...I am not really left-handed!

[anotheranon]

Xposted to fencing

For a bit of fun, one of my lefty-fencing buddies and I decided to exchange equipment Thursday night for an "opposite hand" bout. It was... interesting.

One might assume that four years of doing the same thing over and over would burn the "moves" into your brain for either side - not so! My footwork was passable but my bladework was just tragic! We both found ourselves with death-grips on our weapons in a poor attempt to compensate, and had to stop a few times to "shake out" our aching hands. Every time I lunged I unintentionally leaned the right side of my body forward, because it felt more natural (indeed, just remembering the "mindset" of wrong-handedness is messing up my typing - I've had to correct more typos, I swear....)

Indeed, I was so disoriented that distance and timing ceased to be a consideration. I lost the bout, but feel very accomplished because I scored two touches.

I think it's a good practice for any fencer, no matter how humiliating - helps even you out, and it was good for me to experience fencing a righty from a lefty viewpoint, though I was concentrating so fully on simple acts like lunging that I don't think I picked up any strategy.

We both had a good laugh, but though we felt utterly strange and did very poorly, we both agreed it would be good to try again.

Dig the new fencing icon! This and others found at martial_icons thru betnoir, and created by user_undefined - Thanks!

Comments

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

> One might assume that four years of doing the same thing over
> and over would burn the "moves" into your brain for either
> side - not so!

Oh no, not a chance, as anyone who's studied martial arts will tell you. Actually an example probably everyone can relate to is writing. Knowing how to write with one hand doesn't mean you can write well with the other, even after 30+ years of practice. Maybe you can write *slowly* with your off hand, but odds are you'll lack the speed and timing that fighting skills require.

If you want to get somewhat more "woo-woo" about it, using your off side draws on different parts of your brain, and may open up some surprising things. There are plenty of people who advocate writing or painting with your off hand as a way to connect with parts of your brain that are normally denied that outlet. Now some of those people go further and suggest that those writings or paintings are inspired by ghosts or some such, but even short of that I think you can find a lot of interesting theories about what's going on when you start using your off hand to do certain things.

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

The trick with lefthanded writing is not to try to write left-to-write. I discovered back in high school that I could do write fairly comfortably in reverse with my left hand and I would, back in my pre-email college days, occasionally write letters to friends that way (one buddy, coming home drunk at 2:00 a.m. and opening my first attempt at this, nearly swore off booze because he couldn't read it and thought he'd finally fried his brain ***grin*** ... once he'd sobered up, he fetched a mirror). Lefthanded people are amazing, IMHO, simply because they master the righthanded style of writing instead of recording things in this far more convenient and natural (for them) manner.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

The trick with lefthanded writing is not to try to write left-to-write. I discovered back in high school that I could do write fairly comfortably in reverse with my left hand...

I think this is a skill that da Vinci used as well - there's been speculation that he did it to protect himself from the Inquisition, but your friend and his mirror revealed just how easy it is to "crack". Nah, I think it was that he was left handed and it was just easier.

And I know what you mean about amazing leftys - my mom almost was one, but in the strict schools of the 1940s-50s was "trained" to be right handed. She's still fairly ambidextrious, even if it's not to the point of writing.

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

I agree with your Da Vinci theory ... not only quicker, easier and more natural for a lefthanded person, but also prevents smudges, smears, and dragging one's sleeve through wet ink (all hazards of twisting the left hand, wrist and arm to write in righthanded style) ***carefully checks that all "writes" and "rights" are right :p ***

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

LOL at self. Amazing what you'll miss when proofreading ... I meant "left to right" in the previous comment.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

And that's one you should have caught ;) I promise I wont' tell!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Pretty obvious that my mind was completely devoted to my subject, no? LOL!!!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

If you want to get somewhat more "woo-woo" about it, using your off side draws on different parts of your brain, and may open up some surprising things.

One thing I DID notice was that for a couple of minutes after finishing the left-handed bout, all my language skills seemed to "short" - I couldn't string together a coherent sentence to save my life! I "righted" (pun intended :P) fairly soon but it was a very disorienting sensation - I knew what I wanted to say but couldn't manage to spit it out :P