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Table-based drills for improving reactions in table tennis

Updated on Nov 11, 2024
1 min read

When you are playing table tennis, your brain has to monitor the position and movement of the ball and calculate your next move within a fraction of a second. The fast pace of the ball and the small size of the table combine to make table tennis an incredibly reflex-intensive sport.

But have you ever wondered how to get better at table tennis? Yes, it’s possible! Your brain can get better at reflexes and reaction time with some table tennis training drills.

How do you improve reflexes in table tennis?

Here are some table tennis drills that can help you improve reaction times and get better at the sport.

1. Random drills

These are the drills that don’t follow any specific or preset pattern. The random nature and the element of surprise in these table tennis training drills is what helps a player to improve their reaction time.

A good example of random drills is standing on one side of a table tennis table and having a partner serve you from random locations. While your partner can move, you need to stand still and try to return each service.

2. Multiball drills

Another great way to improve reflexes and shorten your reaction time is playing the game with more than one ball. It presents you with a frequency of balls that is many times more than that of a normal game.

If you train in this manner, you’ll have exceptionally better reflexes and reaction time than what is needed for playing with a single ball.

3. Practice is the key

Last but not least, practice is the main thing that will improve your reaction time in this game.

You cannot expect to get the results after a day or two of the training. You need to train for a long period to improve your reaction time and get better at this game.