Hi all,
I've always been very left-handed and footed, but for several years (both before and after a lower back operation), most of the left side of my body was in such pain that I was forced to learn to compensate, by leaning heavily on my right side instead. Thankfully I'm now back to a reasonable level of fitness, but I've found that my left side is still much weaker than it used to be, and a lot of my left leg, left side and left arm and shoulder muscles appear to have shortened (due to lack of use whilst I was recuperating, presumably). Anyhow the net result is that at least for now, apart from obvious (still favouring my left side for writing and eating etc), my new dominant side appears to be my right (i.e. my right arm punches harder, my right kicks use more power, etc..) Has anyone else for any reason had to deal with some sort of "switching" regarding which is your normal dominant side, and how did it affect your training?
Thanks

It's funny... This is the second post in a row in which my answer has be "Zhan Zhuang (Post-Standing)".

I've experienced this switch myself, and standing practice is the way to go to sorting it out.

This is an interesting debate as I ususally fight on my dominant right side (I think that is South Paw), but often find myself in an open stance against my left dominant opponant and it totally changes my tactics.

So I was wondering, how much do people train to tackle fighting an opponant who favours a different side to you? How do you deal with it?

Lesley Jackson wrote:

So I was wondering, how much do people train to tackle fighting an opponant who favours a different side to you? How do you deal with it?

I'll quote my teacher here, speaking of Bagua, but I believe it fits in nicely to what you ask Lesley.

Always change!

It's best not to have a "dominant" side.

So I was wondering, how much do people train to tackle fighting an opponant who favours a different side to you? How do you deal with it?

Your comments are interesting Lesley, because even as a lefty myself I have often feel a momentary confusion when my opposition is also a lefty, this is because just like any other RIGHT-handed person, in my training I am still most likely to come up against a right-handed opponent. It's been said quite a few times in fact that watching two lefty's sparring together can be really quite weird to watch.

In earlier Jeet Kune Do schools, there was the idea that you kept your strongest side/weapons, closest to your opponent.

Funny you brought this up, but as a right side dominant, I have not had to give it up for any extended amount of time which required me to develop my left side to the level of proficiency as my right. With that said, I know that many of my weak side techniques are quite faster and sharper that many of my right side techniques if I were to switch to a south paw stance.

It's best not to have a "dominant" side.I agree. We try to 'train up' the weak side by doing twice as many techniques in practice with it as with the dominant side. Still, it's a difficult thing to accomplish. I've been training for a long time and I'm still right-side dominant, but I know I'm a lot more 'balanced' about it since I've been concentrating on bringing up my left side for the last several years.

Some people are a mix of both. My oldest son, for example, is right-side dominant in martial arts, baseball and everything EXCEPT shooting. He's left-eye dominant with a rifle, shotgun and handgun. When he was little I made him shoot with his right eye, thinking nothing of it, and he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Then one day when he was about 11 years old, a former Marine Corps drill instructor (who was working as a rifle instructor for the Boy Scout summer camp my son was attending) told him he was LEFT eye dominant, and he started putting all the shots into the 10-ring! (That was also when I realized I didn't know nearly as much about shooting as I thought I did!)

Bottom line is, learn both sides but I don't know if its possible to become truly 50/50 on each side...

As far as fighting an opponent, one way or the other, it shouldn't matter, you should train to handle them all. You'll never know what you're going to face on the street or in the ring, right, so all you can do is try to train for them all. Tough to do, especially if your school has mostly right-side dominant students to practice with.

It's funny... This is the second post in a row in which my answer has be "Zhan Zhuang (Post-Standing)".

Can you expand on this statement a little Bailu Taiji? It sounds interesting, as I feel that left or right side dominant is more a question of state-of-mind than anything else, since "switching sides" has been, at least for me, more about learning to send and receive signals from my brain to and from my non-dominant side. Often, when I really concentrate, I start to realise that to some extent it's more about the way I'm almost IGNORING the signals from my non-dominant side, rather than there being any real fundamental difference in power or strength between my left and right sides respectively.

I've experienced this switch myself, and standing practice is the way to go to sorting it out.

For what reason did you yourself experience this "switching" effect?

Power comes from timing. Balance within one's body makes you strong as a whole.

Your stances and timing will make both sides equally strong. The yin yang principle is present within our bodies. If your weak on one side, work on the timing of that side. I used to be right hand dominant but the more I train the more balance I achieve in both sides, now only a few elements remain unbalanced for me. I don't use strength to achieve power, only timing.

This is an interesting topic. I am right handed and usually stand in a left stance (so that my stronger right arm is further away from my opponent). I'm not really sure why I do this as it just feels more comfortable. I don't usually worry to much about which way my opponent is standing as I am usually trying to get them off balance so I can get some grappling done.

I did sprain my right wrist a while ago which forced me to use my left hand for just about everything. It was annoying but I wasn't doing much MA at the time so i didn't need to adjust for training.

In japanese arts you usually lead with the left, apart from Iaido with which your right arm is forward because of holding the sword. The japanese used to think being left handed was unlucky and therefore was never really taught left handed techniques as such.

I think usually as a rule of thumb most people would keep the strongest hand back for the haymaker punches...