In last week's tip I wrote about toweling. In it, I mentioned the Pavlovian Response, also called Classical Conditioning.

It's not just towel breaks. You should develop the same routines before matches, and before every point, both serve and receive. If you do so, you'll develop that Pavlovian response that prepares you for the match or point.

Watch the top players in any sport and you'll see they have routines that prepare them for what they are about to do. Perhaps the best example is watching a major league baseball player before he bats. Watch a few of them and you'll see they each have their own routine in both the on deck circle before batting, and before every pitch. It's not only a physical preparation, it's a Pavlovian preparation that prepares their subconscious.

There are many routines. Watch the top players, especially when they are about to serve, and you'll see theirs. The most common one is bouncing the ball on the table.

Here are my routines. Before a match, I jump up and down a few times to physically and mentally prepare myself. Then I stare off at something in the distance for ten seconds to clear my mind, and I'm ready. (Many top players play music before a match to prepare - some have the same music each time. I remember when a number of players used to prepare by listening to Rocky music!)

When serving (usually my forehand pendulum serve), I always start by pulling up my playing arm sleeve with my non-playing hand; then I put my non-playing hand with the ball just behind the table; then I bounce the ball on the table a few times; then, most importantly for me, I swing my playing arm back and then forward one time. This prepares me for the serve; if I skip any of this, everything seems off. But as long as I follow the routine, I'm in the zone whenever I serve.

For receiving, I always start two steps back, with my non-playing arm up to let the server know I'm not ready. I lower my head; then I raise it, and step forward to the table into my ready position. I wait about one second and then lower my arm, and I'm mentally ready to receive.

What's your Pavlovian Preparation?

According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have." The link above gives some of the many ways a towel helps, such as (I'm not making these up!) "use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you)" and so on. But amazingly, Douglas Adams left out the value of towels in table tennis.

Let's start with the obvious: you use a towel to wipe sweat away and to wipe your paddle and the ball off. (If it's humid and you sweat a lot, ideally have two towels, one for you, one for your paddle and the ball.) But there's another huge reason to have a towel in table tennis, and it's not so "You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta."

The other reason for a towel is so you can towel off every six points. You might way, "Why do I need to towel off if I'm not sweating?" Putting aside the question of why you aren't sweating (you should if you are playing the Olympic Sport of Table Tennis), there's a more practical reason. It gives you an ongoing habit that allows you to take a mental break, clear your mind, and focus. If you do this regularly, it becomes part of your routine, and really helps the mental aspect of your game in a Pavlovian way. Your subconscious is no different than a dog's in this. (Besides coaching table tennis, I'm a writer, and I also use Pavlovian techniques - after many years of doing so, all I have to do is drink a Dr Pepper and I go into writing mode.) When I coach players, I'm always harping on making towel breaks a habit.

The game is more mental than physical and taking that towel break is an important mental weapon. Take it!

Most players who watch top players play look like this. That link should take you to a 22-second video of five cats looking side to side as they watch a ping-pong match. Those cats are enjoying the epic match they are watching, but they are not learning anything. All they are seeing is a little ball go back and forth.

Instead, zero in on and watch one of the players and what he does. Focus on specific things - the feet, positioning, serve, receive, strokes, placement, shot selection, etc. Ideally, watch a game several times, each time focusing on something different. That way you can really learn what the top player was doing, and learn from it. If possible, watch parts in slow motion. For the tactical aspects, think about why the player did what he did, and how that might relate to your game. For the technique aspects, get up and shadow-practice what you saw. If the player you are watching can do it, so can you!!! (At least you can strive to, and you'll get a lot better that way then if you don't. It's a lot easier learning new things by shadow-practicing first without the ball, and then later working on it at the table with the ball.)

If you just watch the match as a spectator, all you really see is a ball going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth . . . nice kitty!!!

It's great to develop great mechanical proficiency like the top players, who often seem to play like machines. As noted in last week's tip, "They make even difficult shots with such seeming ease and consistency that they make it look easy." But while you are developing that mechanical proficiency, you can be an artist as well.

Instead of blindly looping, driving, blocking, or whatever every shot, sometimes throw in something more creative. Throw an opponent off by hitting a softer shot. If an opponent backs up, drop one short. Aim one way then go to another spot to catch the opponent going the wrong way. Throw a sidespin shot at the opponent - perhaps a sidespin loop or sidespin block, or sidespin a serve back. Or maybe a chop block. Vary the spin on your shots, especially loops and pushes. Throw an occasional chop at the opponent, maybe even a no-spin chop that they'll loop off. All of these variations are the "trick" part of table tennis, where you artistically do something to mess up the opponent other than just pounding him into commission with sheer power or consistency.

Even Ma Long, now considered by most as the greatest player of all time with his two-winged power shots (and perhaps the greatest forehand of all time), is known for throwing in chop blocks that tie opponents up in knots, as well as great placements with his attacks. Jan-Ove Waldner, the player most commonly called the greatest of all time before Ma Long, developed much of his game around throwing opponents off with his constant shot variation and changing of pace, spin, direction, and depth. Ma Long is a machine who can also be artistic; Waldner was an artist who was also a machine.

So, are you a machine or an artist? Be both!!!

One of the most impressive things about top players is their machine-like proficiency - they make even difficult shots with such seeming ease and consistency that they make it look easy. They are like well-oiled machines. This is why coaches have players do so much rote practice, practicing their strokes and footwork until they can do them in their sleep. All players should strive for this mechanical proficiency.

At the same time, you don't want to have the dreaded case of being "too mechanical." This means that you have seemingly perfect strokes, but don't adjust to variation well - and so make many mistakes if the opponent varies his shots. Ironically, this is almost the opposite of mechanical proficiency!

There really are two things here: having perfect or near-perfect strokes that you can repeat over and over against predictable shots, and being able to adjust to variation. You need both. (There are also players with bad strokes but who can adjust to variation - and so they tend to be consistent but their shots are not as strong, or they lose consistency if when they play aggressively or when forced to play at a fast pace.)

How do you develop both mechanical proficiency and consistency against variation? This will sound rather obvious, but you do so by practicing. Many players only do rote drills, where every incoming shot is predictable, and so they develop mechanically perfect shots as long as the opponent is predictable. You need to also do match-type drills, where you add variation to the drills and so have to adjust. There are zillions of possibilities. At its most basic, simply serve and attack, where your partner varies his returns. You may have some restrictions, such as he has to push long anywhere, or he has to perhaps push short or flip to a wide corner, or perhaps flip anywhere. Think about what happens in matches, and work out drills that match your game and what you need to adjust to.

One reason for becoming too mechanical is playing the same players over and Over and OVER. You get used to them and only them. Instead, you need to play tournaments and leagues where you play different players, where you are forced to adjust to different styles, strokes, and techniques. It's not a matter of learning to play every style, stroke, and technique - it's a matter of learning the habit of adjusting.

The ultimate goal is to have true mechanical proficiency, against any type of variation - like the top players. Because that is "good" mechanical play - and will turn you into a true table tennis machine!