 What is the best martial arts for a short person? I actually got this question early on in the channel. We had a viewer who, they said they were a smaller stature and that they were being bullied all the time and they wanted to learn a good self-defense system that would fit them. Now this brings up an excellent question. A lot of people will say that size doesn't matter when it comes to the martial arts. It's more about how you train versus what you train. But is that really accurate? Or is there a little bit more to it than that? Well, that's what we're gonna talk about today when we discuss what is the best martial arts for a short person. So what is the best martial art for a short person? This is actually an interesting question and it really kind of makes us break down how arts are composed and what body types are more adept at which arts versus others. And I'm gonna say this right now, size absolutely does matter. When it comes to fighting, when it comes to self-defense, I'm sorry, a bigger person generally does have an advantage over a smaller person, especially if they've had training too. I mean, just right off the bat, they've got a longer reach, they've got more body mass and sometimes they have more strength. Now, it doesn't mean the bigger person's automatically gonna win, but it does have to be acknowledged because it does play a major factor in how you defend yourself and what tactics you're going to use to defend yourself against somebody bigger than you. So I think the first question we have to address before we answer the whole overall topic is what is your purpose? If you are a shorter person and you're looking to join a martial art, are you looking for self-defense or life fulfillment, philosophy, tradition, culture? What is your purpose? And we've actually talked about this in a few different videos about aligning your goals with certain arts to fulfill those goals. I mean, we've got lots of different arts to choose from. We've got karate and the Japanese arts. You've got the Chinese arts. There's a variety of disciplines. A lot of them will give you that fulfillment and that overall will balance because a lot of arts will teach more than just fighting. But so you have to ask yourself, what do you want? What are you looking for? Is it self-defense-based, which a lot of people do join the martial arts for, or is there a different purpose? So when somebody wants to learn self-defense because they're being bullied, first you have to define what is the context of that bullying? Is it name-calling or somebody's doing a verbal assault or is it actually they're putting their hands on you and you're in real danger? I think it's important to distinguish between two scenarios because they do call for very different responses. Is your need time-sensitive? If you're looking for self-defense purposes, is this an urgent need where you need to learn to fight quickly or is this more of a proactive, hey, I wanna learn how to defend myself one day and you have more time to explore? The reason I ask this is because it's two very different opportunities. If it is time-sensitive, if you have to learn now, obviously you're gonna want to look for schools that can teach you how to fight pretty quickly or get there faster, more focused on fighting. If you've got more time, then that opens the door to a lot more opportunities to explore. You can test out schools, you can research. And there are several arts that they might not make you proficient fighters at the beginning, but through time, it'll make you a better martial artist overall. But it comes down to what time sensitivity you have for this need. And this just has to be said because sometimes it's best to avoid a fight if you can do it. If it's somebody who's verbally assaulting you or if it's a situation you're not comfortable in, the best self-defense honestly is to remove yourself from that situation. The best fight is the one that you don't have to have. But also that being said too, is sometimes people get picked on because of their size, but also the way they carry themselves. A lot of people these days walk around with their face buried in the phone or they're slouched or they're hunched over, that's gonna make you a target. Confidence plays a role into deterrence as well as being aware of your surroundings. So if at all possible, of course, you don't wanna have a physical altercation if you don't have to. So the best self-defense is to remove yourself from a situation before it becomes a situation. So we can break this down into four general areas of focus, really three primary and one that we're not gonna really acknowledge too much today. The first one is striking range. When it comes to fighting, stand-up fighting, striking range is a big consideration because the obvious disadvantage is smaller fighters are gonna have less range than larger fighters. So if you are short and stocky, you might have some power ability there. But generally speaking, when it comes to striking range, a shorter stature is a little bit of a disadvantage to a larger person. Again, especially if the larger person has training as well. Then you have stand-up grappling. This changes things, it almost kind of flips things around a little bit. Generally speaking, again, nothing here is definite and concrete, but generally speaking, smaller guys are a little bit better at grappling because lower center of gravity, it's easier to get under an opponent and get that leverage point. I just know from my experience, you know, when I went from Kempo and I'm starting to train in Judo and Jiu Jitsu, I'm a little bit of a larger person and I have a harder time getting under the smaller people trying to get that leverage point where they're having a much easier chance to do it on me. And also we have a very young student in our class. She's about 10, 12 years old, small, but the funny thing though is, yeah, okay, she's not gonna take us on in a fight, but when we do work with her, she is small and she can get her leverage down. And when she drops her center of gravity, she's like a little anchor. You actually feel yourself getting pulled off balance. So