Little people can make a difference right?

[fe4st1an1te]

Just recently, I have come to a certain realization about myself... it was one of those smack you in the face, oh my god I need to change kind of moments. I realized my problem is is that I am a 4'11" woman. Growing up, I have been on the short side of everything which in turn made my mentality "short". What could a 4'11" girl possibly do?? nothing right? Well I realized I was dead wrong and I am looking for any suggestions to what kind of martial arts I could learn to change all this. I don't fight. I avoid confrontation at all costs, but how can I protect my loved ones, when the time comes. I have no self-confidence and I feel very weak. It's even proven to be an obstacle at work. Any suggestions on a good martial art thats good for me???? I need this more than anything!

[EmptyneSs]

the fact is at your size, even martial arts probobly arent going to be enough to help you in a physical confrontation. howver that doesnt mean u are hopeless. training in a martial art will indeed give give u strength and confidence and give u better chance at defending yourself than before. martial arts will give u the proper mental attidude and make u a better more assertive person, however you will still be at a large physical disadvantage. for this reason your best option is a weapon. pepper spray, stun gun, knife etc. do martial arts to become a stronger person, and carry some pepper spray with you or a stun gun in addition.

a great art for you personally would be bjj. bjj will make u stronger and is more useful to u for self defense. i mean, when a woman is attacked she is usually grabbed or thrown on the ground and mounted, bjj and judo are your best options. u will be able to get out of bad positons and break your attackes limbs. boxing and such will make u tough too, but realisticlly trading blows with a guy twice your size with more strength and size isnt crackin.

[Yu Law]

a great art for you personally would be bjj. bjj will make u stronger and is more useful to u for self defense. i mean, when a woman is attacked she is usually grabbed or thrown on the ground and mounted, bjj and judo are your best options. u will be able to get out of bad positons and break your attackes limbs. boxing and such will make u tough too, but realisticlly trading blows with a guy twice your size with more strength and size isnt crackin.

i completely disagree with bjj beign the best art. Althoguh Judo is excellent b/c it provides one to learn throws etc... to get outta holds (like u mentioned women are usually grabbed) BJJ's fortay is groundwork. The main point is to get your opponent to the ground and to get close to your opponent, which is not what she wants. I've talked to pple who have trained in both Bjj and judo and they all say that BJJ basically complaments their groundwork with their throwing learned from judo.

BJJ also implies that u need strength as i t will almost be impossible to get out of a mount position if a 200 lb man was on her. Thats y weight classes are mainly advocated in competitions.
The fact of the matter is BJJ depends partially on strength which means that to get out of being pinned to the ground and out of holds would be very tough for a 4'11 women who prob. weighs less than 100lbs. Judo doesnt focus on strength to throw their attackers which is y many women train in it.

Im definately not being bias when i say this as i think judo and Wing Chun are best for a women. Firstly, the inventor of wing chun (this was her name) was a tiny women like the person who started this thread.

She along with monks, refined the art and focused on NOT usign force with force, which is advocated in most martial arts. The counters and trappings are based on letting your opponent use their force to your advantage.

There are plenty of guys in my training facility that are less than 5'7 tall and can beat the crap out of any 6'3 250 lb man who attacks them. Althogh they are well conditioned, they arent massive and overly strong.

SInce u arent very physical and your goal is to protect yourself u should not do boxing unless u want to get in great physical condition, otherwise it will most liekly noy help u fight off a 6'3 200 lb man.

Still, carry pepper spray cause if u can running away would be the best option.

[Tant01]

YES, LITTLE ROCKS (ask David)

.... Any suggestions on a good martial art thats good for me???? I need this more than anything!

Welcome! You will find many diverse opinions here as to what particular thing is good and what is not... Being small has it's advantages, do not discount your lethality because of your size. In all reality what will work best for you depends on your personal needs for self preservation. Do you want to be the top blackbelt female competitor in your weight class or do you want the ability to dispatch an armed or dangerous felon? Do you need to physically restrain resisting individuals in your work? What is your need? Is there some pending emergency that you are fearing? Can you legally own firearms in your state? Nothing like the power of life or death in your hand to bring you some self confidence. See, I think guns are GOOD... some folks hate them Go figure!

