Should choose tension for power not control

I couldn't get as much power with your lowly 24lb bg80 compared to my 30lb bg80.

I'm not sure other stringers here will agree but going off my own experiments and the experiments of my stringing customers, everyone has an optimum window. Mine is 28-32lb, anything in between is no good to me.

 

For power, it's all about matching your stringbed rebound (and shaft unbending) to your hand/racket head speed.

For control, however, it's all a matter of feel. If you've driven a BMW or Porsche vs a Toyota, you'll understand the difference.

 

I can't play much below 24lbs. I bought an Ashaway Sonic Pro 99 recently, and the stock strings were a low tension ZM69F, and I had to consciously slow down my clears because they were consistently too long. If I hit with my normal power it'd be about a foot out the back of the court. But then, my net shots at the same tension were bloody terrible. I couldn't keep the shuttle low or spin it properly. Why would I want extra power that means my shots go out or lack control at the net?

Restrung at 27 and after it settled the stringbed is about right for me. If I'd strung at 24 it'd be too low for me right now.

 

Two schools of thought:

a) play with the lowest tension you can tolerate,
b) play with the highest tension you can tolerate.

I am firmly in camp b) - I go up until I can't hit it out the back with a clear; my Jeremy Clarkson "POWEEERRRR!" days are long gone, physically and mentally.

 

I agree. I have the 28-32lbs window, too which is FME playable. It also depends on the string. Since I string my own rackets I used from 22lbs to 34lbs everything and can tell that I don't get more power when I choose the lower side of the scale.

Control issues can be also reasons of mediocre technique, flexy shafts and a discomfort because you are not used to hit a coiny sweet spot with consistency.

IMO string tension is related to swing style and swing speed. Swing speed depends slightly on your racket (heavy vs. light) and your swing (compact with fast speed vs. bigger swings with a slower speed).

I can tell that I use a lighter racket with a stiff shaft and high tension. I have a compact swing. Underarm and wrist based instead of shoulder. I also use my fingers to stroke the shuttle with a short but fast swing.

I think tensions and rackets must be sychro and in resonance to your swing to get the most power. That's it. I have sometimes the feel, maybe I'm wrong, that guys who use lower tension are envy and have a real problem that others use something which they can't take and try to take you down, because you are not a pro. I also have the feel that some people with higher tension want to define their skill level. It's just resonance and physics. People are different, so tensions are different. Pretty simple.

For control we should understand the shaft, swing, grip, technique, string, tension and hitting the sweet spot clean are a unity in terms of power and control.

 

The real control high tension helps with are on midcourt and forecourt shots. Regardless, if you hit the shuttle a mile long in the rear court, why would you need more power in your shot? A well placed smash tends to do better than just a hard smash. With clears, you seldom use the same amount of body motion as a smash, people don't jump clear for extra power or angle. They might jump to fetch a clear because it's easier to move that way, but not for extra power.

 

I agree. But that's not why people use higher tensions, IMO. It's because it gives them more control; especially at the net and it produces faster shots. A drive (hit with the right technique and on the sweet spot) with 30 lbs will always be faster than with 24 lbs.

Also your example about your buddy and the "control racket" and his weaker smash with that racket only shows that he uses higher tension that he probably should. But again - with the right technique, higher tension produces faster and more powerful smashes. Why do you think the professionals all use high tension?

 

you lot would put me in a circus as a freak anyway. I can bend the strings at 30lb+, smashes are as hard as anyone I know playing with a lower tension. Strong forarms from heavy deadlifts for years and a lot of power training.

 

Maybe precision is a better word than control. With me, lower tension smashes hold the shuttle longer which then reduces the precision on my smashes. I have a fast, powerful wrist. I need the string to react quickly or it breaks. I broke more strings lower down than I do at 30lb. The lower tension string couldn't return the shuttle fast enough and often snapped. I have never snapped a string since going about 28lb.

 

Same with me - I think my action was making the strings bend too much instead of "letting" the bed kick the shot out.

Breakages (sudden ones, not wear-related) are almost non-existent for me now.

 

If you play with someone that can smash hard, and I mean hard, and their smash is strong enough to bend the strings on your racket without significant input from you, how can you expect to control the return?

The more your opponents shot is able to effect your string, whether that's a fast drop, a good hair pin net shot, a strong smash, or even a strong clear, the less control you have over your game. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I've used a racket with low tension, gone to play a netshot as I always do, and seen it catapult about 2 feet into the air. This is where I felt the string acted on its own the most. Games are won at the net. If you have poor control at the net, you cannot dominate it.

