# I'm 28 and only just learned that I'm cross-dominant and that I don't shoot in either of the classic ways (OOT&TTF)... should I retrain?



## Otto.Bahn (Jun 9, 2016)

Hey guys, this is my first time on the forums. I grew up shooting wrist rockets for a long time before moving on to actual firearms. I never had any formal training, just a big back yard and plenty of soda cans to plink. It's been about ten years since I picked up a slingshot, but my dad randomly sent me a cheap one he found and I have rediscovered how fun it is. In addition to that, I've been looking for a new hobby and decided that I wanted to try bowfishing (I live in a good area for it). Everything clicked when I learned about slingbows and was absolutely floored that I had never heard of one. I've never been an archer, but have thousands of hours (most of them before the age of 14, but the muscle memory is there) with slingshots and wrist rockets. I have a birthday coming up and decided to splurge and treat myself to The Hammer with the slingbow attachment. I know I could have built a slingbow pretty easily, but The Hammer looks so awesome and I had some extra funds to spend on myself so I just took the plunge and bought it. Now here is where I need to ask y'all for advice.

I'm right-eye dominant, and I shoot guns on my right shoulder, but I've ALWAYS held the slingshot in my right hand and I draw with my left. I decided to do some research about how I should be shooting a slingshot/slingbow properly. Not only did I learn about the fact that I'm cross-dominant, but I don't aim "properly." Instead of holding it straight up for over-the-top, or sideways for through-the-forks, it seems as a kid I just developed my own method right smack dab in-between them. I hold it at a 45-degree angle position between OOT and TTF. I'm not so worried about the last part, because it doesn't feel too unnatural to turn it a little bit more and use the TTF method, but what I'm really wondering is whether I should retrain to hold the slingshot in the my left hand and draw with my right. I've tried a bit and it just feels totally wrong, but I'm willing to put the time in if you fellows think I'll reap some major benefits from it in the future with plenty of practice.

Anyway, I'm not looking to win any competitions, and if you think I'll be alright sticking with my "wrong" way of shooting then that is a relief, but I figured y'all could give me some insight into whether or not it is worth it for me to try to change now.

Thanks for your help!


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## StretchandEat (Nov 11, 2015)

Welcome to the forum.. first off it sounds like your holding the frame at what's called a 45°cant.. you can shoot over the top (OTT) or through the fork (TTF) both either staight up and down sideways (gangsta) or any angle/cant in between . 
OTT and TTF is the way you attach you bands to the frame..I'm sure someone else will chime in with more details. .and if your right eye dominant you should hold the frame in your left hand..hope this helps


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## StretchandEat (Nov 11, 2015)

Oh yeah.. it may feel wrong to hold the frame with your left hand but might be worth the effort in the long run since you're just getting back into it
Also the hammer comes with ocularis plugs so you can attach the bands either OTT or TTF and change them fast and easy... I don't have a hammer but it seems to be a nicely set up kit..


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## Otto.Bahn (Jun 9, 2016)

I see, thank you for correcting me. I thought that over the top was always straight up and through the fork was always "gangsta." So y'all think I should definitely retrain to hold the frame in my left hand? I guess I'm going to try to get off at least 1000 shots over the next week with the frame in my left to see if I can start getting the feeling more comfortable- it just feels totally counter-intuitive right now to do so. I'm not planning to really try my hand at slingbow fishing until the next spring, so I've got plenty of time to practice and retrain before then. Thanks again!


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

Your ambidextrous , why limit yourself to one form? Shoot both ways, right and left. You can also shoot "instinctively" by just pointing your slingshot at the target and let the muscle memory take over.


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## Otto.Bahn (Jun 9, 2016)

Imperial said:


> Your ambidextrous , why limit yourself to one form? Shoot both ways, right and left. You can also shoot "instinctively" by just pointing your slingshot at the target and let the muscle memory take over.


Too true! I'm really not ambidextrous in most things, in fact I'm very much so right-hand dominant in everything in life except for the way that I naturally want to hold a bow or slingshot. The only shooting I've ever done has been instinctive. That being said I think I'm going to try to at least get comfortable shooting the "right" way so that I can say I gave it the old college try, even if I fall back on bad habits afterwards.


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

If you've been doing it one way and find it naturaul then continue to do so . With slingshots the dominant eye determines the best way to hold . If you're right eye dominant a left hand slingshot hold places you at a natural advantage . Determine eye dominance and go from there .


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

I'd just shoot any way you like. I wouldn't concern myself with much more. If you want to shoot ambi, go ahead. If you have a preference due to eye dominance or hand dominance, fine...entertain those dominances if you want. I'm a right handed person and shoot with the frame in my right hand (I am also center blind in my right eye so I have little choice!)..but it feels fine to me. I tried switching hands and it was a mess...never again. There are a number of right handed people who shoot with the frame in their right hand so it's not out of the question to do so.

I encourage you to be an individual when shooting. There are lots of good tips on shooting and it's good to try all those tips to see what works for you. Some tips I've read turned out horribly but they work for some folks...and other tips I adopted permanently which don't seem to matter to other fellas. Just try things, keep the gold, throw away what doesn't work for you

A fair amount of folks shoot at a 45 degree angle..not straight up and not gangsta (90 deg). I'd try ott and ttf and just see what seems to work...it doesn't make any difference to the slingshot I guarantee you, it will make some difference to you.

Muscle attachments and bone configurations and joint configurations dictate how we move and what feels comfortable, it varies highly of course between individuals. A woman's arm muscular-skeletal makeup for example has different morphology usually than a man's arm, hence women throw balls much differently than do men (on average)...just an example of we all ain't built the same.


