Mathieu: thanks for your very well reasoned response! I realise now that I generalised some of your points (i thought you said 4 to 6, and hence chose 5 times a week as an average! My mistake!). The reason I mentioned gingerphil in particular, because you referred to him when you said “My big fear is that players buy the racket and use it in the wrong context by thinking it will improve their smashes if they use it 1hr per day etc, which already seems to be the case from what I am reading here” Thus I thought it a good idea to inform everyone that that player in particular, was already doing an excellent job to keep himself in peak physical condition.

With regard to the heavy racket and defence, I suppose from experience, I have never met anyone who has used a heavy racket like this (or squash racket or whatever) who has decided that they needed a longer swing, in the presence of a coach. However, I take your point, if guidance isn't there, then maybe they could go the wrong way with their technique. The drill you mention IS a good one, I use it myself 🙂 but I get many more benefits from it when I use a heavy racket. However, I would use it to get me “in the groove”, and then quickly switch back to my regular racket (after a couple of minutes probably). As I said, it just provides a little check point that you are doing it right.

I agree that this racket will not be anywhere near as beneficial as additional training/court time. Practice on court is invaluable, and, in theory, no amount of increased difficulty can help someone who plays three times a week beat an equivalent player training 6 times a week (which is why its so crazy that Danish players are so good compared to asian players, they have only a fraction of the court time!). However, many people will, I expect, want an edge over their regular sparring and league players, who are also playing a similar number of nights. Thus, I feel these rackets really would benefit those players, but they should rightly understand it cannot be a magic solution! There is no replacement for practice and excellent technique. However, for these players, reaching “the top” usually means winning a couple more league games and playing better in a higher division, and then progressing further – a tremendous achievement in my opinion!

Your comments have not been taken personally! It is good to have people contributing with so much detail!

I think, at the very least, using a training racket, as you mentioned, as part of a warm up (pre training session or match), would benefit many many players out there, and from what you were told, it seems the experts agree!

Cheers!

Matt