Choosing Sides

[Kirves]

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community.

 

The Mainstream

 

I don't have any statistics, but I dare say that nearly all students of the fighting arts and sports begin with a style that prefers fighting "left side forward", or usually actually meaning their weak side forward. Many people take this as something that is totally natural. After all they've seen boxing, kickboxing and other sports all their lives and the standard is to lead with the left side. This may also seem natural, because the untrained person usually punches with the rear hand, rather than with the lead hand and they prefer to strike with their strong hand. Thus they keep their strong hand in the rear and the weaker hand in front, naturally. A left handed person, who "naturally" fights the opposite way, is sometimes called a "southpaw" and as such is a rare sight.

 

The Marginale

 

After studying their martial art of choice, most students become aware that there are more approaches to fighting than they had previously thought. One of the biggest surprises to some is the fact that there are several martial arts and styles, that actually prefer the southpaw style. This usually raises a few questions, not the least of which is the simple "why?" People can easily understand why left handed people would lead with their right hand, but they get confused as to why right handed people would choose to do so or vice versa for the left handed people.

 

The Rationale

 

Part of the confusion is no doubt caused by ignorance and people getting different kinds of answers for their questions depending on who they ask. Reasonings for the southpaw style, that I have heard range from:

Your right hand is strong already, so it doesn't need the extra power of the rear hand striking, but your weaker left hand is so weak that it is good to add to it's power by striking from the rear.

 

To:

If you hold a weapon in your hand, usually it is better to keep the weapon in front of you, in between you and your opponent, so when you consider your stronger hand your primary weapon, you understand why it is also better kept in the front.

 

And many other explanations. It has even been said that fighting with left-side lead is easier because most people aren't used to opponents fighting that way! It is also true, that the arts and styles that prefer "strong side lead" are usually very weapon based systems. The Filipino arts are known for being weapon based and coincidentally, most of them prefer strong side lead even when unarmed. Bruce Lee preferred to lead with his stronger right hand, because he got the logic from European fencing. Add to this the fact that usually these arts (arts like Filipino Kali/Eskrima or Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do) are usually quite respected for their effectiveness and it is easy to understand why many students at one point or another, during their martial arts career, experiment with the strong side lead way of fighting.

 

The Misconception

 

What usually happens with these people is that they try and experiment, but revert back to their original style, because they cannot make it work or don't see the advantages of the southpaw style. But sadly, this is often the result of not fully understanding the tactical differences between how to actually fight with the different leads. Let me elaborate...

 

The basic tactic used with the weak side lead is to use the leading hand as the primary defense and the rear hand as the primary offense. While it is true that the roles of the hands get mixed somewhat in the heat of the battle, the basic tactic remains "to defend with the lead hand and counter with the strong hand". Now the people experimenting very commonly use this very same tactic while leading with their strong hand and this is where they go wrong. "To defend with the strong hand, and counter with the weak hand" is just plain silly, if you think about it. No wonder most of them revert back to their original style.

 

The basic tactic used with the strong-side lead is, surprise, the same as with the weak-side lead, too: defend with the weak hand and counter with the strong hand! This time only the distancing changes, now you let the attack pass your front hand and deal with it using the rear hand (usually held in front of your torso, instead of the traditional guards too far back either up by the chin or low by the hip) and now your strong hand is very close to the opponent! Usually it hits him while you are still dealing with his attack. This means that strong-side lead is actually a "short cut" to simultaneous defense counter moves, often touted as "advanced methods" in the weak side lead styles.

 

Making it Work

 

So, how does one experiment correctly? The best way is to find an instructor of a style that uses the other method, instead of just trying one's current personal fighting style while leading with the other side. If this is not an option, try to find information via other routes. But, keep in mind that it takes time to try something that is the opposite of what you normally do. Many schools teach their students to be able to do their techniques from either side, left or right, but this is not the same as trying and experimenting a whole new "dogma" or "strategy" of fighting tactics. It takes time and in this case, often makes one feel like a beginner again. All the timing and distancing is a bit off and everything is new for awhile. But no matter which method you currently use and which method you'll eventually continue to use, I urge you to spend some time experimenting with the opposite lead. It may reveal things about you, about your techniques and also prepare you for that possible southpaw that may one day come your way.

[Patrick]

Thank you for the submission.

