Choosing side of jiu jitsu?

[Brian Morency]

Question about choosing a side to work technique. Does anyone else have a particular side they choose to work technique and go to when rolling?

I ask this because for the first time I went to learn from some Gi dude's and when I said I was switching side's during a technique work he looked at me in shock and said "you work both sides". I replied, yes don't you? So it seems these guys that were purple gi dudes were only trained to learn one side. I find this strange.
I see a benefit that you will learn faster but when getting stuck your other side will be sloppy when you try to find a new route for a submission.

[Chris Herzog]

Simple rule I follow:

Attacking means your dictating where your at: Master your strong side on your attacking game, then over time develop your weak side. Transferece of skill is often faster in developing the weak side due to your mastery and understanding of your technique on your strong side.

Defense means your opponent is dictating where he is at, not leaving you the choice of sides to defend. Balance your reps for training your escapes and counters. You don't get the option of asking your opponent to attack your right arm when they are going for an and armbar on the left, becasue your better at escaping on that side.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

^^^^ this ^^^^

[Harry Evans]

For me, it depends on the move. My gym trains in series, or in other words "move A, counter to A, move B (response to counter to A), counter to B, move C (response to counter to B), etc. Often that means that move A on my strong side leads to move B on my weak side, in which case I'll practice it like that. Honestly, though, I just try to practice both sides to be more unpredictable, and because many people are WAY better at defending one direction than the other.

[Brian Morency]

Thanks but I think I'll stick to working both side so when either one is open I can transition fluently with the submission. Might take me a little longer to perfect it but at least I wont have to choose favorites.