Switch stance to prevent senility?

General Discussion
1

I was wet sanding my board and my right arm was getting tired so I started using my left. I realized how spastic I was left handed. I couldn’t make consistently nice little circles. I would occasionally (and involuntarily) go the opposite way. I remembered that I read somewhere that learning new things can help prevent or retard the onset of Alzheimer’s desease and dementia. One thing they prescribed was doing things left handed (or right if you’re a lefty). So I really started to concentrate on my left hand. I still wasn’t good but if I really concentrated… Then I got to thinking…

Can one learn to surf switch stance through sheer force of will? Like, just start surfing switch stance every time you go out? How long would it take for your switch to equal your normal stance? Or could you? Is it a physical/mental impossibility? Are we hardwired one way and just not able to go the other way as good? Or can we learn/unlearn our natural tendencies? Would switch stancing prevent senility?

2

im sure you can teach yourself how to surf switch.

for snowboarding ive gotten better at riding switch but cant ride the whole way down that way. i think if you really want to learn to ride switch you can. i would like to learn it because i feel i surf better front side. so i usually go left. but when switch i could ride rights. but then comes into play. front footed or back footed surfer? im front footed so it might be harder. who knows. go out and try it. i just might myself the next time its small out

3

I surf switch all the time never backside. I had a minor skatboard injury that pulled a muscle in my hip

one day. The next day I paddeled out and couldn’t pop up normal (regular foot), so I tried switch and

found that I could pop up goofy, the pulled muscle lasted so long that I taught my self to surf switch and

haven’t ridden a wave backside in years. It has taken me years to get as good as my regualr stance though

but I would say they are about equal.

It also helped I was logging all summer long when this happend so I had a better platform to work on, but once

I got it dialed and the end of summer I quickly transitioned down to my shorter boards.

J

4

Welcome to the world of boards over 9’, can you say powertools! HeHe

At work in the 80’s we used to use a hand powered underlayment stapler with a 2lb mallet and I would go through 30,000 staples a month.

Needless to say I can nail equally uncoordinated with both hands.

I all ways try to switch stance and do backward take offs when the surf is small and I get bored.

On one wave last year I managed to pump and forgot that I was going goofy foot.On the next wave no luck, the monkey brain is hard to retrain.

My custom wetsuit guy laughed the first time he measured me up because my right calf was an inch & 1/2 bigger than the left one. Form follows

function and we mutate after enough repetitive motions.

What is the age for most of the pathways to be formed in the brain 0-5 years?

Good luck,

5

yeah lilibel. Go for it, great way to have healthy fun.

6

Funny thing you bring that up…

When I’m teaching, I suggest people learn to use both hands when shaping. I find that if you’re able to flip a tool to the other hand, like the surform when you’re standing at the tail and putting in vee, it helps maintain symmetry… the tool can be pulled or pushed at the same angle, with the same amount of pressure. It’s not as hard as it seems at first…

7

great question(s). I am an engineer so this is a specialty of mine. The good thing about alzhiemers (sp?) is that you make a new friend every day.

Seriously, on a week long camping trip to the E Cape with just a longboard, I tried switching and did OK. I found that as much as anything it helped me when I went back to regular.

But you have gotten me interested again in pushing the switch thing. Lots of potential benefits for an old guy like me . Thx for bringing this up.

oh look a squirel.

8

great point.

for the longest time I would work the board in the clockwise fashion because I always wanted to be guiding the planer with my right hand.

I realized that I was not doing an accurate job of reproducing my bands on both sides as the cuts/fades were occuring at different ends so I’ve forced myself to band from tail to nose on both sides, switching hands…nothing as formidable as switch surfing, but it’s made for some more symmetrical boards at least.

9

I don’t build boards but I do shoe horses. In farrier school in OK the gnarly little cowboy veterinarian that ran the school insisted that we be able to use both hands with equal speed and results by the time we graduated, he even told us that we would have to do 1/2 the horse left handed and 1/2 right. I started using my left hand for everything from holding a fork to wiping my ass, just to get to where I could use a rasp without shaving all the skin off the knuckles of my right hand. To this day with my hands side by each the right looks like it’s twenty years older than the left. Turns out the crusty little bastard was just messing with us, he didn’t give a shit which hand we used so long as the feet were perfect. Switch on a log is fun as hell, sometimes I get all twisted up cutting back and look like a retard.