Sumthing Amazing

This is amazing to me.

I have been fascinated by Gabriel's closes since he showed up at the board. He mangles grippers lefty with no apparent effort. He also keeps the palm handle pretty far back in his hand. His closes are one of the main reasons I believe that the "close" is more trainable than I previously thought. He's basically closing grippers in the range of motion that most would call BTR. Remind you of anyone? Joe Kinney methinks.

I have long thought that heading this direction with my handle position is the way to go for me. I have short pinkie fingers. They are a full inch shorter than any other finger. Bringing the palm handle toward my fingers works fine for MMS, but for CCS my pinkie can't wrap until the handles are around parallel. It makes a CCS close nearly impossible unless I'm good for a 3 finger close past parallel. Moving the handle into a position like Gabriel's effectively makes my fingers longer. CCS is still difficult, but much more manageable.

My plan for the adjustable BBGMs has been to start using a similar handle position and a wider set and then working my way back up toward #3 closing power. My "max" will drop for a while, but as Gabriel has shown, this range of motion is very trainable. This, I have realized, is my ticket to a #3 cert. I need to focus less on setting the gripper and more on setting myself up for success.