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Best Martial Art for a tall skinny guy?

I'm 6ft3/6ft4 and I'm going to start martial arts in the new year. I'm torn between Karate and Taekwondo.

I want to be able to defend myself (not really too bothered about competing in competitions) and have fun.

Is Taekwondo better suited for tall guys?
Thai boxers are usually tall and skinny. Like Segat, for instance.
Original post by Danny the Geezer
Thai boxers are usually tall and skinny. Like Segat, for instance.


Thai Boxing looks a bit too dangerous
Original post by james.proctor
Thai Boxing looks a bit too dangerous


It's just like any contact martial art I would imagine.
you could try mma, while it may be portrayed as dangerous, learning the techniques and practicing them under qualified instruction is not. taller guys normally excell in the grappling and muay thai elements. hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions
Original post by 4thdimensionmma
you could try mma, while it may be portrayed as dangerous, learning the techniques and practicing them under qualified instruction is not. taller guys normally excell in the grappling and muay thai elements. hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions


mma has a much higher injury rate than football and boxing, it also is one of the most brutal sports around. The gloves they use are even more dangerous than bare knuckles because of the extra wrist and hand support allowing professional fighters to hit even harder; not to mention kicks to the head and concussions from elbows and slams.
Reply 6
Original post by james.proctor
The gloves they use are even more dangerous than bare knuckles because of the extra wrist and hand support allowing professional fighters to hit even harder;


who told you that?

but to the OP:
it all depends where you live, i.e. if there are any good trainers. I'd suggest hapkido/taekwondo - or a bit of sambo/judo (but being tall and skinny is a slight disadvantage in them).
Reply 7
Muay Thai or BJJ
Or MMA...
Reply 8
Original post by james.proctor
Thai Boxing looks a bit too dangerous


No its definitely not dangerous if you're only going to train, amd not compete. The same with other martial arts.

Edit: I'd suggest learning muay thai and maybe a bit of bjj. Its a nice combination.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 9
Mauy thai is brilliant for someone with your body. Mauy thai will teach how to use each part off your body effectively. You won't be using elbows while sparring, but you will be using knees. You'll be fine.
agree with the previous posts, there is a big difference between training the techniques and even sparring in the club to competing, which increases the risk of injury substantially. Martial arts are contact sports and have a level of risk associated with them and MMA is a combination of all the arts you refer to in your post. Karate and Taekwondo are some of the foundations for the striking elements and have been used by great MMA fighters such as Dan Hardy and Leoto Machida to name a few. Many people train MMA for fitness alone and normally by people who are bored of gym work due to the complex, varied and technical competencies it offers.
Reply 11
Original post by james.proctor
I'm 6ft3/6ft4 and I'm going to start martial arts in the new year. I'm torn between Karate and Taekwondo.

I want to be able to defend myself (not really too bothered about competing in competitions) and have fun.

Is Taekwondo better suited for tall guys?


It depends on what you are looking for. Karate uses slightly more hands than legs whereas Taekwondo has a bit more kicking than punching. How flexible are you? ie, how high can you kick? If you are less flexible, maybe Karate is better.
but you burn fat with bjj and you need lots of strength..idk if i skinny guy(like me) can benefit from bjj
Any I guess, I may take up Thai chi myself.

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