That’s an interesting point. I would almost say that everyone is more comfortable doing defensive rather than offensive bids, but I know for a fact that some people suffer from a mental block with D bids, being such short-trigger action, while with most O bids you have time to recognize the need to bid (a huck that’s floating just outside of your reach, for instance). Definitely easier to sacrifice the body on D bids.

rhythmicmoose,
That’s a really interesting progression! Honestly, I only laid out one-handed, so I can’t really comment on doing the two hander, but I really like having my off arm to absorb some impact. If I ever wind up teaching people layout technique again I’ll see about starting with two hands. Thanks for the comment!

James,
I feel like the same criticism applies to two-handed grab finger positioning: with fingers on bottom you get better impact absorption. I feel like a fingers-on-top two hander becomes a one handed hold so you can turn the disc to avoid it hitting the ground as you do.

Also, oi. Fall-over bids. There are a couple styles of layouts that I consider faux pas, and the fall-over is one of them (the other big one is the leaping, gazelle-style bid, due to the wasted motion).

You definitely can’t think to much about the technique as you’re doing it. You can visualize a lot of it before you do the real thing, though. And key yourself it on a few keys as you’re learning.

the two hander can also be done fingers on top or on bottom

layouts can also be broken into two categories: the ones where you have to fall forwards in order to catch the disc, and the one that you actually need to jump horizontally to catch. after watching a lot, many layouts fall into either of these two categories, with the former often using a two hander or layout clap, with the latter using the one hander.

whenever i talk to somebody about layouts, i use the inner game mentality, i think that thinking too much about proper form will cause even more mistakes (although they just might prevent an injury)

Having said that, I almost always lay out one-handed these days since I can often get better extension and I can choose which arm to catch with depending on the rotation and direction of the disc. Still, I think it’s important to teach the two-handed layout first, especially for players who don’t lay out naturally, as it will give them better form early on. Once they learn how to do it without hurting themselves, they can develop their method naturally with experience.

I’m much more comfortable doing twisty dangerous D bids around people than I am at doing a correct O bid.