MASH MONSTER PRACTICE

[Ben Helms]

I am creating this thread to help out everyone in their training for the Mash Monster Ladder. Specifically, filming for this certification.
The rules are strict and held to a very high standard, as it should, and I would love to judge anyone interested in submitting their training videos to this thread.

Something to keep in mind is that whatever your best close with a parallel set is, subtract 5rgc from that. With how strict the judging can be, following all of these rules plays a huge part your performance. Ive been practicing my filming to be more clear with my set and close and its made my closes drop by 5rgc give or take.

I will be responding to any video submission to this thread with constructive criticism that is only and always in the submitters best interest within a 24 hours notice. 

The hardest part about this certification is staying in frame and keeping a clear set and visible close. I will take the time to watch and also analyze your videos. I will be slowing down the film, and zooming in if needed. If you would like screenshots of a close or a miss, I will gladly provide that in this thread with explanation as well.

While I am not a judge for the gripboard, I would love to help out everyone training  to certify on the Mash Monster Ladder to make sure you’re 100% prepared. Before recording your video, please read over the rules that @Cannon has provided as well as the video demo created by @dubyagrip. This will help tremendously.

Some brief tips for a quality video:

•Stay close enough to your camera for a clear view but not so close that you risk leaving the frame.

•DO NOT use your front facing camera if your phone has one. Front facing cameras have a lower quality over video and can also have glare from the phone screen. (I have been victim to this several times.)

•Make sure you have good lighting and are away from any extra light that could cause a glare, like a window or any reflecting light.

I hope this can be helpful for everyone and provide more confidence for you in your future certifications! I look forward to your submissions and also look forward to more participation in the Mash Monster Ladder!

Maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to have the opportunity to become a judge for the MM Cert one day!

 

[dubyagrip]

Great idea, @Ben Helms

Some other tips:

Tripods with a built in ring light are great for filming gripper closes.  Most of them allow you to control the brightness of the light, which is nice because sometimes the light can be too bright.  Having your light source coming from or behind the camera works best.

You can also make small adjustments to contrast, highlights, and shadows to also help make the gripper "pop out" in your video.  Keep in mind that if your video is crap to start, no amount of adjustments will help.

[DoctorOfCrush]

43 minutes ago, dubyagrip said:

Tripods with a built in ring light are great for filming gripper closes. 

And they are quite cheap nowadays. I don't think I spent even $20 on mine, or at least not much more, and it includes both warmth and brightness adjustments. 

[Cannon]

Moved this to the Mash Monster forum.

It is a very good idea to practice taking videos. Having an established and controlled environment takes the guesswork out of simply hoping the video captures a good result.

[Cannon]

2 hours ago, dubyagrip said:

Having your light source coming from [above] or behind the camera works best.

This is a big one. I think the word "above" is missing.

You do NOT want the camera aiming at a light or window. And you do NOT want a spotlight shining directly on the gripper or your hand. If you watch old gripper videos, people sometimes did this to try and highlight the action. During the close, the cameraman would literally shine a flashlight on the gripper to try and spotlight. This has the detrimental effect of washing out everything on camera. Or people stand at a window thinking "Well, the most light is over here," and end up aiming the camera right at the window. If that's the best spot, at least back the camera up to the window and shoot away from all the good light. 

Ideally you want lots of overhead light that is fairly far away. Outdoors when the sun is overhead can be great, especially on an overcast day. For indoors, think of settings like the gym, or commercial spaces like Target. I'm not recommending to cert in a Target, just driving home the point of lots of overhead light that is fairly far away. Maybe your shop or garage or kitchen is like this. Basements are rarely like this and a lot of grip gyms are in basements. If you have to be indoors in a small room, bathrooms can be great. There is often an excess of light for the small space and also generally light walls.

 

 

 

[Ben Helms]

 

UPDATE:

I highly recommend people training for their next MM level to make sure that the bottoms of the handles are always showing. Use your back facing camera (not your front facing camera) and stand about 1 foot away from your camera. That way, you can still view the framing of your video before your start your set. Also, if you have an overhead light, make sure the camera is directly under it so when you stand a foot from the camera, with the bottoms of the handles showing, there will be a clear view without a shadow covering your gripper. You can see a noticeable pause before i start my set. This is me checking to make sure the gripper is in frame still while i get a good foot position. 
Start with lighter grippers and work your way up to about 80-90% of your perceived 1 rep max. You’ll notice that the heavy the gripper, the sloppier you will get on the set and close. Slowly working your way up in higher RGC is important because youll have an adjustment time to focus on how your hand will move back and forth. You can see in my videos, especially with the heavy GG6, after my set, the bottoms of the gripper handles are not parallel with the camera making the 20mm or greater set look narrower than it is. Keep that in mind. The more lined up the bottoms of the handles with the camera, the better! The less question you give the judges, the more likely you are to get all white lights 👍🏻

My filming before was quite sloppy but I feel like I have improved tremendously and will have a top notch video for the judges next time I cert again 🫡

[steeve tremblay]

18 hours ago, Ben Helms said:

 

MISE À JOUR:

Je recommande vivement aux personnes qui s'entraînent pour leur prochain niveau MM de s'assurer que le bas des poignées est toujours visible. Utilisez votre caméra orientée vers l'arrière (pas votre caméra orientée vers l'avant) et tenez-vous à environ 30 cm de votre caméra. De cette façon, vous pouvez toujours voir le cadrage de votre vidéo avant de commencer votre série. De plus, si vous avez une lumière au plafond, assurez-vous que la caméra est directement en dessous de celle-ci afin que lorsque vous vous tenez à 30 cm de la caméra, avec le bas des poignées visible, il y ait une vue claire sans ombre couvrant votre pince. Vous pouvez voir une pause notable avant de commencer ma série. C'est moi qui vérifie que la pince est toujours dans le cadre pendant que j'obtiens une bonne position du pied. 
Commencez avec des pinces plus légères et progressez jusqu'à environ 80 à 90 % de votre maximum perçu sur 1 répétition. Vous remarquerez que plus la pince est lourde, plus vous serez négligent sur la série et plus vous fermerez. Il est important de progresser lentement dans des RGC plus élevés, car vous aurez un temps d'adaptation pour vous concentrer sur la façon dont votre main se déplacera d'avant en arrière. Vous pouvez voir dans mes vidéos, en particulier avec le lourd GG6, après mon set, que le bas des poignées de préhension n'est pas parallèle à l'appareil photo, ce qui fait que l'ensemble de 20 mm ou plus semble plus étroit qu'il ne l'est. Gardez cela à l'esprit. Plus le bas des poignées est aligné avec l'appareil photo, mieux c'est ! Moins vous posez de questions aux juges, plus vous avez de chances d'obtenir des lumières entièrement blanches 👍🏻

Mon tournage précédent était assez bâclé, mais j'ai l'impression de m'être énormément amélioré et j'aurai une vidéo de premier ordre pour les juges la prochaine fois que je passerai à nouveau la certification 🫡

thank you ben and cannon the big problem is the source of light I had to try things here turn off a light place the light on the other side... light behind the screen or in front of it ;;;and I have to adjust my camera given the light source from above or below. Most put the screen at the bottom for me it doesn't work for light ;;;