Picking Stuff Up

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TwitchALot

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It seems to me that when most people go about their daily business, they use their dominant hand to pick up objects. If you're right handed, and you're answering your cell phone, you tend to pick it up/answer it with your right hand. If you're right handed and you're picking up a soda can to take a sip, you pick it up with your right hand.

But from a strategic standpoint, this doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. In the event you don't see something coming, or you need to use your hands in a defensive manner, it makes much more sense to have your dominant hand free, so you can fend off an attack, go for your gun, whatever. But if you're talking on your cell phone or are taking a sip from your soda, your dominant hand will most likely be anything but free.

I realize that the difference between dropping something from your right hand or from your left hand is relatively small, but nevertheless, doesn't it make more sense to have your dominant hand free as much as possible? Unnatural, yes, but can't it be overcome with some conscious practice? Wouldn't it make more sense to pick up things with your non-dominant hand, so that if someone grabs you, for example, you can respond with your typically stronger arm? Would it not also confuse a person up to no good who is paying attention to detail and, because they can see your situational awareness amongst everyone else in condition white, is trying to figure out what side your gun is on/your strong side so they can get a good jump on you before they commit their crime?

I've been trying to get into the habit of grabbing things with my support-side hand, so I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on the matter. Thoughts?
 
I've been trying to get into the habit of grabbing things with my support-side hand, so I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on the matter. Thoughts?
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Recommended.

LEO, Military and other Professionals are trained to keep strong hand free and weak side for doing tasks.

As a kid, I was taught this by mentors before I ever entered the First Grade.
Add.
Don't pick things up off the ground!

It sounds like a odd lesson for a kid, still some folks Mentoring mewere from South Africa, and picking up stuff might mean getting blown up.
Others had been abroad as well.

Cold War, Civil Defense signs , supplies and drill and Blasting caps were a big concern of anyone picking one up, especially kids.

First Grade, these lessons were easy for me, and others mentored like me.
Just how kids were raised, just a few of us might gotten some additional lessons.

Teacher would watch to see if we used weak side hand.

Dropping and picking up - if a bare floor and a pencil, that is one thing.
Out shooting and drop a ctg/shell - we did not pick up.
I grew up shooting on a hot range as a brat...nobody picked up a dropped shell/ctg.
 
I trained using the weak hand for everything when I was working armored trucking for 8.5 years. Now it's unconcious, always keep the gun hand free, always go through the double door that swings on the weak side, so my sidearm isn't trapped against the glass, etc.
 
LEO, Military and other Professionals are trained to keep strong hand free and weak side for doing tasks.
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Yep, if you get caught in the academy carrying something in your strong hand it usually means pushups. :eek:
 
I'm just a baker with little training but I walk my dogs and hold the leash in my left hand for this reason. Try reaching for your gun with a leash and tugging dog on your arm, doesn't work.
 
I'm just a baker with little training but I walk my dogs and hold the leash in my left hand for this reason. Try reaching for your gun with a leash and tugging dog on your arm, doesn't work.
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Unless your dog has tactical point-shooting training (TM). In that case he will use his superior senses to point your gun-hand in the right direction after allowing you to you draw.
 
I do pick up things with my right hand a lot (I'm a lefty) keeping my left hand free.

Which is the element of surprise cause most people are right handed. LOL.
 
I tried to become ambidextrous as a kid. Consciously made the decision (when I remembered it) to use the left hand for just about everything. Did this so well that a female (the most observant of the species) thought I was a lefty. Since then, I've let the habit slide to some degree... but I have found that I shoot handguns better with the left hand nowadays. So while my right hand is dominant, the left is the 'gun hand'.
 
My Formal Training...

...from the NRA Law Enforcement Activities Division, which I share with my students, included the tactically sound way to pick up dropped gear, such as empty magazines or speedloaders:

Use a quick peek to locate the object, then place the toe of your non-dominant-side foot just behind it. Without taking your eyes from the area of greatest threat, kneel or squat and pick up the object with your non-dominant hand. If still safe to do so, return to standing position without taking your eyes off the area of greatest threat.
 