[dkm]

You can take the best martial art(s) out there, but if you don't have heart, it's all worthless. There is no such thing as a best martial arts. Long as you are doing something to improve your body and skills everyday such as weight training for strength, boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, running, stretching, tai chi, yoga, etc. I am not saying that you should do all that everyday, but as long as you mix it up and if god forbid a bad situation ever arises, you'll be in a better situation than had you not trained at all.

[Tom Yum]

I don't fight. I avoid confrontation at all costs,

This is not a bad personality trait. It takes all kinds of folks to make the world go round.

Are you really the kind of person that avoids confrontation or are you a walking drama machine inadvertently creating conflict about and being overwhelmed by it?

I don't know and I'm not here to judge, but only you know which you are.

but how can I protect my loved ones, when the time comes.

Avoiding bad situations and trouble is a good start.

As far as personal security, considering your build I would look into two kinds of self-defense systems:

Stand up striking systems that emphasize explosive striking with some elements of stand up grappling such as muay thai, kyokushin karate, modern combat hapkido, silat etc. The idea is to be able to get comfortable at somewhat close distances, work through fight pressure and hit hard enough to stun or to redirect a grab attempt.

Weapon systems that give you hands on experience with impact weapons and bladed weapons like the Fillipino Martial Arts and Silat or firearm training.

At 4'11" you should try to avoid ground fighting, I think. It wouldn't hurt to know just some basics though.

I have no self-confidence and I feel very weak. It's even proven to be an obstacle at work. Any suggestions on a good martial art thats good for me???? I need this more than anything!

Is this a nature or nurture thing? Is something or someone in your life molding you into a weakling?

Building self-confidence involves occasionally getting out of your comfort zone and accomplishing a task when out of that comfort zone. Unfortunately, it takes a certain kind of personality or a really determined type of person to do this.

It doesn't help when others see you doing this and try to knock you down. Avoid those kinds of people or use their smite as motivation.

Anyone can be a critic. Doesn't take any specialized training, just the ability to stand by the sidelines, try to mess your game and allways think negatively. Critics didn't invent the lightbulb, airplane, computer, semiconductors or quantum transport. Critics used to say "Heavier than air flying machines are totally impossible."...and we know that they were right

You can also enlist helpfull friends and relatives who are willing to give you opportunities to build your confidence.

Start small and work up.

Good luck to you!

[Ronson]

Yu Law, to put it nicely, you don't know shit about BJJ. You don't see me going on WC forums talking about it based on my few experiences with it and what others have told me.

The main point is to get your opponent to the ground and to get close to your opponent, which is not what she wants.

The best anti-grappling techs. come from grappling arts.

BJJ also implies that u need strength...
BJJ is not a pure brute force type of thing. It's the application of properly applied force, positioning, timing, and leverage. If you actually did BJJ and were proficient in it, you would know that.

Thats y weight classes are mainly advocated in competitions.

It's called an even playing field when both competitors are versed in the same art. It's not like a BJJ'er versus a TKD dude or lay person.

[Ronson]

It's nice to see, for the most part, that people aren't bullshitting this women on the realities of S.D./fighting. Good training and fighting is tough, unpleasant, and taxes the body. M.A.'s isn't a wonder drug to solve one's self-confidence issues. Something is wrong if your self-confidence is heavily tied to your ability to kick someone's ass.

Being assertive, not aggressive, it is a state of being and how you conduct/carry yourself. If there is a serious constant threat to your family, then move them or take extreme measures. Otherwise it's just anxiety and paranoia on your part.