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## Greyman (Mar 9, 2016)

Otto.Bahn said:


> Hey guys, this is my first time on the forums. I grew up shooting wrist rockets for a long time before moving on to actual firearms. I never had any formal training, just a big back yard and plenty of soda cans to plink. It's been about ten years since I picked up a slingshot, but my dad randomly sent me a cheap one he found and I have rediscovered how fun it is. In addition to that, I've been looking for a new hobby and decided that I wanted to try bowfishing (I live in a good area for it). Everything clicked when I learned about slingbows and was absolutely floored that I had never heard of one. I've never been an archer, but have thousands of hours (most of them before the age of 14, but the muscle memory is there) with slingshots and wrist rockets. I have a birthday coming up and decided to splurge and treat myself to The Hammer with the slingbow attachment. I know I could have built a slingbow pretty easily, but The Hammer looks so awesome and I had some extra funds to spend on myself so I just took the plunge and bought it. Now here is where I need to ask y'all for advice.
> 
> I'm right-eye dominant, and I shoot guns on my right shoulder, but I've ALWAYS held the slingshot in my right hand and I draw with my left. I decided to do some research about how I should be shooting a slingshot/slingbow properly. Not only did I learn about the fact that I'm cross-dominant, but I don't aim "properly." Instead of holding it straight up for over-the-top, or sideways for through-the-forks, it seems as a kid I just developed my own method right smack dab in-between them. I hold it at a 45-degree angle position between OOT and TTF. I'm not so worried about the last part, because it doesn't feel too unnatural to turn it a little bit more and use the TTF method, but what I'm really wondering is whether I should retrain to hold the slingshot in the my left hand and draw with my right. I've tried a bit and it just feels totally wrong, but I'm willing to put the time in if you fellows think I'll reap some major benefits from it in the future with plenty of practice.
> 
> ...


 mate don't worry about it, I am exactly what you describe, everyone I know tells me I hold my catty all wrong, but as a kid I never had the Internet telling me how it should be done,so I just evolved my own style, and after forty odd years of firing my catty like you I would,nt even think about changing style, it works for me and even though the Internet has some A star shooters ,which I'm not one of, I am still far more accurate and consistent than any of my mates, the only reason for that is I shoot my catty more than them, so if your style suits you, stick with it and just keep practicing, once you have your aim point and anchor points sorted, it's just about consistency which comes with practice,


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## Stixshooter (Dec 4, 2015)

Just for the record, I'm right handed, but left eye dominant as are a bunch of us in our family. I hold the sling in my right-but that being said, I can switch hands and "force" my non-dominant right eye to take over. It usually requires a blink and some concentration, but I can do it. I'd say I'm more accurate with my dominant eye, but that's probably due to more practice on that side. Give your dominant eye side a try for a while, and see if it clicks. If not, don't switch back and don't worry about it. Our brains are marvelously designed to compensate for all sorts of factors!


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## ImEggscellent85 (Mar 3, 2015)

Otto.Bahn said:


> Hey guys, this is my first time on the forums. I grew up shooting wrist rockets for a long time before moving on to actual firearms. I never had any formal training, just a big back yard and plenty of soda cans to plink. It's been about ten years since I picked up a slingshot, but my dad randomly sent me a cheap one he found and I have rediscovered how fun it is. In addition to that, I've been looking for a new hobby and decided that I wanted to try bowfishing (I live in a good area for it). Everything clicked when I learned about slingbows and was absolutely floored that I had never heard of one. I've never been an archer, but have thousands of hours (most of them before the age of 14, but the muscle memory is there) with slingshots and wrist rockets. I have a birthday coming up and decided to splurge and treat myself to The Hammer with the slingbow attachment. I know I could have built a slingbow pretty easily, but The Hammer looks so awesome and I had some extra funds to spend on myself so I just took the plunge and bought it. Now here is where I need to ask y'all for advice.
> 
> I'm right-eye dominant, and I shoot guns on my right shoulder, but I've ALWAYS held the slingshot in my right hand and I draw with my left. I decided to do some research about how I should be shooting a slingshot/slingbow properly. Not only did I learn about the fact that I'm cross-dominant, but I don't aim "properly." Instead of holding it straight up for over-the-top, or sideways for through-the-forks, it seems as a kid I just developed my own method right smack dab in-between them. I hold it at a 45-degree angle position between OOT and TTF. I'm not so worried about the last part, because it doesn't feel too unnatural to turn it a little bit more and use the TTF method, but what I'm really wondering is whether I should retrain to hold the slingshot in the my left hand and draw with my right. I've tried a bit and it just feels totally wrong, but I'm willing to put the time in if you fellows think I'll reap some major benefits from it in the future with plenty of practice.
> 
> ...


Hold the sling in your right and draw with your left. I've tried holding in my left scary lol. I use to hold a sling in my left when I was younger and for some reason it changed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk


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## Otto.Bahn (Jun 9, 2016)

Just wanted to give everyone a big thanks again for their input. It's only been a day, and I'm already starting to get over the strangeness of retraining. I'm about to head to work, but I just put some shots in at 10m and I'm noticing my accuracy getting markedly improved while holding the catty in my left. I even hit the bulls on my last shot before hanging the sling up for the night (always feels good to end a session on a high note). I still can't shoot worth anything at 15m, but all in good time. Anyway, this is a great little online community and I just wanted to tell y'all again how much I appreciate your advice.

Edit: A silver lining to this, as well, is that I had surgery on my left shoulder a few years ago and the muscles in front over the labrum have never gotten quite back to 100% strength. Using my left to hold the fork has actually been a great and low impact work out. I feel a lot of burn in those muscles after a couple of hours of shooting, and I think that retraining might have the unintended positive effect of being some fairly good backyard rehab.


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