I've thought about this a few times and have thought about the process of presenting when a threat is present. If you're weak hand is occupied I think it takes more time to drop the object with the weak hand then grab the shirt to clear clothing. As the first priority is to clear the way to the weapon, your right had has more time to do what is needed than your left.

Now if you're open carrying that is another story.
 
When it comes to hand dominance, I'm a pretty odd duck.

I'm not exactly ambidextrous, but I do different things with different hands.

Write lefty, shoot righty (although during one-hand unsupported pistol shooting, I do about as well, or as badly, with either hand).

Use a fork lefty, and a knife (of any kind) righty.

I tend to smoke with my left hand, although I can do either.

I'll pick up a drink with whichever hand is closer, but if I'm around people, I'll position the drink to be closer to my left.

If I'm carrying a duffel bag, or a grocery bag, I'll carry it in my left. I use my right hand for door/car keys.

And if I drop something, I'll usually pick it up with my left hand, unless it goes in my right pocket or right side.

So I'm all over the place, but I have learned to tweak my habits so that my right hand is free when possible. I can thank reading Louis L'Amour as a teenager for the prescience to do that. In fact, I have L'Amour to thank for turning me into the moderate paranoiac I am today.
 
But...

while doing this exercise, at what point will your old weak hand, become your new strong hand?

I do agree its a good idea to keep your dominant arm free when a tactical mindset is needed, but I won't be making it a habit 100% of the time. Have you ever tried brushing your teeth with your non-dominant? Seriously, it makes you feel like a goof.
 
So I'm all over the place, but I have learned to tweak my habits so that my right hand is free when possible. I can thank reading Louis L'Amour as a teenager for the prescience to do that. In fact, I have L'Amour to thank for turning me into the moderate paranoiac I am today.
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I thought I was the only one who picked up on that! Hah hah ha.
Can't remember the name of the book that had it in it, but two characters were commenting about the new cowpuncher, and how he never got his right hand tangled in rope, or mixed up with anything. I sat up and took notice.
It was around this time that I broke my right hand, so I learned to do a lot of things left handed.
 
Grizfire said:
while doing this exercise, at what point will your old weak hand, become your new strong hand?
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At our ages, I don't expect that it's very likely. Still, when I was a kid, we played soccer (I know, I know...I switched to rugby as soon as I could). I didn't kick very well left footed, so I practiced it—I mean that I practiced it a lot. I got better; I ended up being able to make long, booming kicks with my left foot. To this day, if I want to kick something precisely, I'll kick it with my right foot; for power, I'll use my left.

I do this without thinking about it.

The difference that I see in myself is in how, and how often, I use my hands. About twenty years ago, I tried always to toss things into waste baskets (1) from across the room, and (2) with my non-dominant hand. I got good at it, but it didn't diminish my ability to use my right hand. Remember that (AFAIK) a lot of the basis of handedness is in the structure and physiology of an individual person's brain.
 
I'm right handed but shoot left handed. I carry on my left side, usually in a Comp-Tac holster.
 
My dad can shoot equally well lefty or righty. Now, my dad isn't "tactical" in any sense of the definition, but he developed the ability as a kid and can still do it.
 
Have you ever tried brushing your teeth with your non-dominant? Seriously, it makes you feel like a goof.
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It sure does, but I do it anyway. Using your non-dominant hand instead of the dominant hand for normal tasks is a form of brain exercise. Sure, we all do some exercise to keep our muscles and bones together, but how often do you exercise your brain? Switching hands for everyday tasks is something that can be done easily, every day.
 
I have packed my wallet, keys, etc on my non-dominant (ND) side since I started packing heat, way back.

I also usually hold stuff in my left and drink with my left.

It just became a habit, after a while. Toss in a D-side injury to my arm and I can even write with my ND hand.
 
I had not thought about this in over 20 years, thank you for the reminder!

Coincidentally, I had Lasik half a year back, and have been re-evaluating which is my dominant eye instead of just going by habit.
FWIW, left eye seems to be winning out now.
 
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