[georgie]

bjj?

at your size i would consider a martial art that is usable by anyone. Bjj is a great martial art but for self defense i would go more with something like Dan Inosantos JKD or Paul Vunaks progressive fighting systems. they do incorporate some ground fighting but also lots of eye gouges & biting as well as excellent striking and mental training for altercations. these styles will also instill self confidence and dont take years to be effective. stay away from more traditional martial arts like karate and tae kwon do . there was a woman in toronto recently who is a 2nd degree blackbelt in tae kwon do and a brown belt in shotokan karate who was raped and beaten by some thug. go with a style thats based upon dirty fighting. nobody likes a fingernail in the eye or being bitten . the reason ill say to avoid Brazillian jiu-jitsu is there may always be a risk of multiple attackers which BJJ is pretty much useless in that situation. remember self defense is 80% mental and 20% physical. good luck

[bdipab]

I favor muay thai (learn the principles of devestating kicks, knees, elbows punches, clinch moves, throws and best of all you get to do some sparring- mauy baron is gaining some prominence since Ong Bak - but you really have to check instructor credentials), any of the fma (which are pretty complete systems, but for whatever style make sure the instructor is good - more important than just choice of style), you might want to invest in some of Cestari's Defendu tapes if you can afford them. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what style you practice (to a point - I actually wouldn't recommend TKD or certain karate styles - again depends on instructor I suppose - also bjj alone is never a good idea and I wouldn't recommend making it you're principle art - just a supplemental one) as anyone can be beaten in a fight under the right circumstances. Since your disadvantage is your size I would stress you're focus lay in building a strong body - speedy and powerful (mauy thai conditioning is great for that).

[Yu Law]

Yu Law, to put it nicely, you don't know shit about BJJ. You don't see me going on WC forums talking about it based on my few experiences with it and what others have told me.

Yah man but i know enuff to have an opinion b/c i wanted to do it b/c of UFC and althoguh its great for competitions it isn't street efficient, do u really want an attacker to be close to u when attacked? Common man, knives, machetes(sp) etc...

By the way, im only in the MMA/BJJ section b/c i wanted to help, and this thread is in there.

The best anti-grappling techs. come from grappling arts.
true, but if your on the street, the key thing is to not get in a grappling situation with an attacker, IF u are 4'11. Common man, all the leverage in the world isn't gonna help you if the guy outs weighs u by 100 lbs. Yes, im sure a small BJJ expert can beat the snot outta an attacker, but thats true for any martial art there are exceptions.


BJJ is not a pure brute force type of thing. It's the application of properly applied force, positioning, timing, and leverage. If you actually did BJJ and were proficient in it, you would know that.

yes, but i also know that u DO need some strength. It isn't brute force, but like every1 i talked to says, they would never use BJJ to fight a 400 lb man, whihc shows that when it comes down to you being attacked by a huge fatass, it would be hard to use your leverage against such weight.

Go to the pizza fight thread and read some of the grapplers posts on how they would fight that big fat guy. They say things like use their keys and stuff like that etc... I really don't think key punhcing/slahsing is part of BJJ. Even thoguh i don't know the skill level of those guys they arent very confident of fighting a larger opponent, which is the reason of this thread.

Thats y weight classes are mainly advocated in competitions.

It's called an even playing field when both competitors are versed in the same art. It's not like a BJJ'er versus a TKD dude or lay person.

aight i forgot aobout how boxing and etc... uses weigth classes also, but think about it, don't u think that a 6'4 guy of equal skill would destroy a 5'8 guy?

BJJ is a great sport and if your good at it (like any martial art) u CAN use it to protect yourself, but is it the best? IMP no. Just my thoguhts. Believe me when i say this, many many pple i know who cross train, always say that "if i was attacked........i would give the guy muai thai kick or fake a jab and use a side kick yayadayadada.

I know enuff. I know BJJ has leverage applied to its grapping and Jiu Jitsu doesnt. I know that it WILL teach u to get out of situations. But She is tremendously undersized compared to the regular 6 foot 180 lb attacker that lives in our streets.

at your size i would consider a martial art that is usable by anyone. Bjj is a great martial art but for self defense i would go more with something like Dan Inosantos JKD or Paul Vunaks progressive fighting systems. they do incorporate some ground fighting but also lots of eye gouges & biting as well as excellent striking and mental training for altercations. these styles will also instill self confidence and dont take years to be effective. stay away from more traditional martial arts like karate and tae kwon do . there was a woman in toronto recently who is a 2nd degree blackbelt in tae kwon do and a brown belt in shotokan karate who was raped and beaten by some thug. go with a style thats based upon dirty fighting. nobody likes a fingernail in the eye or being bitten . the reason ill say to avoid Brazillian jiu-jitsu is there may always be a risk of multiple attackers which BJJ is pretty much useless in that situation. remember self defense is 80% mental and 20% physical. good luck

well put. i forgot talk about the Multiple attackers situation. Like i said BJJ is cool for grappling and ground work (which i think every1 should know the basics of b/c someone can grab u out of nowhere and the next thing u know hes on top) but for overall self-denfese i don't think it fits in that category.

