand loop again. When I was doing the random drill, I was blaming the misses on the difficulty of the exercise. Once I went back to the simpler drill, it was pretty obvious that the problem was actually me! By backing off a fraction, I was able to improve my technique, and get the same amount of power with a lot less errors. Looks like I'm going to have to keep an eye out for my tendency to muscle my forehand - it sneakily creeps back into my game given half a chance!
Moral of the Story III - be aware of your own bad habits, and when things start going wrong, check that you haven't gone back to your old ways before looking elsewhere for reasons.
