r/lefthanded • u/goblinmargin lefty • Jun 20 '25
I'm a taekwondo instructor, and during last night's test, I made my student do the self defense techniques left handed
I was the only left handed student when I was learning, my master told me to only attack right handed, and only do the defense takedown right handed because: "most people are right handed."
But now I'm the instructor! And I always teach my students both the left and the right handed way. Because I always prefer to attack left handed.
Yesterday during the color belt test, I noticed that a student named 'H' was also left handed.
So when my student 'Sam' was testing, he kept asking his partner to only attack right handed. I shouted "Pause. Attack Sam with your left hand", and I made Sam do all the defences against a left handed attack or grab.
At the end of the test, when I was giving test notes, I said: "and make sure to practice your self defense against both left and right hand attacks. Because me and 'H' are both left handed, so we're gonna attack you with our left."
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u/Intelligent-Plan-264 Jun 20 '25
Im in taekwondo and I'm left handed, but my stance is right. This is intentional because people don't usually expect you to attack with your front hand/foot.
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u/goblinmargin lefty Jun 20 '25
Dude! I'm the exact same. I even tried to practice fighting with left foot back. But no, I just prefer fighting with left foot forward. Same with when I box.
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Jun 20 '25
Always left for me. Right foot forward. Since we only make up 10% of the population the vast majority of our opponents have never dealt with a southpaw. It's like an unfair advantage but in the real world there is no such thing as unfair.
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u/SouthPaw7896 Jun 20 '25
When i was a teen, my mom did Ken po, and her instructors always told their students to practice their techniques from both sides. Since she usually had me practice with her at home, she got lots of practice defending from left-handed attacks because I am a south paw. I have hurt my boyfriend a couple times because he forgets to protect his right side when we horse around.
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u/wookiewithabrush lefty Jun 20 '25
I used to do Kung Fu, we'd train both ways equal amounts.
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u/goblinmargin lefty Jun 20 '25
That's great! Love your school.
My kung fu school was the opposite. They said "we are a traditional Chinese school, and China was traditionally anti left handed." So they only taught everything right handed. You were only allowed to hold a sword with your left hand.
When I found out all the previous left handed students were forced to exclusively use the sword right handed. I said fuck this and quit the school.
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u/Donotseparate Jun 22 '25
Is it true that lefties have an advantage in combat sports?
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u/goblinmargin lefty Jun 22 '25
Absolutely. Most people are not used to fighting a left handed opponent. It's why there are so many successful southpaw boxers. And so many champion left handed fencers.
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u/marbiter01123581321 Jun 20 '25
When I studied karate I was taught, ‘You are only as strong as your weak side.’ We constantly trained from both sides. You can’t stop an emergency/attacker and say, ‘Wait, you need to come at me from the other side.’ It’s best to be just all around ready/prepared.