[White Warlock]

Being a southpaw, i've always held the 'discomfort' advantage, so my interest in studying northpaw (for lack of a better term) was somewhat limited. However, when switching to northpaw, the advantage you mentioned, of having the power side forward, didn't really come into play much. I state this because the position of being forward already poses an expenditure of potential energy. Now, my power hand is forward and unable to garner sufficient power, through distance * acceleration.

 

I've noted that speed is the factor of advantage with the lead side and power is the factor of advantage with the trailing side. Your argument that blocking with the trailing side, as opposed to the lead side, is valid... and i apply that often. However, such an approach doesn't need to be posed merely on a 'switch' of lead advantage. I.e., if i'm right-handed, i don't have to be in a southpaw stance in order to apply a trailing-hand butterfly block.

 

As standard, I practice both lead and trailing blocks and parries. This ensures i have two layers of block/parry, rather than just one. It also ensures i do not train myself to harbor dependencies.

 

That is the one thing i truly believe is of the most value here with learning to work in various stances and positions. Breaking dependencies. As a ringfighter, learning to fight 'southpaw' is a great advantage to most right-handers, mainly because 'southpaws' are few and far between... so opponents aren't used to fighting lefties. But, in the street, it is a far more practical issue. If, for example, you are being attacked from the right and you dispatch your opponent, but then get pressured from the left, it would present a huge window of opportunity if you were to 'switch' stances to accommodate the incoming threat. As well, if you obtained an injury on your left side, posing it in front gives your opponent a great opportunity to exploit your injury. If you switch to southpaw, and have trained in doing so, you protect that injury and are still able to fight effectively.

 

Personal thoughts.

[Jiyn]

i always have my left foot forward in any martian arts such as karate kickboxing boxing judo aikido (they are all the ones i have been to before)

[Kirves]

Now, my power hand is forward and unable to garner sufficient power, through distance * acceleration.

 

There are two issues to this.

 

One is the choosing of targets. Often southpaw styles like the F.M.A. hit the neck, thoat and other such targets where getting maximum power is not as important as the speed of actually getting the punch to go there.

 

Second is that of body mechanics. If you study the leading punching methods of Jeet Kune Do and such, you notice that instead of relying solely on hip rotation for power, one also brings in the forward momentum of the whole body. This adds some power to the punch.

Your argument that blocking with the trailing side, as opposed to the lead side, is valid...

 

---

 

I.e., if i'm right-handed, i don't have to be in a southpaw stance in order to apply a trailing-hand butterfly block.

 

Often, when applying the southpaw style, blocks are used less often, and defences tend to become trapping oriented.

[MawashiGeri60]

i am a southpaw

[Kirves]

One thing I must make sure people got was that the main point of this topic (the different defenc/offence dogma between the leads) is reversed for left-handed people. I.e. the whole point is about switching between strong hand lead and weak hand lead, not between right/left lead. If you are left handed, then it is natural to use the "weak hand defends in the front, strong hand counters from the rear" dogma while fighting "southpaw". The paradigm switch explained in my article only applies to the idea of having the usual weak hand lead switched to the more rare strong hand lead. The dogma difference exists between those and is irrelevant to wether you are left or right handed.

[Zorba]

This does not only come to martial arts, it is basically an instintive thing. If you look at skate boarders, snow boarders, surfers etc. you will see that the right handers will mainly be left foot forward riders. what martial artists call southpaw, they call goofy foot.

 

then look at golf, cricket, baseball. again, right handers with left foot forward. in these sports, it is the "weak" hand that does most of the work. Explain that one. A right handed golfer can play golf without using his/her right hand. Look at jack newton for an example.

 

I think there is a bit more too it than defend with the weak and attack with the strong.

 

At my karate club, we train ipon and jiu ipon kumite in both stances, granted right stance only comes in at 6th kyu.

[White Warlock]

Although I agree with your assertion, i feel it important to bring up how people generally wield swords... with the same side forward.

[markusan]

Are the two comparable. When you are weilding a single sword it is not just the primary weapon, it is the only weapon.

 

I think the same goes for the cricket, baseball and golf analogies. In all cases you are swinging a "weapon". But what do the pitchers/bowlers do ? They throw with their trailing arm.

 

It is there to defend and attack.

 

When I spar with my strong side forward i tend to block with a forward movement of my trailing hand to meet an approaching punch. I use my front strong hand to deflect then continue the deflection as a strike.

 

With my weak side forward I block with the front hand and try to set up a big torquing punch with the trailing hand.

 

Both work but they are aiming at very different ends.

 

My motivation for developing a good strong side lead technique was more so I could kick with my stronger front leg.