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Are those great juggler ambidextrous?

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Eddy.Kwok

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Nov 8, 2009, 10:23:16 PM11/8/09
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Hallo everyone,

Wondering is people like AnthonyGatto and the others
great juggler out there are ambidextrous in nature or
had just become one because of learning juggling?:)

Hm... btw, maybe it's bit off topic.

Regards,

Eddy
Juggling Newbie

--
----== posted via www.jugglingdb.com ==----

Sondre �verby

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Nov 9, 2009, 6:31:02 AM11/9/09
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Eddy.Kwok wrote:
>
> Hallo everyone,
>
> Wondering is people like AnthonyGatto and the others
> great juggler out there are ambidextrous in nature
>

Maybe some are, but it most definetely is not a "rule". Anthony is not
ambidextrous.


Sondre

MrLollige

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Nov 9, 2009, 2:19:46 PM11/9/09
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I practice ambidexterity or however you would call it daily, hoping that I
get a better juggler by it.

With this I mean that I can now brush my teeth, peel potatoes, stir, saw,
and lots of other things with my left hand.

These are all things you can not do automatically it seems, and my left
hand is just a few years (15 I guess) behind in practice.

If I activate my brain and my muscles this way with daily things, I hope
my juggling gets better from it too.


Good luck becoming ambidextrous too guys!
Daniel

Eddy.Kwok

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Nov 9, 2009, 7:56:23 PM11/9/09
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Good point! I agree with you. I'd practice brush my teeth with my non
dominant hand too (left hand), and I can do it quite comfortably. I did
that long before I decided to learn juggling. That was because I want to
do something called brain gym.

Eddy

Sondre �verby

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Nov 10, 2009, 10:17:46 AM11/10/09
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I am now going to do this.


Sondre

Guy G

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Nov 10, 2009, 10:24:08 AM11/10/09
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I find it really difficult to brush my teeth with my dominant hand. It
feels really clunky, and I end up dribbling everywhere, including down my
hand, which of course makes everything slippery, and therefore even harder.

I can't think of anything else I do with my left hand by default though.

Guy

Ben Thompson

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Nov 10, 2009, 11:32:37 AM11/10/09
to
Eddy.Kwok wrote:
>
> Hallo everyone,
>
> Wondering is people like AnthonyGatto and the others
> great juggler out there are ambidextrous in nature or
> had just become one because of learning juggling?:)
>
> Hm... btw, maybe it's bit off topic.
>
> Regards,
>
> Eddy
> Juggling Newbie
>

I don't think you really become ambidextrous by juggling, your
non-dominant hand just gets really good at juggling. I can briefly run
four clubs in my left hand, but definitely can't brush my teeth with it.

Sam Malcolm

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Nov 10, 2009, 12:26:09 PM11/10/09
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You should use your non-dominant hand to use your computer mouse, It helps
a lot. I wasn't to weird for me to brush my teeth with my left hand but
the mouse was a little more awkward. Making a conscious effort to open
doors with your left hand and keeping your wallet on the non dominant side
of your body seems to help as well, though I have been slacking at those
things lately.....

Dave Altman

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Nov 10, 2009, 1:20:05 PM11/10/09
to
Eddy.Kwok wrote:
>
> MrLollige wrote:
> >
> > I practice ambidexterity or however you would call it daily, hoping that I
> > get a better juggler by it.
> >
> > With this I mean that I can now brush my teeth, peel potatoes, stir, saw,
> > and lots of other things with my left hand.

> Good point! I agree with you. I'd practice brush my teeth with my non


> dominant hand too (left hand), and I can do it quite comfortably.

Good for you guys! You are turning yourselves into a couple of Penwalds!

If you want to come closer to being ambidextrous, you need to do some
large movement activities, too, like throwing a baseball or football;
kicking a soccer ball with left foot; playing tennis using the left, etc.

Ben is partly right in that juggling doesn't automatically make you
ambidextrous, but I think it helps. Lefties have an easier time using both
hands because they are forced to use their right side more than us
righties have to use our left, but I think there are a lot of benefits of
using both sides. It might cause better brain function, since both side of
the brain are used more.

Besides juggling, I am working on playing tennis with both hands. I'm
making good progress and I do think it's going to help my juggling and I
think my juggling is helping me learn to play tennis on both sides easier
than a tennis player that doesn't juggle.

Dave Altman

DSallee

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Nov 10, 2009, 1:47:07 PM11/10/09
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Careful Dave . . . too much encouragement and we'll start to see a
situation like this appear more often . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP39-uqLALE

Do you play tennis two handed or one handed? I would think individuals
with a two handed backhand (and forehand) would have an easier time giving
it a go with their "off" hand. I do ok at table tennis off handed, but
I'm sure I'd be a disaster trying to play tennis off handed. My serves
give me enough trouble as it is ;-)

David Sallee (feeling obligated to say "I'd give my right arm to be
ambidextrous" for some reason . . . :-)

Dave Altman

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Nov 10, 2009, 2:35:19 PM11/10/09
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DSallee wrote:
> Careful Dave . . . too much encouragement and we'll start to see a
> situation like this appear more often . . .
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP39-uqLALE

That was funny and impressive!



