Does size matter?

[Yung Apprentice]

Kung Fu is said to have been created by small men who are quick. But as the argument goes, in the North people were big. But in many classes today, teachers will use the bigger students to demonstrate on, or will teach smaller students ways of dealing with bigger attackers, and at times may seem to pay more attention to the smaller students. What about big guys learning on smaller attackers? I for one am kinda big and slow and have a problem with dealing with the smaller quicker guy. Do you feel nowadays the big guy may be at a disadvantage when it come to learning? If not, how does your school deal with it?

[Chang Style Novice]

Size does matter. That's why there are weight classes in all combative sports. Bigger guys have more advantages, smaller guys have advantages, too, but not as many and don't come to as much of an overall advantage. I'm not sure why you seem to think smaller guys have the edge.

[Yung Apprentice]

Smaller guys definately have an advantage against me!!! I meant, do you think with all that I previously said that bigger guys are at a disadvantage when it come to LEARNING? Like a teacher may not spend as much time with a bigger guy as he would with a smaller guy? For instance, when I was taking TKD, I used to be used all the time for demos and such, so that the smaller students would learn who to deal with reach, and weight advantages. But my biggest problem is smaller quicker people, and my teacher never helped me with it. SO I was wondering if this may be a problem in other schools?

[SevenStar]

agreed. bigger guys usually have the strength, and in some cases also the reach. Take me for example - I am stocky with a low center of gravity, but I have long limbs, which gives me excellent reach. That combined with strength makes me a bitch to grapple with and the long limbs and strength are also an advantage in striking. sometimes bigger guys give up a speeed advantage, but that's not always the case, and the difference in speed is usually not that great, from my experience.

It also gets you alot of practice. I am the guy everyone wants to be able to throw, or the one everyone wants to beat in sparring. Another advantage is intimidation.

[TkdWarrior]

oh **** for a chance i though no not another **** question...
hey

U>>"I for one am kinda big and slow and have a problem with dealing with the smaller quicker guy. "
me> my teacher weighs around 95 kg and none of his kicks can be seen by eyes...u wont see him when he is on ur head...
i m around 78-80 kg i can deliever the fastest kick in my club, even then there r better students than me...
throw this pre conceived notation out of ur mind, u'll see the difference, u'll be faster than those smaller quicker guy
-TkdWarrior-

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by Yung Apprentice
Smaller guys definately have an advantage against me!!! I meant, do you think with all that I previously said that bigger guys are at a disadvantage when it come to LEARNING? Like a teacher may not spend as much time with a bigger guy as he would with a smaller guy? For instance, when I was taking TKD, I used to be used all the time for demos and such, so that the smaller students would learn who to deal with reach, and weight advantages. But my biggest problem is smaller quicker people, and my teacher never helped me with it. SO I was wondering if this may be a problem in other schools?

I see what you're getting at. I can agree with you there. I take initiative on my own though - I'm a striker by nature, and it's been pretty easy for me to devise strategies in sparring. Grappling is a different story. I ALWAYS ask questions what I would do against various sized people, as different sixed people have different advantages. matter of factly, in my judo class, we are taught all of the throws eventually, but initially they are taught according to body type, as different sized people have an easier time doing certain throws.

[rubthebuddha]

if size didn't matter, then i don't think there'd be stuff like wing chun.

but it does. bigger people are more difficult to move, and they typically can take more punishment. hitting the woman at my school who's shorter than five feet and quite petite in the chest half-force would probably break or bruise something badly, while hitting the guy who's 6'4" and solid right in the chest might annoy him.

it's why arts began to pick more vulnerable targets, like eyes, ears (palm attacks, etc.), nose, throat, package, floating ribs, knees, tops of feet, etc. -- the short lady can crush my throat almost as simply as the big guy -- not as easy strength-wise, but her wee arms can get through the smallest of openings.

[Yung Apprentice]

But there are exceptions to that rubthebuddha. My sister hits harder than most of the guys I've been in a fight with. Including someone 6'3". And there are big folx with weak chins. It's because of this thinking I never got paid attention to in class, except when I was being used for a demo.

[Chang Style Novice]

Okay, yes! I do agree that, especially in a self-defense oriented class, a teacher is likely to help the folks who are smaller defend against those who are bigger more than the other way around. And as a big dude myself, I tend to get tapped for demos a lot.

Mostly the way we deal with it (since you asked) is everyone pushes hands against everyone else, so you get experience dealing with people of all the shapes we have available, and shifu offers suggestions to beat the strategies that are winning. In other words, he doesn't concentrate on the smaller people, he concentrates on the underdogs regardless of other factors.

Have I answered you question yet?

[Yung Apprentice]

Yes! Thanx!

[rubthebuddha]

yung,

there will always be exceptions. i was just talking generalities. i have a sidai who's far bigger than me and hits like a weenie, and i have a simui who's much smaller who can clock you silly.

in addition, i've noticed that smaller people are usually better scrappers. they may not be the biggest or the strongest, but they'll be **** if they don't make you pay for every punch you land.

[Yung Apprentice]

If there are always exceptions, than why pay so much attention to generalities? The reason why I didn't learn much in TKD, was because of generalities.

[Chang Style Novice]

That's one of the things I love about tai chi. Almost all our 'hands on' time is spent pushing on each other, so there's no silliness about 'if he does this then I do that' - it's all about feeling what's coming next and stopping it before it starts, which is a skill that applies to anything, not just narrow scenarios.

[Budokan]

Yes, size matters. It takes more energy expenditure to drop a big guy than it does a smaller one, assuming you have the necessary skills in the first place to drop either one.

Size always matters.

[Yung Apprentice]

But a big guy spends energy quicker than a small guy. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!!!!You must forgive me, the title of this topic is misleading, it was meant to get people's attention. That is not really the question I was asking.



Although, budokan, there are always exceptions.