Martial arts question: Spinoff from "terrible way to lose a fight"

vulturesrow · #1 06-25-2005, 06:42 PM

Here is a question that I have never had answered to my satisfaction. First some background. I took Tae Kwon Do from about age 10-15 or so. I didnt progress too far up the belt structure, but I can honestly say I was one of the better students, which ended up in my instructor moving me to the adult class. My family moved a few times in this time period which resulted in some interuption of the training process.

Anyhow, I am looking to get back into martial arts in some form. My question is do certain martial arts lend themselves to certain body types? Im 6'2" , 210 and have pretty long arms and legs, which I feel were very helpful in TKD. Are their other styles that lend themselves to a certain body type ? Should this be something I should even worry about or does it deserve some level of consideration? I am particularly interested by the grappling arts, since I didnt get much of that in TKD, and also I find Silat to be pretty interesting? So any insight on the body type questions or style comments any of you have in general would be interesting to hear.

Blarg · #2 06-25-2005, 07:08 PM

Sure, body type and just personal psychological temperament can have a lot to do with what style you should concentrate most on.

That's kind of important, because even if there were some supercomputer to determine some best style, if you didn't feel it fit you, you'd probably just stop showing up or training in it after a while. So even a less than "ideal" style, whatever that might mean, could still be the best for you if it just feels right, and an ideal style will never be one you don't fee a certain affinity for.

Tall people have a natural advantage fighting on the outside, using their reach and the leverage of their long limbs to max advantage. Northern Chinese styles, White Crane, and Tae Kwon Do are ideal for them. Short people have a natural advantage on the inside and don't have much reach, so styles that concentrate on inside work are ideal for them. Wing Chun, White Eyebrow, jiu-jitsu, monkey style, wrestling, boxing, and Preying Mantis are natural styles for them. Especially young and strong people are naturals for tiger style and hung gar, and slighter or older people are more naturally suited for Wing Chun or Tai Chi.

I'm 6'2" myself, and my first real training was in jiu-jitsu. I'd recommend anybody who is really interested in martial arts as a lifelong interest start there or in judo, as learning to fall is helpful in any sport or any style, and just in life in general, and also because it's all about leverage and understanding vulnerabilities in balance and how the joints work. It's like a basic anatomy course and grounding in how the human body works that will help you understand and handle body movement in general, which helps no matter what martial art you do. Being slammed around on mats and maybe eventually the ground a lot builds a little courage and toughens one up a bit, too.

I will say, though, that it's not nearly as easy for a tall man to shift the center of balance of a small man as it is for a small man to do it to a large man. Hip throws especially can be close to absurd when a large man tries to do them to a small man, especially one who is at all competent at maintaining his balance or countering. My ass had to practically touch the ground when squatting under some well-balanced shorter men to throw them. It really wasn't a productive thing to do.

I don't know much from Silat except that it has a lot of takedowns and extremely weird, low, twisted ground-fighting stances. Much of the rest of it looks very Karate-like. There are also a fair amount of weapons in it, including swords and single and double sticks and nunchaku. There are a few good books out about it that make interesting reads; one that came out in the 70's is a very good one, I think by Don Draeger or something like that. It's a style with a pretty good reputation.

rusellmj · #3 06-25-2005, 07:20 PM

Why don't you explore some MMA training?

vulturesrow · #4 06-25-2005, 07:55 PM

Blarg,

Thanks for the insight. Interestingly enough, White Crane style is something I had looked as a possibility (and I still do). Hard to find practicioners though. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] In regards to your comments about judo, I actually had to take 6 weeks of judo in college, which I think was just about the right of time to pick up the keys, that is falling and some basic understanding of the manipulation of anatomy. I also had to take 6 weeks of wrestling, which was very interesting, because I discovered, as you pointed out, that there is a world of difference in a shorter opponent's ability to put leverage on me vice the other way around. So hopefully I can find a good style for that will incorporate some basic grappling as well. Anyhow, thanks again.

vulturesrow · #5 06-25-2005, 07:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Why don't you explore some MMA training?

[/ QUOTE ]

I find MMA to be extremely faddish for one, and thus stand a real chance of not getting good training for my money. Secondly, I really want to delve into one particular style. One could argue that MMA is a distinct style, but frankly the long tradition is part of what I am looking for in martial arts, which is certainly not present in the MMA as a distinct style. I have thought about it though and it may be a possibility in the future, especially if it proves to have staying power.

SpearsBritney · #6 06-25-2005, 08:00 PM

Holy sh!t. Is there anything you DON'T know? You're a goddamn walking encyclopedia.

RYL · #7 06-25-2005, 08:06 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Here is a question that I have never had answered to my satisfaction. First some background. I took Tae Kwon Do from about age 10-15 or so. I didnt progress too far up the belt structure, but I can honestly say I was one of the better students, which ended up in my instructor moving me to the adult class. My family moved a few times in this time period which resulted in some interuption of the training process.

Anyhow, I am looking to get back into martial arts in some form. My question is do certain martial arts lend themselves to certain body types? Im 6'2" , 210 and have pretty long arms and legs, which I feel were very helpful in TKD. Are their other styles that lend themselves to a certain body type ? Should this be something I should even worry about or does it deserve some level of consideration? I am particularly interested by the grappling arts, since I didnt get much of that in TKD, and also I find Silat to be pretty interesting? So any insight on the body type questions or style comments any of you have in general would be interesting to hear.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm 5 feet 11 inches barefoot and weigh 185 lbs. I used to take Tae Kwon Do when I was younger. I plan to do it again, probably next week, for the discipline, my health, and my mental well-being.

handsome · #8 06-25-2005, 08:40 PM

Sounds like boxing might do you some good.

vulturesrow · #9 06-25-2005, 08:43 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like boxing might do you some good.

[/ QUOTE ]

I took 6 weeks of boxing in college. It was a lot of fun and I did well, but not something I'm interested in devoting any substantial amount of time to.

zuluking · #10 06-25-2005, 09:41 PM

No disrespect meant to TKD, but its not as practical in a street application as other MA's. My advice is to find a school that has a mix of 2-3 MA's. For instance, I'm currently a 2nd brown in Karate and Ju-Jitsu, training towards my Black in October.

70%-80% of all fights end up on the ground, and a strong foundation in ground self defense, I think, is essential.

Having said that, I've sparred some TKD students and they kick like MULES, but as soon as you go inside on them, they don't know what to do in a "street sparring" kinda of situation.

Whatever you do, get back to some kind of MA and good luck!