> Do you play tennis two handed or one handed? I would think individuals
> with a two handed backhand (and forehand) would have an easier time giving
> it a go with their "off" hand. I do ok at table tennis off handed, but
> I'm sure I'd be a disaster trying to play tennis off handed. My serves
> give me enough trouble as it is ;-)

When I first started playing around with tennis with my left hand, I did
use a two-handed backhand. My girlfriend insisted that I play her
left-handed to make it more fair, which I didn't mind. That was a few
years ago, but I'm seriously trying to learn to play left-handed, now.
Since I use a one-handed backhand with my right, I decided to use a
one-handed backhand with my left.

I'm focusing on my ground strokes at the moment, but serving with either
hand is going to be a great benefit. Serving wide on the ad side
left-handed will make the ball curve away from the receiver, which is hard
to do right handed, and it will make that serve more effective, even if
it's not served as hard.

Another benefit of being able to serve with either hand is avoiding
looking directly into the sun. Sometimes the sun is exactly where your
toss is, so it makes it very hard to see the ball, but if you can turn
your back and face the other way, the sun won't be a problem.

I've mentioned it before, but I taught a college basketball class where I
forced them to use their non-dominate hand. They hated it, but at the end,
they give me very high reviews and thanked me. In ten weeks they could
play just about as well with their left hands as their right hands. I had
them hold a stage ball in their right hand so they would have to dribble
left-handed. They could still use their right hand to help them shoot,
just like a right-hander would use their left hand to help hold and guide
a right-handed shot.

It was a great equalizer, too. That was a benefit to the class that I
hadn't counted on. The bad players could play about as well with their
left as their right. They sucked on both sides. The good right-handed
players were practically starting over, but the more they played
left-handed, the closer their skills came to their right hand.

Dave Altman

Locoma

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Nov 11, 2009, 10:47:06 AM11/11/09
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Actually i have been ambidextrous all my life. It was natural for me to
not really have a dominant hand. But the thing is not that i can do all
the things as good with both hands, but that my body, have choosen always
one that becomes the dominant, that could be left or right...

For example, when i play tennis, i will serve always with th right hand,
then switch and play with the left. If there is a ball i will not be able
to reach with the left, i will switch back to the right just for that one.
I can really play tennis with the right hand, just feel more confortable
doing it with the left.

Ping pong i will play it with the right always, but if i want to fool
around i will use the left, no problem.

soccer im more confortable dribbling with the right, receiving passes with
the right and making passes with the right, but when it comes to shoting,
i prefer doing it with the left... (i still can do all of it with both,
but my body chooses a dominant one)

For juggling is the same, some tricks my body prefers right handed, some
other left handed.

So well if i wanted to practice both hands im pretty sure i could do
things the same with boths, but my body always choose a dominant and im ok
with it.

Guy G

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Nov 12, 2009, 5:37:20 AM11/12/09
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The mouse I use at work (i.e. most of the time) is very much right-handed,
so that's definitely out. I've always thought that I should learn to
write with my left hand, but it just seems like too much effort. The
wallet idea is a pretty good one, although I think it'd feel weird on my
leg. Plus I'd constantly be touching my right pocket and panicking
slightly until I got used to it. Maybe I'll try it out right now.

Yeah, that feels wrong. Still, I'll see how I feel by this afternoon

Guy

Sam Malcolm

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Nov 12, 2009, 12:31:12 PM11/12/09
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> The mouse I use at work (i.e. most of the time) is very much right-handed,
> so that's definitely out.

That is a problem. I switch the mice at my school to the left because it
feels more comfortable at this point, but I put them back to the other
side when I am done.


>I've always thought that I should learn to
> write with my left hand, but it just seems like too much effort.

It is a lot of effort but it helps somewhat. I practice it occasionally
but not regular enough for my left hand writing to be REAL good.

>The wallet idea is a pretty good one, although I think it'd feel weird on my
> leg. Plus I'd constantly be touching my right pocket and panicking
> slightly until I got used to it. Maybe I'll try it out right now.
>

Having my phone in my left pocket felt weirder than anything to me, I
would forget I had it.


I agree with what Dave said about doing larger activities with your non
dominant side as well. I think playing billiards or pool is the most
awkward thing to do with my left side providing the force and my right
side guiding. But it probably helps.

~Sam

Dave Altman

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Nov 12, 2009, 7:50:52 PM11/12/09
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Locoma wrote:
>
> Actually i have been ambidextrous all my life.

Good for you.


