There are two main ways of holding the table tennis bat:...

The first one is the shakehand grip.

As the name suggests, it is like you are shaking hands with the bat.

So there is the bat, and you are shaking hands with it.

You have your pointer finger across the bottom...

of one side of the racket,...

and you have your thumb across the bottom of the other side.

A lot of people ask: "Why can you not just hold it like you do a tennis racket?"

The main thing is, that the pointer finger up on the racket there...

gives you much better control over the racket head.

The second thing is, that it also helps you to know...

what angle your racket is at.

If your racket turns in your hand a little bit,...

you have got a good idea of where that is with your pointer finger there.

If you do not have your pointer finger there, your racket can turn in your hand,...

and it is much harder for you to tell what angle the racket is on.

So make sure that you have your pointer finger across the bottom of the bat.

The other important thing with the shakehand grip is to make sure that you do not...

strangle the bat. If you have got your bat too tight in your hand,...

firstly you are going to lose feeling in your wrist...

and also it is much harder to generate spin.

Have you bat really loosely in your hand.

As a test, you should be able to just take the bat out of your hand...

as easily as that.

The second common way of holding the table tennis bat, is the penhold grip:...

With the penhold grip, you have your handle facing upwards...

and you encircle your thumb and pointer finger around the handle.

Like you would holding a pen.

On the back of your bat, you can have your fingers in two different ways.

Either curled up like that,...

or you can have them flat across the bat.

That is just a preference.

If your fingers are curled up, your wrist can be used a little bit more easily.

If you have got your fingers spread across the back,...

then you get a little bit better control over the racket head.

Just experiment for yourself. See which one feels more comfortable for you.

Why would you choose either the shakehand or the penhold grip?

There is a couple of advantages and disadvantages of each.

Firstly, with the shakehand grip:...

The advantage is that you can use both sides equally as well.

With the forehand and the backhand.

The disadvantage is that you create a crossover point where you are changing between...

the forehand side of your racket and the backhand side of your racket.

So, you need to weigh those two things up.

With the penhold grip the advantage is, that you can use your wrist a lot more.

Because you are using your wrist in that range, as opposed to the shakehand grip...

where you are using it in that range.

So, you are using your wrist much more easily with the penhold grip.

The other advantage of the penhold grip is that you do not have that...

crossover point because you are using the same side of your racket...

to start off with, on both sides with the backhand and the forehand.

So you do not have the crossover that you had with the shakehand grip.

The real disadvantage of the penhold grip though is the backhand side:...

It is much harder to hit or attack the ball with the backhand side.

Now the backhand is starting to be used...

as a reverse penhold backhand, which...

is much more effective but it is still quite a difficult stroke...

with the penhold grip.

So, now that you have seen these two grips,...

you decide which grip is best for you.

You might want to experiment with both, the shakehand and the penhold grip.

Play with them both. See which suits you.

See which feels more comfortable for you.

That is the main criteria.