Are you better with different legs for different things?

In other words you end up falling back on your training.
Training or not, I think it is better to have a plan, and when you start breaking down what you train into percentages, the opposite side deserves no more than twenty percent, Board breaking, about two percent, add in some cardio, and the discovering of new material, and you get left with a number that represents you, and your game. Let us hope it is a large percentage. :)
 
That could be viewed as one of the differences between training for a sport and training for self defense.

While being ambidextrous is not an absolute necessity, it is certainly preferable, as much as possible.

You took the words right out of my mouth.:)
 
Every teacher I have trained under and every seminar I have ever attended in TKD has asked me to do drills with both left leg and right leg. I have always looked at it as a philosophy of the art. Arguments can be made for training one side and arguments can be made for training one side, but my experience with the art says TKD practicioners should train both sides.

You cannot make a comparison to Boxing or KickBoxing/Muay Thai. The core of these systems is to fight from your dominant side. When you train, you're not given the option to switch.

Most stickfighting styles train with the weapon in your right hand. Notice I said right hand and not dominant hand. It is the way things are done within the system.

Our personal teachers may have opinions about how they want to run their schools and train their students. At one school they may choose to train exclusively in their dominant stance and not switch. That doesn't mean that the school down the road is foolish for wanting to train both sides, it just means they have differing philosophies.
 
In my school, we do a lot with combination kicks, and that sometimes requires you to use the opposite leg.
 
Nice thing to say and I here it a lot. But what does it actually mean and where is the proof to the extent it happens.

Otherwise it is just a catch all comment.

Everyday life proves it. You don't "rise" to the occasion under pressure you revert to what you know, what you trust and what you have trained. You don't spontaneously just drive with the skill of a stunt car driver. You drive to your level of training and skill. You don't just run a marathon...you have train for it.

MA is no different if you don't train it..you won't be able to effectively use it. And I find it wise to have as many tools in the "toolbox" as possible.
 
Everyday life proves it. You don't "rise" to the occasion under pressure you revert to what you know, what you trust and what you have trained. You don't spontaneously just drive with the skill of a stunt car driver. You drive to your level of training and skill. You don't just run a marathon...you have train for it.

MA is no different if you don't train it..you won't be able to effectively use it. And I find it wise to have as many tools in the "toolbox" as possible.
Use the right tools for the right job. :)
 
I've only been to a couple seminars. The Bill Wallace seminar was 100% using the preferred leg, but of course that's his style.

Bill Wallace is a Karate guy. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I'm saying that TKD promotes practice from both stances. Karate might be different. I've never spent any time in a Karate dojo.
 
Bill Wallace is a Karate guy. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I'm saying that TKD promotes practice from both stances. Karate might be different. I've never spent any time in a Karate dojo.

Wallace also doesn't have a choice. He can only kick with the one leg due to an old injury. So not really a fair comparison.
 
Wallace also doesn't have a choice. He can only kick with the one leg due to an old injury. So not really a fair comparison.

Well, Gwai Lo Dan said he went to a Bill Wallace seminar and the practice was 100% with your preferred leg. Regardless of Mr. Wallace's injury he apparently teaches his students to use their dominant leg.
 
Nice thing to say and I here it a lot. But what does it actually mean and where is the proof to the extent it happens.

Otherwise it is just a catch all comment.
Back in the day when police carried revolvers they were trained on the range to dump the brass in their hand and then put it in their pocket because it made clean up easier. They had to stop teaching that when they were finding dead cops that were taking the time in shootouts to dump the brass in their hands to put in their pockets. Taking more time then just drop it and reload and keep shooting. In Stress they reverted back to their training and it was poor training and got them killed.
 

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