Ambidexterity

[GrumpyMan]

If you can wipe your ass successfully with both hands, then you are truly ambidextrous.

 

[zanejohnson]

If you can wipe your ass successfully with both hands, then you are truly ambidextrous.

i could do this...

whats crazy though (and completely true, i was trying to think of things i couldnt do with both)

masturbation.. use my left.. right's not possible..

 

[Iron Woode]

I can switch between right and left at will when it comes to:

batting
hockey
tennis
golf
any sport involving an implement.

even everyday tasks like sweeping, gardening or cooking.

meh.

 

[Demo24]

I'm right handed but really the only thing I have real difficultly doing with my left is writing.

Certainly preferences are apparent when born, but I feel a lot of this is just due down to practice. I've taught myself to do a number of things with my left to a point where it's comfortable to do so. I suspect if I really tried I could learn to write with my left, although my hand writing sucks enough with my right I'm not sure I could afford to lose any legibility.

 

[IGemini]

I'm right-hand dominant. I can do things acceptably with my left. A hairline fracture in my right elbow required a full arm splint for a couple weeks so I had to learn some things on the other hand. I can write with the left legibly, it's just slower. I imagine with a few months I would've developed full ambidexterity.

 

[nanette1985]

I can mouse about 90% as effectively with my left as my right. Trying to play a fps game as a lefty and it breaks down though.

I doubt most folks claiming ambidexterous could switch hands wasd +mouse and play a fps at the same skill.

Some of you are making it sound like one hand is useless, ever play piano...or type

I was lefthanded but in school I wasn't allowed to do things with my left hand (I'm old, they used to do it this way) so I learned to write etc with my right hand. Anything that's a school skill I use my right hand. Yes, I do play piano - very well - and being lefthanded but also trained to be righthanded is a huge advantage. It's no surprise that I'm also a bass player.

There are tons of things I do with the left hand, and also a lot of things I do with my right hand. I'm not ambidextrous though. Just a retrained lefty.

 

[iCyborg]

Man, I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!

(it's Jay Leno's joke)

 

[mvbighead]

I am pretty much the same as what most are getting at. I tend to do a lot of things lefty but writing, shooting, cutting (in the kitchen, not a meth lab), playing pool, and some others are all done right-handed.

Most sports I am all lefty though, with the exception of volleyball and basketball.

 

[Baked]

They're mutants and not to be trusted.

 

[Lash444]

Power - right
Precision - left

Eat and write left handed. Throw, swing, and punch right handed. Shoot a basketball right handed. Started off better at dribbling a basketball right handed, but find I am better now left handed with left handed layups.

Started playing tennis and ping pong right handed. Did so for years. Recently I started switching to a forearm for tennis shots. Was able to switch to left handed ping pong and was as good or better left handed within a day.

I suck at darts. Too much of a wuss to throw with left, not enough control with my right. I throw a drive in disc golf right handed (sidearm), but use a left handed backhand. As is the same for frisbees.

 

[vshah]

i write and eat with my left hand but do everything else with my right hand (sports, instruments, computers/gaming)

 

[ShawnD1]

I always wondered if I am ambidextrous. When I drive, I prefer to use my left hand only for turning while my right sits passively on the wheel. Opening doors is left handed. I write with my right hand. I just switched my mouse to my left hand and I can manage doing it. I feel more coordinated with my left hand. Is there a term for people that selectively choose what hand to use for certain functions? No jerking off jokes plz.

Ambidextrous means you have no hand preference for most tasks. That doesn't mean you can throw with the right hand and catch with the left. It means you can throw the ball quite well with either hand and you can also catch the ball with either hand.

Power - right
Precision - left

I'm the opposite. My left arm is stronger but I use my right hand for anything precise.

 

[Lash444]

I'm the opposite. My left arm is stronger but I use my right hand for anything precise.

I shoot a rifle left handed, but a pistol/bow/slingshot right handed. Thinking about it makes me realize how ridiculous that is.

 

[HumblePie]

Most people use both hands for various things but that doesn't make them ambidextrous. To be truly ambidextrous, you must be capable of all functions with either hand comfortably. It's really rare.