that is an advantage. So smaller people or people with smaller stature, grappling, stand-up grappling, you actually have a little bit of advantage there just because it's easier to leverage and get into positions more than a larger person would have. Then we have ground fighting, which is a little bit different. It's kind of an interesting mixed bag here. Generally speaking, a larger person is gonna have the advantage on the ground over a smaller person, just because you have to take into account a large person laying on top of you is gonna give them an advantage. Even if you've got skill, you're gonna have to put extra effort into countering that. I know this from experience. I've rolled with bigger guys that I've actually had more training than them, but they've had a hundred pounds on me and sometimes it's a lot harder to move that way. When it comes to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it's an excellent, excellent art to learn how to grapple, but it takes time to be good at it. You can learn a lot of concepts at the beginning, but to become very proficient in BJJ, it takes a lot of time and there's a reason why the standard time to get a black belt is 10 to 15 years. And then the final fourth category is when it comes down to weapon arts. When you've got a screamer and you've got the Kali six, but honestly, we're not gonna focus on that today because it's not like you're gonna walk around with a screamer six and we're not even really getting to the topic of weapons day. We're gonna focus more on hand-to-hands and body type and builds, but that is still something that's worth a discussion in the future. Now, if urgency is not a factor that you have your time, you wanna explore, and even maybe not just for self-defense, but you wanna do the whole rounded fulfillment, you've got a lot of different options. For example, you've got the karate system in Japanese arts and Okinawan arts. Karate is pretty good for a long term and if you want philosophy built in and if you find the right school that actually teaches you sparring and combat, especially the Okinawan schools, if you're shorter and stockier, that's actually not a bad option just because they focus on, I mean, a lot of the Okinawans, they're not huge people. They've learned to generate that power and drive linear force forward. So an Okinawan or a Japanese karate system is not a bad idea if you want to invest the time into it. That being said, you've got the Chinese arts, also excellent, but they take a commitment as well. You've got arts like Wing Chun and Xinyi Xuan and those arts, they are great and they're good short range and they're meant for smaller people, but once again, you're not gonna master that overnight. So if you have the time and you wanna explore and you wanna learn the culture and the system, those are also great options. Grappling, I'm always gonna recommend grappling because I think it's always a good option, especially if you wanna augment or supplement another system and you've got lots to choose from. There's wrestling, there's judo, there's Japanese jiu-jitsu, there's Brazilian jiu-jitsu, there's Sambo, a lot of great options to explore and excellent for smaller people because again, even though yes, a larger person might have the advantage for grappling, a smaller person learning the skills can utilize it to their advantage. So I always recommend some sort of a grappling to complement whatever system you're training in. Now, if your focus really is just to learn the fight and you wanna learn the fight relatively quickly, then you're gonna wanna go to schools that focus on sparring and not necessarily competition for point schools, but you want a school that's gonna pressure test your art. Now the karate systems and the Chinese arts, they can still be good, but again, you have to find the right school that's not focused on tournaments or just lifestyle. They have to be rigorous in sparring because that's where your skills are going to develop. If your goal is self-defense and being able to defend yourself against a larger person, you're gonna need a school that's gonna have that hands-on and that pressure testing, not points system, but pressure testing, resistance from a person who's trying to knock your head off. So if your focus is on fighting skills, honestly, a good place to start, good old boxing. Boxing's gonna teach you a lot of great skills that you can apply to really any art and it can augment any art just like grappling. You're gonna learn solid punching skills, the abilities and speed and footwork and balance and dodging skills. So I would definitely recommend boxing. There's a lot you can learn from that. To take a step up from that is Muay Thai. You know, Muay Thai kickboxing is also excellent, especially it's gonna teach you a lot of the same skills as boxing, but you're gonna throw kicks in there too. Definitely good for smaller, statured people. If you look at a lot of Muay Thai practitioners, a lot of them are out there kicking trees in half and they're like five foot five, five foot six, you know, you're gonna generate a lot of power. So and Muay Thai is also really good, you know, let's be honest, if you're in a real life self-defense situation and you're small, your chances are you're not gonna be kicking people in the head or doing flying strikes to the head. But with an art like Muay Thai, you know the kind of damage you could do to a person's legs and stop a fight quicker that way too. So boxing and Muay Thai boxing and kickboxing are excellent options to start with. They're gonna generate power, they're gonna teach you a lot of fighting skills and movements and speed, rich source of education right there. Then we have arts like Krav Maga, which is designed for street fighting, designed for self-defense, but once again, you've got to find the right school. There's a lot of schools that will focus on the ideas of it, but you want the ones that have the hands on resistance training. Krav Maga, if you find the right school, it's quick, it's dirty, it's effective, it'll get the job done, you get in, you get out. Wing Chung is another great art for