Furthermore, as dbswansea has said, if the tension is low, the shuttle clings to the string bed. I actually feel like my shots come off much slower if this happens, because while I've released my energy and am now slowing the racket down, the string bed hasn't responded.

That 69F set I had at 20-something-low, on some of my smashes I had to immediately check the strings because I felt the string flex so much, and it made such a noise, that I'd thought I'd snapped the string.

 

As I stated earlier it really depends on personal and physics. I don't understand your motivation for this discussion. Nobody can answer and at the end you need discover on your own. You made the experience with factory string vs. BG80 @ 24lbs. If you ask me: 20lbs is the minimum I string for my customers, 34lbs the maximum for my customers. With 24lbs you are far away from my definition of high tension. Thats a simple fact and the difference isn't pretty noticeable. The jump from 20lbs to 24 lbs is minimal which will also cause a minimal and not noticeable control.

Also count in that stringers can mess up a job. Get two jobs with BG80 from a decent stringer with good reputation and experiece. One at 18lbs and one at 24lbs from the same stringer. Everything else is not fair to compare and rate.

Did you compared 2 identical rackets? Your results are falsified if not, because the racket plays also a huge role. E.g. a head light and stiff vs. head heavy and midflex can be very different in different departments. You can't isolate just the string or tension.

Let's define what I understand under control: I understand that I have a feel and connection which lead to the thing what the shuttle do when I hit. Let's define it as communication between shuttle and human.

Let's define what I understand under power: Power means to me to hit a fast shot, with minimal motion, strength and effort. Let's define it as putting as less as possible in and getting the most possible speed of it.

If you hit with a loose job fast the string bends deep into a bowl. Try at home: Let a rubber ball drop in a round bowl. It wil jump out pretty randomized. Let the rubber ball drop on the floor it will be easy to control it's jump. I think this is a good example for a loose vs. tight stringbed.

For the power department let's take a pretty soft rubber ball and a hard rubber ball. You let both drop to the floor. The softer will jump higher. Now throw both with a bit force on the floor. Which will jump higher? Now use all your force and technique to throw hard as you can. Which one will jump higher? At the end the hardness and softness of the rubber ball is a reference for your stringbed. The soft one will reach a border, where it don't deforms anymore and you loose energy which you put in. The harder one has a border which must be broken to get it full potential. Sounds logic, or not? Humans are different and swing different at different speed. Some will make different experience with same things. That's life. Experiences are not universal and are mostly opposed. Accept it.

Similar things happen when you hit. Not in this simplified manner which I tried to describe but it's the same reaction.

A hard smash is the result of swing, racket choice, technique, string choice and tension which is matched perfectly. Hard smashers mostly swing in resonance to their equipment and produce the bullets. They are not always stronger. The don't have always the better technique. It's just the combination which is opportune and it depends on so many variables...don't be just focused on one.

 

I always recommend players choose a string tension that gives them the most power in their smash.

Reasoning: if they use the same amount of force and get less power, then the "lost" force must be "going somewhere". It's not going into the shuttle, so it's going back into their arm. This is obviously not healthy.

This often happens when players use tensions that are too high for them. However, it can also happen (less commonly) when players use tensions that are too low for them.

 

I think that the impression of power is really difficult to figure out without measuring the exact shuttle speed.

If your opponent can't return the smash, it's not always the power. Maybe the opponent wasn't in good and ready position to return. Maybe the placement was to the racket shoulder or dead spot, the steep angle did it or your opponent predicted it out or anything else. It's not the power which makes the winner. Maybe your opponents defence is just weak, or you play regular against weaker defender, which will lead to your impression that you can hammer it hard. Anything is possible.

Some people go by sound. A loud and crisp ZISCHHH should be a good indicator for power, but without measing the speed it's pretty subjective and depends on situations to judge you power. A smash is just a stroke like a clear, drop and lift etc. I don't understand the focus on pure power. Especially in higher standards a single smash isn't the winning shot. Mostly the weak reply and kill or a smash from midcourt.

Same for rackets, tension and string choice is always a trade off. What we miss in this discussion is feel, your own feel and liking. I think the most import thing is to feel comfortable and familiar with everything. What if my tension for most power is different, from my tension for increased control and great feel.

Badminton is not just power, it's very allround and balanced and all this reasons count for my choice. Everybody who played a level double game at higher standard will agree that it's not all the time power play and smash, smash, smash. You use various shots and you should be happy in every situation and not just one.