Proper CCS techniques

[Alex K]

Hello guys! Recently I got into a little more CCS practice just to switch things up a little. I have noticed the following two major ways in which CCS closes are performed amongst people who certify on IM:

1. The gripper is set to roughly the depth of a Block Set (sometimes even MMS). After that it's opened up to the width of a Credit Card (if successfully executed, the palm-handle stays put in place, not sliding any deeper into the palm, while the "opening" is done purely with the fingers). In my opinion, David Shamey is a prime example of this technique performed perfectly.

2. The gripper is set a little deeper in the palm, so that all fingers are able to hold onto the handle. It's also usually not set any deeper than a CCS. For this technique, Ivan Cuk is the prime example.

What I personally noticed is that with the first technique you're usually having a little more trouble at the start, since you need quite a bit more "edge" finger strength at the starting position. But if you overcome this phase, you're basically in an epic position for the close. With technique 2 you don't have that, but the close part seems harder due to the gripper handle being deeper in the palm.

How do you guys prefer to perform CCS closes? Especially if training for an IM Cert. I also believe palm size, finger length and especially the finger-to-palm ratio play tremendous roles in the preference for the CCS techniques.

[Alex K]

@Hopefully I also have rather short fingers and a larger palm. I feel much better going for Technique Nr.1 when it comes to CCS closes, but in the starting position it's extremely hard. I would probably even say it feels harder than the final close at the end. I noticed that many gripsters (like Iain Thain for example in his CoC#3 cert) have a much harder time breaking this barrier, than the final close phase. I guess it comes down to how much the 3 "hooking" fingers at the start are trained. I'll focus on CCS work now and will see how it goes 

[Fist of Fury]

1 hour ago, Alexander Koss said:

@Hopefully I also have rather short fingers and a larger palm. I feel much better going for Technique Nr.1 when it comes to CCS closes, but in the starting position it's extremely hard. I would probably even say it feels harder than the final close at the end. I noticed that many gripsters (like Iain Thain for example in his CoC#3 cert) have a much harder time breaking this barrier, than the final close phase. I guess it comes down to how much the 3 "hooking" fingers at the start are trained. I'll focus on CCS work now and will see how it goes 

This was always the problem for me with CCS. My knuckles just gets locked if I put the handle too close to the fingers. For 1.5" (38 mm) set or even up to 40 mm this was never a problem. That's also why I got much further with that set than CCS. Just wasn't able to get even a decent leverage with CCS.

I would say that training the fingers independently. Index and middle separately and ring and pinky separately will help improving strength if you want to go for technique option #1.

Index and middle fingers need to be extremely strong for this to work.

[Alex K]

3 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

This was always the problem for me with CCS. My knuckles just gets locked if I put the handle too close to the fingers. For 1.5" (38 mm) set or even up to 40 mm this was never a problem. That's also why I got much further with that set than CCS. Just wasn't able to get even a decent leverage with CCS.

I would say that training the fingers independently. Index and middle separately and ring and pinky separately will help improving strength if you want to go for technique option #1.

Index and middle fingers need to be extremely strong for this to work.

I agree with you on this one 100%. It’s probably a very smart idea to train index and middle, especially in those far-open fingers states. And generally speaking, the more you practice CCS, the stronger you get in those ranges and the more you solidify your technique. I’ll be testing this theory now 

[Cannon]

I’m in the #2 camp. I use the compromised palm handle position.

With the technique in #1 above, I also have the problem where my knuckles lock up. Feels horrible. This approach requires a big hand.  

In executing technique #2 it’s helpful to train BTR. I can close a 2.5 in this fashion and the only reason I never certified was strictly a lack of necessary strength.