Exercises to reduce "handedness"?

[Gerry Seymour]

What do you do with your students to help them overcome their handedness (usually right-handedness), so they can be more effective with their off-hand? I only offer one class a week right now, so I'm really looking for activities I can give folks to work on when I'm not with them.

Some I've used (for myself and some of my students) in the past:

• Shave, brush teeth, comb hair with off-hand (and many more like these)
• Practice an entire class (all techniques) using only off-hand
• Injure your dominant arm (this has been highly effective in training my left side, but students don't seem to approve of it as a training methodology)

 

[Tez3]

We train everything from both sides. We train kicks from back leg and front on both sides ( if that makes sense!). You become equally good with both sides after a while.

I can't see why students wouldn't approve of injuring their dominant arm, seems sound to me lol.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

If you wrestle with someone who is right-handed with better skill, after about 1 year, you will become left-handed.

When you try to

- grab your opponent with your right hand, your opponent will push your right arm away because he doesn't want you to move in through his left side (he is a right-handed person).
- grab him with your left hand, he will let you to grab him because he tries to move in through your left side and he would love to use "his strong right hand to play with your weak left hand".

For example, your right-handed opponent may try to use his right arm to "under hook" your left arm. You then have to use your left arm to "over hook" his right arm. Since your opponent will try to play his right hand against your left hand as much as he can. This will force you to use your left hand to deal with his right hand more. After 1 year, you will become a left-handed person.

 

[jks9199]

Honestly -- I don't.

We don't neglect the off side, and we certainly practice many techniques on both sides of the body, but we don't try to train out a lifetime's wiring. The effort to do so would, in our opinion, be better spent on developing the dominant hand.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

be better spent on developing the dominant hand.

Agree! It's better to develop different skills on different side.

For example, you may want to develop

- right jab, left cross,
- right side kick, left roundhouse kick,
- ...

 

[Tez3]

Agree! It's better to develop different skills on different side.

For example, you may want to develop

- right jab, left cross,
- right side kick, left roundhouse kick,
- ...

We do everything and I mean everything from both sides. We don't need different skills for different sides, we become proficient from both sides. Much of what we do in martial arts isn't naturally one sided or another so it's as easy to learn for your non dominant side as it is your dominant side. We fight off both left and right stance, we can kick off the back leg and the front leg in either stance. it's actually quite easy after training for a while. People will have a 'favoured' side but can easily switch when they need to.

 

[Pittsburgh Arnis]

What do you do with your students to help them overcome their handedness (usually right-handedness), so they can be more effective with their off-hand? I only offer one class a week right now, so I'm really looking for activities I can give folks to work on when I'm not with them.

Some I've used (for myself and some of my students) in the past:

• Shave, brush teeth, comb hair with off-hand (and many more like these)
• Practice an entire class (all techniques) using only off-hand
• Injure your dominant arm (this has been highly effective in training my left side, but students don't seem to approve of it as a training methodology)

I've found that Escrima sinawali drills improved my hand eye coordination and helped my weaker side.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If you wrestle with someone who is right-handed with better skill, after about 1 year, you will become left-handed.

When you try to

- grab your opponent with your right hand, your opponent will push your right arm away because he doesn't want you to move in through his left side (he is a right-handed person).
- grab him with your left hand, he will let you to grab him because he tries to move in through your left side and he would love to use "his strong right hand to play with your weak left hand".

For example, your right-handed opponent may try to use his right arm to "under hook" your left arm. You then have to use your left arm to "over hook" his right arm. Since your opponent will try to play his right hand against your left hand as much as he can. This will force you to use your left hand to deal with his right hand more. After 1 year, you will become a left-handed person.

Then wouldn't every wrestler be left-handed by that logic? Then they'd all be training with left-handers, and would become right-handed. Then they'd be training with right-handers, so...

Logic loop aside, there is truth to that. One of the things we get in training is a "need" to use our off-hand more than most activities.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Honestly -- I don't.

We don't neglect the off side, and we certainly practice many techniques on both sides of the body, but we don't try to train out a lifetime's wiring. The effort to do so would, in our opinion, be better spent on developing the dominant hand.

That's mostly true of most people, where the dominance is moderate. However, for the highly right-handed (more common), there's an obvious weakness on the left side. Training that out by improving that side becomes imperative. Not all self-defense (or even competition) situations will allow playing to your strong side.

EDIT: And there's the additional concern of injury. When my right shoulder was injured, I'd have been at 10-25% effectiveness for self-defense if not for having trained my left arm so well.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Agree! It's better to develop different skills on different side.

For example, you may want to develop

- right jab, left cross,
- right side kick, left roundhouse kick,
- ...

Agreed, with the exception of the injury issue I noted in my last comment.

 

[jks9199]

That's mostly true of most people, where the dominance is moderate. However, for the highly right-handed (more common), there's an obvious weakness on the left side. Training that out by improving that side becomes imperative. Not all self-defense (or even competition) situations will allow playing to your strong side.

EDIT: And there's the additional concern of injury. When my right shoulder was injured, I'd have been at 10-25% effectiveness for self-defense if not for having trained my left arm so well.

There's a functional limit to how well you can develop your off side, absent pressing circumstances. We concentrate on strengthening our strengths, because we believe that will make the weakness disappear rather than investing huge amounts of time on trying to remove a weakness directly. As I said --that doesn't mean we don't train both sides. Most of our basic forms are done on both sides, for example, and all our basic drills do each technique on both sides. That's in martial arts... I'll say that I have found that working one side will often lead to increases on the other... though I've found sometimes that working the off side forces me to figure out what I'm doing better than the primary side. Like I said -- I'm not saying never work the off hand...

