# Anybody left-handed??



## Josh (Dec 28, 2005)

Hi.


Are there any left handed folks here and how do you feel against opposite handed folks while training in class? Especially with knives, but ANY attack/weapon comes into play here. 


Thanks.


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## Rich Parsons (Dec 29, 2005)

I am not left handed, but I have used my left hand for baseball the breath stroke in the swiming crawl, and other places as well. 

I train the left hand, and I use to confuse some right handed people.

I also use it to explain that an angle coming in left or right can be block with the same technique, but the counter may have to be modified to adjust for body position.


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## green meanie (Dec 29, 2005)

I'm left-handed and most of the time it feels like it gives me an advantage. We live in a predominately right-handed world and I think it makes left-handers a little more ambi-dexterous than it does right-handers. 

But when it comes to filipino arts... its a struggle for me. I still feel a bit clumsy when handling weapons in my right hand and trying to convert right-handed instruction into a left-handed application makes that lesson as much a mental work-out as it does a physical one.


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## MJS (Dec 29, 2005)

green meanie said:
			
		

> But when it comes to filipino arts... its a struggle for me. I still feel a bit clumsy when handling weapons in my right hand and trying to convert right-handed instruction into a left-handed application makes that lesson as much a mental work-out as it does a physical one.


 
I hear ya on that!!  I'm right handed, but I face the same challenge when working drills, disarms, etc. using my left.  I agree with the mental workout!

Mike


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## green meanie (Dec 29, 2005)

MJS said:
			
		

> I hear ya on that!! I'm right handed, but I face the same challenge when working drills, disarms, etc. using my left. I agree with the mental workout!
> 
> Mike


 
Well, look at the bright side, maybe it will keep us from getting Alzheimers.


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## MJS (Dec 29, 2005)

green meanie said:
			
		

> Well, look at the bright side, maybe it will keep us from getting Alzheimers.


 
:boing2:


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## brothershaw (Dec 29, 2005)

I am lefty
When it comes to sticks/ swords/machete  I am right hand dominant, although with a small effort and considerably less training time I can do alot of the  stuff with my left hand 75-80% as good as my right.
With knives I feel biased towards the left hand 
Empty hands ( other arts ) I am 110% biased towards my left side, and the usage of the left hand determines how good i will do the technique which is wierd because I do have pretty good right hand coodination from the stick work and it being a right handed world.

Empty handed I prefer left lead (b4 I ever knew anything about boxing, or strong side forward)

I think most people in training dont realize I am left handed and it doesnt help much unless we do left handed stick stuff and they have  coordination issues


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## Henderson (Dec 29, 2005)

green meanie said:
			
		

> I'm left-handed and most of the time it feels like it gives me an advantage.


 
I'll have to remember that for next time, Denny! :wink1:


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## arnisador (Jan 1, 2006)

I don't like knife-sparring the left-handed. Stick-sparring works OK for me, but at knife range it can be a problem for me!


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## rompida (Jan 2, 2006)

I also feel being left handed gives me an advantage.  I think lefties tend to be more flexible in movement because all of our lives we have had to adapt to a right handed world.  I feel perfectly comfortable with a stick in either hand.  For knife work, also feel pretty comfortable with either.  But, for espada y daga, my long blade or stick goes in my right hand.


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## green meanie (Jan 2, 2006)

Henderson said:
			
		

> I'll have to remember that for next time, Denny! :wink1:


 
Curses! Forums are the work of the devil... you always give away your best secrets on them


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## Bammx2 (Jan 10, 2006)

I have 3 left handers in my classes.
Being a righty, I have trained my left quite a bit over the years and it helps to be able to step in and partner with these guys when needed.
They work thier rights a lot of the time by choice. Which has actually inspired some of the others to to train thier lefts more often.


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## Dalum (Jan 10, 2006)

I'm not but my buddy SethG is.  It messes up the wee ones during class when we are both doing the same drill and half the class is looking at him and the other half is looking at me.  lol!


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## terryl965 (Jan 10, 2006)

I use to be, before my head injury five years ago, after a year of therapy I suddenly became a rightie go figure.
Terry


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## SethG (Jan 17, 2006)

Yes, I am a lefty... but you know that means we use our right brains. 
In otherwords, some people can read books and descriptions, not me I learn by doing or watching and learn that way quite quickly.  It's really quite funny Dalum writes out these training drills and I am "like huh?" until we step up and do the drill for our class and then I'm in the "Oh! that's what you were talking about!"  

As for which handed attack, that is not an issue for me. I live in a right handed world, and there for train to ambidextrous.  The only thing I really fall short on is the range of motion my right wrist has vs my left... but my punches are just as strong. 

Oh yeah and in class teaching drills I do naturally perform the drills with my left side first, and yes that does confuse the kiddies, I think it confuses Fred sometimes too.

I firmly believe that being a lefty is an asset, it's helped me out in-class sparing many times, as well as when I was in college doing SCA heavy weapons training. (most my opponents realized I was a lefty after they got hit)


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## seibukan (Jan 23, 2006)

Im left handed, severely left handed; I have the stutter and dyslexia trifecta. Funny/sad thing is I didnt realize I even had dyslexia until I became a signmaker/graphic artist lol). Anyways, aside from the above, being a lefty has served me very well.  In regards to fighting, most righties fall apart from the beginning just unable to adapt, and when fighting a lefty it just feels like home and is at least for me a special treat.

There is a lot of information on the web about the advantages of lefties in combat. Aside from surprise factor, lefties are wired differently in their brains then righties which gives them and edge, and about 10% of lefties are wired extremely different making them basically designed and predisposed for combat.


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## brothershaw (Jan 23, 2006)

Heres an odd thing
leftys are a small percentage of the population so whenever I see one they stick out ( to me) since I am lefty as well.
Many years ago while filling out some paperwork for a program in the military I look around the table and out of maybe 20 guys something like 12- 15 were leftys, I have never been in the same place with that many leftys at the same time, I figure something about the program and the personality of people who would actually be interested dragged in us in.


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## Lobo (Jan 26, 2006)

Science has proven that lefties have a great advantage towards our right-handed society. I'm so jealous, as I'm a major right handed person. When i type or play music, I'm fairly accurate with both hands, I'm ambidextrous. But for everything else...when fighting, i have a lefty stance too. I'm working real hard though, to be ambidextrous, as its a great advantage when sparring. Also, science has proven that lefties tend to be smarter the average. Many of the greats were lefties, in fact. Leonardo D'Vinci, Michaelangelo, Napoleon, Queen Eliz. II, Charlmagne, and Mike Tyson. Mike probably had an advantage early in his career because he was naturally left handed and trained with right, so I believe he wouldn't feel awkward in any position when boxing (correct me if I'm wrong. I know crap about boxing). List of left handed people - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_left-handed_people


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## Bammx2 (Feb 1, 2006)

"If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body,then I guess left handed people are the only people in thier right mind".


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## Lobo (Feb 2, 2006)

hmm... so i'd be left-brained? That would make me a lefty...interesting.


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