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The Best Martial Art For A Tall Person?

I'm a tall guy (6,5) and I used to go to Taekwon-do. I made it to red belt but I had to stop because of exams etc. and I just never got round to going back. I really want to get back into martial arts now that I've moved out and have my own place etc. and I'll be living much nearer the gym.

But I was hoping to go a different direction from TKD, as fun as it was. I found TKD was good but I often overbalanced too easily, especially when using turning kicks. I want to find one which suits people my height to be able to fight people of all heights.

So what do you think is a good martial art for a tall guy?? Or should I try to go back to TKD and get black???

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Reply 1
Bump.
Reply 2
Muay Thai :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by drummer
Muay Thai :smile:


Any reason why?
Reply 4
Original post by Kiss
Any reason why?


You have long legs, long reach and essentially a good head kick. Matter of fact you'd pretty be good for kicking styles. So yeah Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Kickboxing etc. I just like Muay Thai cause it's good.
Reply 5
depends on what you like doing I would only really rule out one art that is wing chun. TKD is quite good for tall people so why not take that up again.
Reply 6
Original post by Akbar2k7
depends on what you like doing I would only really rule out one art that is wing chun. TKD is quite good for tall people so why not take that up again.


Whats Wing chun?

Original post by drummer
You have long legs, long reach and essentially a good head kick. Matter of fact you'd pretty be good for kicking styles. So yeah Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Kickboxing etc. I just like Muay Thai cause it's good.


I'm trying to think about something which is more practically useful in a normal day situation, because wearing jeans doesn't allow much movement - obviously you still have your hands but you don't get the same type of training as you would in the likes of judo or jiu-jitsu when it comes to hands. Thats what I was thinking about. I do want to get black in TKD but I do also want to do something which is going to be useful practically on the street because I can't really be using fancy flying kicks all the time when caught unaware.
Taekwondo.
Reply 8
Original post by TopStudent12345
Taekwondo.


Spot on.

If you're athletic and fairly flexible, you're going to do some serious damage with your range.
Reply 9
Original post by 321zero
Spot on.

If you're athletic and fairly flexible, you're going to do some serious damage with your range.


Same response I gave to drummer - what would you recommend for that?
Reply 10
Original post by Kiss
Whats Wing chun?


Wing chun is a form of Kung fu.


Bruce lees initial martial art a very fast moving low power form striking art relies on multiple blows than one hit wonders famous for its death strikes and devastating striking speed. Reason why most people over 6 foot dont do well with wing chun is the mechanics of how strikes generate power rather than moving mass providing the power the very fast fast speed/acceleration of the wing chun practitioners hands is key triceps and biceps are where the power comes from and the longer lever of tall peoples arms makes them less efficient at it.

[video="youtube;z3j0WTKAFE8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3j0WTKAFE8&feature=related[/video]

as you can see its the upper body doing the work not the hips or the legs like boxing or most other striking arts its unique and deadly however very time consuming to learn properly.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 11
Oh, I was actually going to say TKD until I read the full post! "^^

No matter which one you pick, your balance isn't going to change without practice, so why not just pick one you'll enjoy?
Original post by Akbar2k7
Wing chun is a form of Kung fu.


Bruce lees initial martial art a very fast moving low power form striking art relies on multiple blows than one hit wonders famous for its death strikes and devastating striking speed. Reason why most people over 6 foot dont do well with wing chun is the mechanics of how strikes generate power rather than moving mass providing the power the very fast fast speed/acceleration of the wing chun practitioners hands is key triceps and biceps are where the power comes from and the longer lever of tall peoples arms makes them less efficient at it.

[video="youtube;z3j0WTKAFE8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3j0WTKAFE8&feature=related[/video]

as you can see its the upper body doing the work not the hips or the legs like boxing or most other striking arts its unique and deadly however very time consuming to learn properly.


I'm a shorter guy (5'7) and have done some karate in the past but I'd like to try something more strictly self-defence based, and less focused on things like learning to count/read off moves in Japanese and katas. Would you recommend Wing Chung to me based on that?
Reply 13
Original post by Akbar2k7
Wing chun is a form of Kung fu.


Bruce lees initial martial art a very fast moving low power form striking art relies on multiple blows than one hit wonders famous for its death strikes and devastating striking speed. Reason why most people over 6 foot dont do well with wing chun is the mechanics of how strikes generate power rather than moving mass providing the power the very fast fast speed/acceleration of the wing chun practitioners hands is key triceps and biceps are where the power comes from and the longer lever of tall peoples arms makes them less efficient at it.

[video="youtube;z3j0WTKAFE8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3j0WTKAFE8&feature=related[/video]

as you can see its the upper body doing the work not the hips or the legs like boxing or most other striking arts its unique and deadly however very time consuming to learn properly.


