What is it that separates an amateur table tennis wannabe from an advanced player who dominates the table?

One of the major differences is an amateur naively follows the school of thought that playing table tennis is all that's required to improve one's level of play. While this may be true for the lower level hobby players, it's simply not enough to contend at higher levels. Advanced players place a great amount of importance on following a tailored fitness program away from the table as they know it's mandatory to give themselves the edge they need to compete.

The few amateurs that do take the time to train, go about it all wrong. They follow some generic strength program that hasn't been specifically designed for a table tennis player. They blindly lift some weights, hit the treadmill, or do some circuit training... which in truth can place you at an even greater disadvantage then one who doesn't train at all!

The problem is there's an OVERLOAD of information out there on how to properly exercise (and most of it is dead wrong and conflicts with each other). This leads to mass confusion and not knowing what to do.

Increasing your strength and power for table tennis isn't about piling on the weight and bench pressing 200 lbs or doing 50 push ups. It's not about looking bulky. If you follow "traditional" strength training programs, not only it will they NOT improve your game... they'll actually deter from your game, making you slow and sluggish.

In table tennis, the secret of the pros is functional strength

So while pretty much every conventional strength training program out there will be detrimental to your game. That doesn't mean all hope is lost.