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Can short people be as good in fights?

Could a small short female (like 5ft height) be stronger/beat the average bigger female in a fight do you think? Or does height have everything to do with it? Assuming there has been no self defence training..

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Reply 1

tooosh

Bodyweight and strength play a big role as well. Self defence techniques themselves sometimes aren't enough to compensate for light, weak or short but that kind of training has other effects like making you stronger and faster which help.
Assuming this is a street fight or something.

Reply 2

Irrelevance

You could just get your own boyfriend instead of competing for theirs in Gladiatoral combat :holmes:

Reply 3

Beardbrah

Shorter people usually have shorter limbs = shorter reach, which can be a disadvantage. But in 2 untrained females, bodyweight, speed, strength, ratio of muscle fibre types, technique, natural fighting ability, aggression levels, etc all play a role. It would be impossible to say.

btw, film it and post it here :awesome:

Reply 4

Classical Liberal

Taller people have a longer reach, so they will do well in medium range combat. Like boxing and stuff.

Short range combat shorter people are not at such a disadvantage and can often grapple pretty well.

If you hold all the variables constant, and just change height, the tall person will probably still win but the shorter person aint going to get owned or anything like that. Particularly if it turns into a belly to belly fight, which uncontrolled fights usually do.

Those are my thoughts on that matter. Like if it was kickboxing or something, the taller person is going to pwn. But maybe something like judo or a street fight it would be evenly balanced. mehhh I am probably wrong.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

Pitt1988

You'd have shorter reach but you will more than likely be faster and have a lower centre of gravity for better balance and agility. If you work it right you can use a person's larger size and weight against them as well.

Aim for the knees.

Yes it really boils down to 6 things:

Speed

Reactions

Weight

Reach

Injuries

Luck

- Short people can actually be pretty deadly in a grappling situation even in striking generally they are fast however lighter thus less able to exert force but accuracy can make up for that.

Worst comes to worse a jab in the groin can save your life.

Reply 8

the bear

you can inflict huge damage on their ankles

Reply 9

Akbar2k7

Oh I didn't realize this is a cat fight just stab her with your heel or break her nail women cant really do much damage unless trained armed or protecting a baby.

Reply 10

Howbeit

I'm a 5'5 male and have been in Shaolin kung fu for around 8 years. I'm also president of the kung fu club at university :biggrin:

You are at a disadvantage being short but you just need to know how to overcome that disadvantage. When sparring my objective is to get close to my opponent so range is no longer an issue.

If someone swings their right hand you need to be able to block it and get onto their body side. This means to counter your next strike would be incredibly difficult as their left hand is now too far away to be useful and their right hand is now in your grasp or has been blocked. This leaves you free to strike their side, face, leg, neck etc...

Or perhaps if someone throws a straight punch you could lean back and throw out a push kick which should be long enough to push them away or strike them in the stomach, face or groin. As a small person I always try to get close to my opponent as I mentioned and you need to be quick, strike accurately and hard so that every hit you make matters.

Examples like this are just a few ways of how to be intelligent in a fight and how to overcome that height disadvantage. I'm quick and strong and am not fearful of fighting someone larger than myself as I know I've probably been in more fights than them and can probably strike harder despite my smaller size.

(edited 11 years ago)

bruce lee.

Bruce lee.
Manny pac-man.
Frankie edgar.

Reply 13

Howbeit

Original post by AspiringGenius

How about not fighting.

In martial arts most people are taught not to fight, to run if possible or to just hand over your wallet. I personally partake in martial arts for fitness and for my pure enjoyment of it. However, as unlikely as it is, fighting could perhaps save your life or someone else's. I doubt this will ever happen, but it's nice to know how to fight if you ever need to.

Reply 14

DorianGrayism

Mike Tyson.

Though, he wasn't that short. HE was just relatively short compared to many of the competitors he faced.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

321zero

Original post by almosttrue

Bruce Lee was 5,7ft and he turned out alright :redface:

On a more serious note, if you're small and not particularly strong (making an assumption, obviously), then try aikido, or a variant of aikido. It favours shorter people and doesn't require much strength (if any at all).

I'd say the larger/taller female would have an advantage 'on paper' due to reach and strength, but that doesn't mean she would naturally be able to fight or take a punch!

Either way... if you are hoping to fight someone, I would heavily advise you don't :redface:

Reply 16

kiai8

I'm 5'1 and I do karate and boxing. Personally in karate I find it hard because generally, people who are taller with longer legs get the points for head kicks (even if I can reach that high I have to be considerably closer)

I do know someone who is 4ft something and deliberately has their stance really low and uses this to their advantage, as the taller person will have to strike downwards and will find it hard to hit with body shots, so will be limited to headshots.

Boxing however... If you're fighting a taller person, if you keep your head down and your guard up, the taller person will have a harder time getting underneath your guard than you will of uppercutting them from below :P

So I'd say in a street fight, a strike upwards to the sternum is defo gonna slow them down, you'll be able to wind them.

Reply 17

The Socktor

Original post by almosttrue

Depends on a lot of things. However, it is noteworthy that if they are both the same weight, chances are the shorter one will be stronger because for the taller one a higher percentage of their mass will be in bone form rather than muscle form. Then again, as has been mentioned, taller people have better reach.

Reply 18

Lunch_Box

It's all about the technique

Reply 19

Dr. Bassman

Yes, but a 5ft female would probably struggle to do much damage anyway unless pretty well trained...

There are many short fighters out there however, usually it's a disadvantage though.