Ahhhhh okay thanks for the info. Being tall does have that big disadvantage when it comes to speed.........
Reply 14
Original post by Bobo1234
I'm a shorter guy (5'7) and have done some karate in the past but I'd like to try something more strictly self-defence based, and less focused on things like learning to count/read off moves in Japanese and katas. Would you recommend Wing Chung to me based on that?


yea wing chun is good for people like you find your local dojo and give it a try.
Reply 15
Original post by Kiss
Ahhhhh okay thanks for the info. Being tall does have that big disadvantage when it comes to speed.........


In wing chun yes cause honestly in other arts you height is a huge advantage as long as you have the balance.
Reply 16
It depends what you want to get out of it. Different martial arts have different strengths and weaknesses based on what their objectives are. You have sport-based ones which are geared towards winning rule-based competition, which means lots of practice with legitimate technical application of what you're learning (good), but no practice against armed aggressors, or 2-on-1 situations, element of surprise or other factors (bad). Then you have self-defence-motivated arts which are geared primarily towards teaching techniques to be applied outside the place of learning should they be needed, and against all sorts of attack-types and situations (good), but limited or no sparring because of greater risks of injury involved, requiring a certain amount of cooporation between practitioners (bad). Then you also have arts which are traditional, 'set in stone' arts passed on as-is, such as with Japanese koryu arts.

In order to decide which art is best suited for you, you have to analyse your goals in learning one and then compare it with the ones that are available in your area. Benefits from martial arts training include fitness, self-discipline, personal/mental development, self-defence, etc., but the arts available will meet these benefits to different degrees. On the one hand you might have krav maga which trains against assailants with knives and firearms, but which can't allow full application of technique while training (because they include joint-breaks and injury) and might have to be significantly toned down (it's legally risky to permanently injure a guy just for shoving you), and on the other hand judo which is incredible for fitness and learning how to throw people, but which usually does not train against punches.

Your height won't matter hugely for almost any art you pick - don't let that be what makes your decision about what to learn. Height is usually an advantage because of your longer reach, but may not always prove so (for example in aikido, or in certain jujutsu styles). My advice would be to see what's in your area and then look up some YouTube videos on them to see what you think.
Reply 17
Original post by miser
It depends what you want to get out of it. Different martial arts have different strengths and weaknesses based on what their objectives are. You have sport-based ones which are geared towards winning rule-based competition, which means lots of practice with legitimate technical application of what you're learning (good), but no practice against armed aggressors, or 2-on-1 situations, element of surprise or other factors (bad). Then you have self-defence-motivated arts which are geared primarily towards teaching techniques to be applied outside the place of learning should they be needed, and against all sorts of attack-types and situations (good), but limited or no sparring because of greater risks of injury involved, requiring a certain amount of cooporation between practitioners (bad). Then you also have arts which are traditional, 'set in stone' arts passed on as-is, such as with Japanese koryu arts.

In order to decide which art is best suited for you, you have to analyse your goals in learning one and then compare it with the ones that are available in your area. Benefits from martial arts training include fitness, self-discipline, personal/mental development, self-defence, etc., but the arts available will meet these benefits to different degrees. On the one hand you might have krav maga which trains against assailants with knives and firearms, but which can't allow full application of technique while training (because they include joint-breaks and injury) and might have to be significantly toned down (it's legally risky to permanently injure a guy just for shoving you), and on the other hand judo which is incredible for fitness and learning how to throw people, but which usually does not train against punches.

Your height won't matter hugely for almost any art you pick - don't let that be what makes your decision about what to learn. Height is usually an advantage because of your longer reach, but may not always prove so (for example in aikido, or in certain jujutsu styles). My advice would be to see what's in your area and then look up some YouTube videos on them to see what you think.



Well I was thinking of something like Krav Maga (albeit not liking Israel very much) but as you said its not easy to practise perfectly. I'll give it some thought, but I would like to find something which is both practically useful but also something which I can enjoy in terms of sparring etc.
Original post by Akbar2k7
yea wing chun is good for people like you find your local dojo and give it a try.


Thanks for the tip- found a dojo not to far from me and I'm gonna go for a taster session this evening :biggrin:
Reply 19
Original post by Bobo1234
Thanks for the tip- found a dojo not to far from me and I'm gonna go for a taster session this evening :biggrin:



good luck hopefully you enjoy it. I myself will take part in art again at university once I get settled and have the job to fund it. :smile:

Wing chun is very no nonsense when it comes to self defense here check this guy out:

[video="youtube;HCfyEu_wUdI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfyEu_wUdI&feature=plcp[/video]
(edited 11 years ago)

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