Hey, i was just wondering legs are the same as hands (erm…if that makes sense) I mean, Im right handed but do people have dominant legs?
I ask this because i can mount a unicycle 99% of the time with my left foot but i can only mount with my right about 5% of the time. The same with idling. I can idle for a while but my left foot has to be the one closest to the ground.
This only became a problem after reading the skill levels…i can’t progress further without the use of my right leg.
Is this just a habit i can teach myself to fix or is it normal?
yes we do have dominant legs just as we have dominant hands. the only way to make it easier to mount and idle with your non- dominant foot is to practice until it begins to feel somewhat normal. if you really want a challenge try hopping with your feet in the opposite positions( i.e. switch your feet so the foot thats usually in back in front)
I’m curious whether you ever got over this problem Obtusellama? I have the exact same problem and if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated.
I just began concentrating on this a lot in practice so I suppose I may find out soon anyway.
Yeah, I got over the problem after a bit of riding. It took time but I can mount, hop, idle etc. with both feet. Though, I still have a dominant foot - I do all of my big tricks/hops with my right foot back. Hope that helped
That’s normal , is like play soccer , you have the good foot , you use to kick , and the other foot , the bad foot is your support leg , in the uni general your front foot is the foot you use to kick the ball , and your back foot your support leg on the soccer! , sometimes is the contrary , but on the uni your kick foot will do the all the support and the balance , and your ex-support leg will do tire kicks for rolling wraps , will do kicks in the air to leg arounds and etc…
there are people who are right-handed and left-footed and teh reverse , sometimes help, sometimes no haha,I have friends who are like this!
I’m right handed and right-footed, but my manual skills with juggling helped me develop Coordination with my left hand, but my balance with my left foot I still have to work hard on it
I’m right handed, left foot dominant. I think foot dominance is independent of handedness. I think the real connection is between how you would ride a skateboard, snowboard surf board, etc. I ride regular (left foot in front), so I think that’s where my foot dominance comes from. Then again, I know people who ride skateboards regular, and snowboards goofy, so I could be completely wrong.
I believe that foot dominance is nothing to do with handedness - it’s something you learn rather than something genetic. The thing is, the movements you’re making with your feet are big muscle things rather than the fine control required for writing. It’s even possible to teach your wrong hand to be dominant in similar activities - for example I’m right handed, yet paddle a kayak left handed (in fact there are quite a range of things I do naturally left handed given a wrist injury which limited the strength in my right hand for a while). This also ties in with raybot’s comment about people riding snowboards the opposite way to skateboards (though I’m kind of surprised about that as I’d have thought the movements were very similar).
The moral being not to get to tied up with having a dominant foot - the trick is to teach yourself not to have a dominant foot by practicing. For example, the best skateboarders and snowboarders can ride either way round. Still a beginner uni rider with a definite preference for one side on most things, but just as with skiing (where it’s also very easy to develop a preference for one side) I’ll be working on my weak side to eliminate the difference.
I’ve snowboarded for 15 years. about 7 or so years in I started riding a lot of switch, then about 9 or 10 years in I started off every season strapping in switch footed for the first lift ride up. Not sure why, other than it was an interesting way to challenge myself off the bat. At this point I can ride either foot forward with quite good results and actually prefere goofy to regular in some situations.
As far as unicycling you will notice that foot position can play a roll in which direction most riders spin the uni. Typically a left foot forward rider with spin the uni to the left and right foot to the right. It is just naturally easier to catch the uni this way.
However, if your like me you will run into problems once you get to the more technical trick like out tricks. I am right handed and left foot forward. I learned all my spin trick spinning to the left with my least dominant hand. No when I do out spins/flips I have to spin blind.
In the long run it helps to be able to ride either foot forward and spin in all directions with while eating two choco tacos with both hands… so its all about practice.
