The left handed

[Wado Heretic]

I have trained to fight as a south-paw as I am not symmetrical, due to a curved spine and how as a result my hips and knees line up. However, I am in fact right handed, and I do not train my students to fight according to the dominance of their hands. I do not used fixed drills, and what drills I utilise are designed to encourage ambidexterity; to disallow one the comfort of a dominant side.

In terms of broad martial arts; in Judo I have encountered the need to engage the right hand more, because one is often practicing techniques against the right handed. Similarly, in kick-boxing, I would find the need to practice fending off right handed fighters more often than left handed. In terms of combat-sports, it makes sense to spend your time on learning to deal with the most common factors you will encounter; right handedness being common factor.

However, traditional martial arts, do not, I believe encourage this. Most kata, form practice, demand one develop aptitude with both hands and feature a lot of symmetrical repetition. Also, many traditional drills such as sticking-hands, will feature two-handed forms; and most traditional martial arts will have drills designed to develop proprioception, with an emphasis on using the hands together. Any right handed bias, I would argue evolves from the fact most people are right handed, and they incidentally encourage the dominance of the right hand.

So; there is a solid argument for right hand bias, but I would suggest it is incidental rather than by design.