However, your opposite hand is typically more nimble than your main hand. This is why right handed guitar players strum with their right hand and play with their left. Typically your off hand is more nimble but has less fine control as strange as that seems. For example there are several things I can only do with my left that my right hand simply can not do despite being my dominate hand. Examples would be:

Snapping my fingers. I can snap the fingers on my left hand at any time. With my right I can not snap my fingers unless I do it at the exact same time with my left hand. I can do all sorts of "chip tricks" at the poker table with my left hand that my right hand has trouble with unless I am doing them at the same time. My left hand is double jointed in most of the fingers and I can stretch all fingers much farther than my right. i can write with my left hand, just not nearly as well as my right. Nor I can I draw with my left hand or throw a ball overhand. I can bowl with my left hand just as good as my right. I can also play pool left handed almost as good as my right, but I can not break a rack with my left nearly as well. I can also play darts but my left arm and hand fatigues faster and the aim goes quicker.

Basically your dominate hand is usually strong, more fine control, greater endurance, and has greater fine control with the arm especially. Your off hand is typically more agile, nimble, and quicker. It's typically why right handed boxers jab with their left. It's faster to do so and then land a precision hook with their right with more power.

 

[Paladin3]

I'm a right hand/left eye dominant. If I drive one handed it's usually left. I shoot rifles left handed, hold a camera to my left eye. I shoot pistol either but prefer right more, but I cock my head a bit and sight more with my left eye, sometimes even closing my right if I'm taking my time aiming. I shoot pool better left handed and can box either righty or southpaw.

Just about everything else I do right handed because it's more precise. I'll carry a load in the left hand/arm because it feels more secure and reserve the right hand to open/unlock doors. When i juggle I can tell my left hand makes slightly less accurate throws. I juggle two balls with one hand better in my right (<---not a masturbation joke.)

 

[WelshBloke]

<----- true ambidextrous..


i cant write great with my left hand, becaue i've never practiced... completely equal on either side in basketball... throwing objects... actually prefer to shoot with certain arms from certain places (not layups, that just depends on side of the goal for the most part)

weird facts though... i'm like a rare genetic something.. i got green eyes (which is rare something like 11 percent of population) i'm "left faced," super rare, i also have dimples on only one side of my face (left side) oh and i'm type o neg too

even stranger, i broke the tradition that went back generation of the first son having 2 boys and a girl.. i had 2 girls...

one got green eyes and dark hair, one got light hair and blue yes... mother is hazel eyed/brown haired...

WTF is left faced?

 

[ShawnD1]

I shoot a rifle left handed, but a pistol/bow/slingshot right handed. Thinking about it makes me realize how ridiculous that is.

I 1-hand shoot a pistol with my left, 2-hand shoot with my right, and I shoot rifles on my right side.

It's because I like to put my left foot forward. I kick with my left, I skateboard left forward, I snowboard left forward, I water ski left forward.
I play hockey left (neither foot is forward a majority of the time), but I bat and golf right because it puts my left foot in the direction I'm trying to hit.

 

[Juddog]

I'm close to being ambidextrous. I can use my mouse, write, and draw (albeit poorly due to muscle development for those specific movements) with my left hand.

People used to think I was left handed since I had a natural inclination to wear my watch on my right wrist. I switched my watch to my left wrist simply because I was sick of people asking me about being left handed. Also I can masturbate with the left as well.

 

[Mixolydian]

True ambidexterity is very uncommon. Mostly everyone can perform certain tasks with either hand. Me, I'm left handed, but I can only use a mouse with my right hand, because that's how I was taught. On the contrary, I can only use a trackpad with my left hand.

 

[ShawnD1]

WTF is left faced?

 

[WelshBloke]

:biggrin: Poor guy.

 

[zanejohnson]

Some info about being left or right faced
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091119235853AA2WBgY

 

[Firebot]

Power - right
Precision - left

Eat and write left handed. Throw, swing, and punch right handed. Shoot a basketball right handed. Started off better at dribbling a basketball right handed, but find I am better now left handed with left handed layups.

Started playing tennis and ping pong right handed. Did so for years. Recently I started switching to a forearm for tennis shots. Was able to switch to left handed ping pong and was as good or better left handed within a day.

I suck at darts. Too much of a wuss to throw with left, not enough control with my right. I throw a drive in disc golf right handed (sidearm), but use a left handed backhand. As is the same for frisbees.

I'm exactly the same. Power right, precision left. I had a bad break as a kid on my left arm so that might be the reason for the lack of power on the left, but throwing has always felt most natural to me right handed then left. I consider myself left-handed though.