Teaching cops to shoot? Pretty much the same thing. We do shoot with the support hand, and advanced training starts working with switching the primary hand as you go around cover or move in some cases, for example -- but we don't try to rewire someone who's left eye dominant, or try to make proficiency equal with both hands.

But, hey... that's my POV and my teacher's -- and my -- thoughts on it.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Rope. Worked for Rocky Balboa.

 

[Touch Of Death]

What do you do with your students to help them overcome their handedness (usually right-handedness), so they can be more effective with their off-hand? I only offer one class a week right now, so I'm really looking for activities I can give folks to work on when I'm not with them.

Some I've used (for myself and some of my students) in the past:

• Shave, brush teeth, comb hair with off-hand (and many more like these)
• Practice an entire class (all techniques) using only off-hand
• Injure your dominant arm (this has been highly effective in training my left side, but students don't seem to approve of it as a training methodology)

Teach only the left side, and make them teach themselves the right.

 

[Touch Of Death]

It is also important to consider, that although right handed, most people totally suck, and the left side is more meek and willing to listen.

 

[RTKDCMB]

The approach I usually use is to do twice as much on the non-dominant side as the otter. You will never eliminate handedness completely and there will always be some things that will be easier with the non-dominant side. Example; I am right handed but my running jumping back kick is much better with my left than my right.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

There's a functional limit to how well you can develop your off side, absent pressing circumstances. We concentrate on strengthening our strengths, because we believe that will make the weakness disappear rather than investing huge amounts of time on trying to remove a weakness directly. As I said --that doesn't mean we don't train both sides. Most of our basic forms are done on both sides, for example, and all our basic drills do each technique on both sides. That's in martial arts... I'll say that I have found that working one side will often lead to increases on the other... though I've found sometimes that working the off side forces me to figure out what I'm doing better than the primary side. Like I said -- I'm not saying never work the off hand...

Teaching cops to shoot? Pretty much the same thing. We do shoot with the support hand, and advanced training starts working with switching the primary hand as you go around cover or move in some cases, for example -- but we don't try to rewire someone who's left eye dominant, or try to make proficiency equal with both hands.

But, hey... that's my POV and my teacher's -- and my -- thoughts on it.

I think we're talking about the same thing here. I'm only looking at removing extreme differences, not making someone fully ambidextrous. After decades of training, I can hit very well with my left hand, but nowhere near as well as with my right. The grip is still not quite the same on that side, either. And I didn't start out as someone who was extremely right-handed.

There are those folks, however, (including one of my students) who are so right-handed that they can't punch, block, etc. effectively with the other hand, at all. Those are the folks I'm trying to help. I worked on my own handedness as a part of preparation for extreme circumstances (much like the officers learning to shoot with the off-hand).

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Teach only the left side, and make them teach themselves the right.

It is also important to consider, that although right handed, most people totally suck, and the left side is more meek and willing to listen.

Those are both interesting ideas. I'll need to contemplate that - perhaps choose some areas to test it with my teaching style.

 

[pgsmith]

The problem with handedness is that there is just not as good a connection between the brain and the off-hand, due to the lack of usage. The issue is to forge the connections so that the off-hand side will be able do what the brain wants it to do. The easiest way I have found to get this done is by doing things with the off-hand side outside of class. Switching the computer mouse to the other hand is a great way to learn control if they work on a computer. Reaching out and touching specific things around the house or at the store with the off-hand is another good way (vary the finger that you are using to touch with). These are things that have worked pretty well for me in the past.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

The problem with handedness is that there is just not as good a connection between the brain and the off-hand, due to the lack of usage. The issue is to forge the connections so that the off-hand side will be able do what the brain wants it to do. The easiest way I have found to get this done is by doing things with the off-hand side outside of class. Switching the computer mouse to the other hand is a great way to learn control if they work on a computer. Reaching out and touching specific things around the house or at the store with the off-hand is another good way (vary the finger that you are using to touch with). These are things that have worked pretty well for me in the past.

I'd forgotten about the mouse. I actually did that for years, until I got a laptop with a touchpad. Can't move that damned thing.

 

[oftheherd1]

There's a functional limit to how well you can develop your off side, absent pressing circumstances. We concentrate on strengthening our strengths, because we believe that will make the weakness disappear rather than investing huge amounts of time on trying to remove a weakness directly. As I said --that doesn't mean we don't train both sides. Most of our basic forms are done on both sides, for example, and all our basic drills do each technique on both sides. That's in martial arts... I'll say that I have found that working one side will often lead to increases on the other... though I've found sometimes that working the off side forces me to figure out what I'm doing better than the primary side. Like I said -- I'm not saying never work the off hand...

Teaching cops to shoot? Pretty much the same thing. We do shoot with the support hand, and advanced training starts working with switching the primary hand as you go around cover or move in some cases, for example -- but we don't try to rewire someone who's left eye dominant, or try to make proficiency equal with both hands.

But, hey... that's my POV and my teacher's -- and my -- thoughts on it.

That's important imho. Since most attacks will come from right handed people, we trained almost exclusively with right-handed defense.

In my grappling art, since most attackers will be right handed, you will need to be most proficient with right hand defense. That doesn't mean only defending with your right hand, it means defending against a right handed attack. It makes sense to learn a few left handed attack defenses, but that shouldn't be your concentration. I think that would be counter productive when the majority of attacks will be right handed.

And right hand attack doesn't mean only the right hand/foot will first attack you. For example, a person may grab you with his left hand for control preparatory to striking with his right hand.