smaller people and it's actually believed to be an art that was developed for people of smaller stature and it's great for the close combats and the cutting in at the angles and bridging distance to get you up and close. It's just another art though that takes time. You know, you gotta put your years into it and you have to find a good school that will again teach you the hands-on experience, but that's another great art for a smaller person. When it comes to stand-up grappling, I would recommend either judo or some variation of a Japanese jiu-jitsu system. Again, you wanna find a good school, a school that's gonna practice on people and give you that resistance training and also make sure it's not necessarily just a competition, a tournament focus school. Judo is very, very popular for tournaments and they have rules and some schools will practice according to competition, but when you really look at it and break it down, judo can be applied, it can be pretty effective if you train to be effective in self-defense. So once again, like we mentioned before, people of smaller stature tend to have an advantage in stand-up grappling because with a lower center of gravity, it's a little bit easier to get into a point of leverage than a larger person would. Then we go to, of course, back down to grappling or ground fighting. Again, there's a lot of options for ground fighting and ground work, but I'm gonna recommend BJJ. You really can't go wrong with that, especially if you're smaller, if you want to augment to learn. I wouldn't say learn it only. I don't believe you should only learn a grappling system. I think they are perfect for giving you a skill to fill in where the stand-up systems don't do. And BJJ is probably one of the best options for grappling, but you have catch wrestling and you've got sombo and you've got other arts that are just as good, but with the popularity of BJJ, you've got a lot of options and more likely to find a school that's gonna fit that need for you. And, but in terms of self-defense, the reason I say you don't wanna learn BJJ or a grappling system only is since it's primarily a ground system, the ground is the last place you're gonna wanna be or spend much time on. Yes, a lot of fights do end up on the ground. They don't all, though, but when it does happen, you wanna be able to do what you have to do and get back up quickly so you can go back to your stand-up fighting. You always wanna be on your feet because you don't know who's around. When it comes to multiple attackers, and yes, a multiple attacker situation is bad news regardless of what are you trained, but it's tenfold when you're on the ground. There's really not much you can do when people stack on you. So if you go to the ground, do your damage, get back up. I will always recommend Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for this, but that's why I say you wanna learn a rounded mix. So when it comes to grappling, this is a definitely a good option for anyone of any size, really. And also, there's a lot of Filipino arts out there that are built for people with smaller stashers, and honestly, they tend to be a little bit dirtier fighting. So if that's what you're looking for, explore, look around. They're not as common in state Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as these other schools, but they are around and they do offer some options. All right, so let's get down to the nitty gritty. Your person who wants to learn self-defense regardless of the reason, whether you're being bullied or you just wanna learn how to fight, but you wanna learn self-defense, and you wanna learn it as fast as possible, and you wanna be focused on the physical aspect of fighting. Honestly, my recommendation is find a good MMA gym. I love all martial arts, and I think MMA has its purposes. I think it's a fantastic addition to the martial arts and evolution, and there's a lot of arts that offer a lot of great options, but when it comes down to it, a good MMA gym will generally gonna teach you boxing and or Muay Thai. They're gonna teach you BJJ for the ground, and ideally some Jiu-Jitsu, and they might even throw in some other striking systems such as karate or kung fu, depending on the gym. That's a pretty rich mix right there, and if you find a school that is, especially if it's competition-focused, the trained fighters for the cage, you're gonna learn these skills fast, and you're gonna learn a streamlined version that's, you know, it's not gonna have a lot of the philosophy or stuff in it, but you're gonna learn a good mix, and as you develop your skills in stand-up fighting, you're also developing your skills in ground fighting and stand-up grappling, you're gonna kind of elevate yourself all around. So if you're looking for a quick solution or a quick fighting ability, find a gym that teaches a good mix of those arts, and a good MMA gym will go a long way, because honestly, its focus is to develop a well-rounded fighter. Now of course, nothing is written in stone. Every individual is gonna find what they need in different places, but I would definitely like to hear from all of you out there. Are there any arts that I did not include on this list that you think would benefit a shorter practitioner, or I would love to hear from your experience? Do you have a specific experience with an art, or did you have to modify an art to fit your needs? All of that adds up, and it's all information and education we can share with each other, because that supports the goal that we have here. To join the martial arts, to be a better you. Thank you so much for watching this episode. We definitely love to hear what you all have to think, so we love your comments. Also, please like and subscribe, share this video with your friends if you like what I had to say, because maybe people you know need some advice on the arts that they're looking for, and also be sure to join us on Patreon. We have a lot of good, exclusive content there for members, and plus your support helps keep this channel running. So we always look forward to working with everyone here, and thank you again, and we'll see you next week.