Develop strong side?

[fa_jing]

I'm curious to read your opinions on the following matter. Do you think it is wise to develop a strong side, in other words, put one foot forward and stay in that stance 80-90% of the time? I know that your answers will vary depending upon the style you study. Personally, although I study wing chun, I am focusing more on the left stance. This is because I believe in having a last line of defense: my right hand. Whereas if I put my right side forward, if the opponent makes it past my lead right, they could run all over me because my left is relatively weak. I need to be able to punish my opponent for coming in. I kick a little better with my right leg, however, the left leg is good too, and my left leg is better for blocking, due to the increased practice I have in this stance. This is all contrary to traditional wing chun, where you start in the neutral stance and go to one side or anther based on the opponent's force. I would rather have one strong side than two weak ones, or be wondering which stance to be in and tripping over myself. Plus, you can be skilled enough in your strong-side stance to deal effectively with an opponent who is in either a parallel, or a cross stance to yours. Now, I do have some footwork I employ in sparring that switches from one stance to another, like three angle stepping, etc. But after an exchange, I'll almost always set back up in the left stance. That's why I said 80-90%. There is something to be said for feeling comfortable.
Opinions?

[anerlich]

IMHO success and progress in MA has much more to do with the elimination of weaknesses than the cultivation of specific strengths. If you find the weakest link and then strengthen it until something else is the weakest link, and then strengthen that, etc. then you will see real progress.

That said, I'd always fight for real from my best side. But if you're fighting with weapons and your lead side gets damaged ( agood strategy for the opponent), you better **** well be able to fight with the other side.

[soy]

A strong side is somewhat inevitable, atleast in my experience. But I think it's best to be as balanced as you can be. Two strong fists is better than one etc. Plus, if you're doing forms and such you really should be able to do it equally as well on both sides. Eventually atleast.

[fa_jing]

Good point, AbMan. Definitely can't put one's eggs all in one basket. -FJ

[yenhoi]

Just imagine which side you want to be laying on when you lose the fight.

strike!

[SevenStar]

" I would rather have one strong side than two weak ones, or be wondering which stance to be in and tripping over myself."

Personally, I prefer two strong ones. I think it's natural for one side to be stronger than the other, but I want them to be as close as possible. From the sounds of your post, your experience is coming from sparring. From a real fight point of view, or even from a full contact sparring point of view, your opponent likely will be unrelenting, and you won't have a chance to return to your strong side forward stance as you stated that you currently do. If you are in a situation where you can't and your weak side is forward, then what? you may be KOed by the time you switch back

"Just because I joke around sometimes doesn't mean I'm serious about kung-fu.
" - nightair

[Aramus]

Personally I think you should work both sides. You should be able to fight using either side and many stances (transition stances). It's not easy, and you will probably have one side that is better than the other. However, as mentioned, one side may be injured (ankle, knee, fist, elbow) and you may one day need to use the other side exclusively for a little bit.

You also may want to be able to switch sides to confuse your opponent and destoy his rhythm or flow. I think you should develop both sides, one side will naturally be better for most people.

"Ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light?"

[Wongsifu]

funnily enough , i, like every one else, have a strong side , but the wierd thing is i have trained both sides equally as much as each other but sometimes , when sparring my left sde goes dead stupid, it cant throw a punch it cant block it cant do jack, other times , it is the same as my right hand , identical in power and speed everything , I dont understand its mind boggling

what do bin laden and general custer have in common????
They're both wondering where the fu(k all of those tomahawks are coming from. - donated by mojo

[Budokan]

I think for a lot of us who actually train regularly, development of both sides is the way to go. But for someone who just doesn't have a LOT of time to put into training, they should develop their strongest side.

K. Mark Hoover