>
> For example, when i play tennis, i will serve always with th right hand,
> then switch and play with the left. If there is a ball i will not be able
> to reach with the left, i will switch back to the right just for that one.
> I can really play tennis with the right hand, just feel more confortable
> doing it with the left.

I would suggest you learn to serve left, too. It probably wouldn't take
you too long to learn and it would really mess the receiver up, especially
serving wide on the ad side. The ball will curve away from them and force
them into a bad court position.

> For juggling is the same, some tricks my body prefers right handed, some
> other left handed.

My girlfriend is bilingual and she speaks the same way you decide to do
something with your left or right hand. It might be that she learned a
word for something in one particular language or she likes the sound of
the word in one language over the other. Sometimes one word will trigger
what language she talks in if she is talking to another bilingual person.



> So well if i wanted to practice both hands im pretty sure i could do
> things the same with boths, but my body always choose a dominant and im ok
> with it.

I'm fine with being right-handed most of the time, but switching sides
makes sense in certain situations and it is better for body symmetry. For
juggling, it makes a lot of sense, artistically and physically.

MrLollige

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Nov 13, 2009, 8:19:21 AM11/13/09
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>
> I am now going to do this.
>
>
> Sondre
>

Good luck :D

Little Paul

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Nov 13, 2009, 10:06:19 AM11/13/09
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On 2009-11-12, Sam Malcolm <samuel_malcol...@rocketmail.com.nospam.com> wrote:
>
>>The wallet idea is a pretty good one, although I think it'd feel weird on my
>> leg. Plus I'd constantly be touching my right pocket and panicking
>> slightly until I got used to it. Maybe I'll try it out right now.
>
> Having my phone in my left pocket felt weirder than anything to me, I
> would forget I had it.

My phone lives in my right (dominant) pocket, and my wallet lives in my
left (non-dominant) pocket. My bus pass and loose change lives in my
back left pocket and my keys my back right pocket. [1]

All four pockets get roughly equal use, so there's no real "handedness"
in my daily pocket outine, but if I'm honest, the prospect of putting my
wallet somewhere else fills me with dread.

I have a system, I stick to my system, deviation from the system is wrong.

I can't be the only person who obsesses over pocket management, although
I suspect my habits stem from my magician days. To a magician, if an item
is not in the correct pocket you have to think about where it is.

Thinking leads to slowness, and slowness leads to tells. Tells distract from
(mis)direction [2] which ultimately detracts from the performance, ruining
the moment of astonishment [3]

-Paul
[1] Which means the important, stealable stuff is in the harder to pick
pockets, and the less important or less nickable stuff lives in the easier
to reach pockets.

Not that I've ever stood behind someone on an escalator, carrying their wallet
in their back pocket and thought "I could have that" - oh no.

[2] I much prefer the term direction to misdirection. I would rather tell
someone where to look than tell them where not to look.

[3] Because "astonishment" is the goal I shoot for in magic.[4]

[4] It's also the reason I don't perform any more.

Dave Altman

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Nov 13, 2009, 7:23:52 PM11/13/09
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Little Paul wrote:

> loose change lives in my back left pocket and my keys my back right pocket.

> I have a system, I stick to my system, deviation from the system is wrong.

I agree that a system is good, but change and keys in the back pockets?
That seems wrong to me. First of all, I don't carry loose change. I kept a
little bit of change in my wallet, which I normally don't put in my back
pocket. If I have a jacket on, I'll put it in the side pocket of it, but
since I wear shorts most of the time, I'll put my wallet in the front
pocket because a lot of my shorts don't even have a back pocket.

Anyway, I wouldn't want to sit on keys and loose change.

Dave Altman

Dave Cheetham

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Nov 13, 2009, 7:36:01 PM11/13/09
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It was the keys in the back pocket that surprised me. If I'm going to sit
one something (and I do - my wallet), I like the relatively smooth and
even shape. My layout is: phone front left, keys/work swipe card front
right, wallet back right. And as you say, any deviation from the system
is wrong. If my wallet's not in my back right pocket, I can feel that
it's not there and it feels very awkward. At times, I'll even have a
little panic that I've lost my wallet, when all I've done is take it out
of that pocket, and I'm now holding it in my hands!

Oh, and as for loose change - that going in a pocket in my wallet, but I
try to carry very little of it around. I've got change jars at work and
home that get dumped into, any time I have coins.

Cheers,
Dave

Sam Malcolm

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Nov 13, 2009, 8:10:08 PM11/13/09
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I agree with the keys in back pocket part, that seems very awkward.

I don't use my back pockets at all though, it causes misalignment in
posture.

I'm somewhat surprised this discussion turned into "what pockets we keep
things in". Pretty soon we will all be talking about suspenders......

Dave Altman

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Nov 13, 2009, 8:17:29 PM11/13/09
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Dave Cheetham wrote:

> It was the keys in the back pocket that surprised me.

> Oh, and as for loose change - that going in a pocket in my wallet

Great Dave's think alike...

Dave Altman

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