The forehand loop is the main attacking stroke in modern table tennis: a fast swing that brushes the ball with a more closed bat than a drive, so it carries more spin than speed. It is built on the forehand drive, with a lower load, a waist turn that drives the arm, and a weight shift from the back foot to the front foot. A camera can follow your load, body turn, arm path and finish; the bat face, the brush on the ball and the spin itself aren't visible to it.
Load low, coil the waist
Set your feet at least 1.5 shoulder-widths apart (some players use about 2), right foot slightly behind the left if you are right-handed. Knees bent, weight on the balls of your feet, upper body relaxed.
strong legs, loose shoulders.
Move your feet so the ball arrives at your hitting point: roughly in line with your right foot, where your hands sit in front of you. You should neither reach for it nor feel cramped.
the ball comes to you, not you to it.
Drop your right knee and put your weight on your right foot. Get lower than you would for a drive.
sitting into the back leg.
Turn back from the waist, not just the shoulders. Let the arm open at the elbow as it goes back, and take the bat below the height of the ball.
a coil in the waist with a long, relaxed arm.
Rotate up, brush the back of the ball
Start the forward swing with the waist and hips, and shift your weight from the right foot to the left foot as you swing.
the body turns first, the arm follows.
Accelerate harder than on a drive, bending the elbow into contact. The bat travels forward and up along a line in front of your chest.
the speed arrives late, right at the ball.
Keep the bat more closed than for a drive and brush the ball rather than hitting it flat. Against topspin, close it further and go more over the top of the ball.
a fine grip on the ball, not a thud.
Take the ball around the top of the bounce, at your hitting point in front of the right foot.
meeting the ball, not chasing it.
Keep the shoulder, arm and wrist relaxed so the wrist can whip through on its own. Don't force it. Turning the wrist at contact for extra topspin is an advanced addition, once the body stroke is reliable.
a whip at the end, not a push.
Finish high, reset square
Finish with the bat in front of your face and your hips roughly square to the table. If the bat wraps across your body, the swing was too big; if it stops out to the right, it was too short or you didn't turn enough.
bat in front of your eyes, hips facing the table.
Bring the bat back on a lower path, in line with your stomach, straight into the next backswing, so it never stops dead at the back. Get back to ready for the next ball.
one continuous loop of the arm.
Feel it
Low and strong in the legs, loose in the shoulders and wrist. The waist turn and the weight shift onto the front foot pull the arm through, and the bat speeds up late, brushing the ball so it leaves with more spin than speed. You finish with the bat in front of your face, hips square, already moving back to ready. The app reads your load, body turn, arm path and finish; it can't see the bat face, the brush or the spin.
Fix-its
- Your loop is all arm Load the right leg and turn from the waist, then shift your weight to the left foot as you swing. The body starts the stroke; the arm finishes it.
- You hit it flat (fast, little spin, often long) Close the bat more than for a drive and brush the ball. Aim for more spin than speed; against topspin, go more over the top.
- Your wrist and arm are locked tight Relax the shoulder and arm, time the backswing, and let the wrist whip on its own. Forcing the wrist feels unnatural and doesn't help.
- Your finish wraps across your body, or stops out to the right Across the body means too big a swing or over-rotation; out to the right means too short or not enough turn. Finish with the bat in front of your face, hips square.
- You reach for the ball or get cramped Move your feet so the ball arrives in line with your right foot, at a comfortable hitting point in front of you.
Drill
- Shadow loops in front of a mirror: low load on the right leg, waist turn, weight to the left foot, bat finishing in front of your face. Add one point at a time.
- Multiball: a partner feeds topspin balls to your forehand. Brush each one with a relaxed arm and check your finish every ball.
- Loop to block: a partner blocks to your forehand while you loop steadily, aiming for spin rather than speed and getting back to ready each time.
- Film from the side in 120 fps or faster slow motion to check your load, waist turn, low-to-high arm path and finish. The bat speeds up in about the last tenth of a second, so normal video misses most of it.
- Warm up before looping sessions and stop if your wrist, elbow or shoulder hurts.
Sources
- Ben Larcombe, Expert Table Tennis — How to Play a Forehand Loop in Table Tennis (2015)
- Ben Larcombe, Expert Table Tennis — Improve Your Forehand Loop by Relaxing the Wrist (2015)
- Table Tennis England — New League Player Notes (2025)
- Iino & Kojima — Kinematics of table tennis topspin forehands: effects of performance level and ball spin, ISBS Proceedings (2008)
- Bańkosz & Winiarski — Correlations between angular velocities in selected joints and velocity of table tennis racket during topspin forehand and backhand, J Sports Sci Med (2018)
Last checked 2026-10-26.