[shamster]

Here we go AGAIN with the multiple attackers scenario. Realistically, there is NO martial art that can effectively deal with multiple attackers. In theory, yes, but not reality. Especially if you are dealing with more than one aggressive opponent.
Everyone is having a hard enough time to collectively suggest a style that would effectively help this petite woman against one attacker. Now you want to worry about two or more?

If you're that worried about multiple attackers, carry a weapon and train yourself on how to use it well. I recommend getting a pistol carry permit if your state issues CCW.

As far as styles, I am an advocate of bjj myself. However, I will be realistic and say that to be effective at it against almost any opponent, it does require years of dedication. Basically, to make up for small size, you damn well better have flawless technique and be able to call upon that at any time. That said though, I think anyone can improve their fighting ability with even some basic bjj. If nothing else, it gets you used to being in what many consider inferior positions and how to not panic and deal with the situation. While a beginner white belt bjj'er can't expect to take on someone twice their size and strength, he or she can at least be able to hold them off a little more effectively. Things like improving your position and learning how to take away an opponents position advantage are very useful to have.

My suggestion? Cross train between bjj and Muay Thai. Krav Maga is supposed to be effective for quick and dirty solutions too.

[npk9]

I love Krav Maga - its todays answer for warfare and street situations. It really compliments full contact fighting. It lacks creativity though. Well in my opinion it does - but that would be the only down fall. Its a great supplement for anyone who is in the arts.

[fe4st1an1te]

Does this help??

first i just wanted to thank you guys for responding, i didnt think id get so many replies after only puttin up my thread alst night. in any case, i understand that im at a huge physical disadvantage, hence why ive learned to talk my way out of a lot, but i am not the one looking for fights or being overdramatic to put myself in situations, thats just messed up. im talkin about when they find me. forinstance at the bar, when some stupid chick decides she wants to pick a fight with one of my girls, and now my girl is upset i wont back her up. why? cause i cant do anyting about it, and i sure as hell am not gonna try and talk rationally to a "beer-muscle" infested girl. yea bar fights are stupid and immature but i wanna be able to at least back her up...but more importantly, id like to be able to defend myself. yes the pepper spray and such (not guns they scare me haha) is always a good idea and i had spray for the longest time, but it expired a little while ago. I dont plan on completely kickin his ass but at least learn ways to act fast to get out of the situation, and run. LIke knowing the soft spots (more than just the one ) just to drop him for enough time to get away. am i making things more clear yet?? someone earlier said about how MA is 80% mental and 20% physical. i know i cant lay someone out like you see in the MA movies, of cousre not, but at least keep my cool to be able to think clearly to react. when situations approach me, for whaetver reason, i start shaking and my mind goes black. i want to get rid of that. I was hoping MA would teach me to control all that. Does this give you guys a better understanding of what im looking for???

[Tom Yum]

someone earlier said about how MA is 80% mental and 20% physical. i know i cant lay someone out like you see in the MA movies, of cousre not, but at least keep my cool to be able to think clearly to react. when situations approach me, for whaetver reason, i start shaking and my mind goes black. i want to get rid of that. I was hoping MA would teach me to control all that. Does this give you guys a better understanding of what im looking for???

Ok.

You want to be able to keep your focus when the fists are flying and the shoving and stomping pick up.

I'd go for muay thai or boxing. You can work your way up the contact level, even up to dangerously hard hitting fighters if you so desire. If you can work through hard fists and feet flying at you and train the hand-speed, footwork and elbow/knee work it could definitely help you out.

For additional self-defense with more stand-up grappling and weapons, I'd look into the silat system. Really good intro into bladed weapons.

Peace