This assumes that you wear proper shoes with a rigid sole and some grip. Do not do this wearing sandals, deck shoes or trainers - if you wear light footwear, beware and be light on your feet.
Step up to the door, with your foot ahead of you in an oblique posture; place your foot firmly and move forward with your hand over the leading foot, edge-on as if cutting the air ahead of you. Approaching a door with your palm forward is asking for a broken wrist, even if the door is opened gently.
On touching the door, your knee should be behind the leading foot (you really don't want the door to hit your kneecap) and your arm should be bent, about two palms' width short of fully outstretched and resilient rather than rigid. If you can do this without breaking stride, your momentum will then carry you smoothly through the door; an unexpectedly heavy door gets an extra shove as your hips and your trailing leg launch into the next stride forward.
Your arm may flex a bit, but you're using it as a shock absorber rather than actively extending your shoulders and elbow to push the door: let your lower body do the work. Yes, this sounds like a lot of mental effort for a door... But I am a skinny weakling with arms like knotted string: most doors are a lot heavier than I am and some are deliberately designed as fire doors. Or barriers to keep the elderly, the disabled, weedy runts and mothers with pushchairs out of the nice clean photogenic building.
So what happens when someone on the other side pushes the door gently? You feel it as your arm starts moving in, or meets resistance, and can step back. When someone pushes the door hard, your arm pushes *you* backward, and you will naturally step away, withdrawing the forward foot as your centre of gravity moves backward.
When some violent nutcase hurls the door open at you, the heel of your hand and your half-bent arm will absorb the initial shock, but it will happen too fast for your body to move backwards. The door will then hit your shoe with a bang and stop. The moment you feel the bastard on the other side lose contact with the push plate, stride decisively forward with your whole body - no jerking, no slapping or punching forward, just move.
The moron then gets a taste of what he was only too happy to mete out to people on *your* side of the door - he will be off-balance, moving backwards, and the door will accelerate smoothly until it re-establishes contact. The harder he shoved the door, the harder it will hit and shove him. Walk through, brisk and confident, and ignore any protests: be sympathetic, but don't apologise to people who are beneath courtesy and never, ever admit to fault.
It is particularly satisfying watching people who have just kicked the door land sprawling on their backside; the phrase 'Stop kicking doors, it's rude' is especially helpful in these moments.
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This assumes that you wear proper shoes with a rigid sole and some grip. Do not do this wearing sandals, deck shoes or trainers - if you wear light footwear, beware and be light on your feet.
Step up to the door, with your foot ahead of you in an oblique posture; place your foot firmly and move forward with your hand over the leading foot, edge-on as if cutting the air ahead of you. Approaching a door with your palm forward is asking for a broken wrist, even if the door is opened gently.
On touching the door, your knee should be behind the leading foot (you really don't want the door to hit your kneecap) and your arm should be bent, about two palms' width short of fully outstretched and resilient rather than rigid. If you can do this without breaking stride, your momentum will then carry you smoothly through the door; an unexpectedly heavy door gets an extra shove as your hips and your trailing leg launch into the next stride forward.
Your arm may flex a bit, but you're using it as a shock absorber rather than actively extending your shoulders and elbow to push the door: let your lower body do the work. Yes, this sounds like a lot of mental effort for a door... But I am a skinny weakling with arms like knotted string: most doors are a lot heavier than I am and some are deliberately designed as fire doors. Or barriers to keep the elderly, the disabled, weedy runts and mothers with pushchairs out of the nice clean photogenic building.
So what happens when someone on the other side pushes the door gently? You feel it as your arm starts moving in, or meets resistance, and can step back. When someone pushes the door hard, your arm pushes *you* backward, and you will naturally step away, withdrawing the forward foot as your centre of gravity moves backward.
When some violent nutcase hurls the door open at you, the heel of your hand and your half-bent arm will absorb the initial shock, but it will happen too fast for your body to move backwards. The door will then hit your shoe with a bang and stop. The moment you feel the bastard on the other side lose contact with the push plate, stride decisively forward with your whole body - no jerking, no slapping or punching forward, just move.
The moron then gets a taste of what he was only too happy to mete out to people on *your* side of the door - he will be off-balance, moving backwards, and the door will accelerate smoothly until it re-establishes contact. The harder he shoved the door, the harder it will hit and shove him. Walk through, brisk and confident, and ignore any protests: be sympathetic, but don't apologise to people who are beneath courtesy and never, ever admit to fault.
It is particularly satisfying watching people who have just kicked the door land sprawling on their backside; the phrase 'Stop kicking doors, it's rude' is especially helpful in these moments.