Advice for a tiny female fighter

Evening all, as you can see I am the latest victim of this site, LOL. Joined because for the love of god I can't seem to find any other MA online forum which is still active >.>

Anyway just a bit of background: I had never done any MA before but earlier this year a GKR rep passed by my house and offered a trial membership. Yeah yeah I know it gets all the hate, but as a beginner it did make me get off my lazy arse and actually do something.

Anyway after around 12 or so classes now I find that the style is just so... soft. Maybe it's beginner's level but I find that even if the theory is fairly sound for basic defence I feel like it needs more contact to be an effective lesson. My sensei is great though and had lots of practical advice for street situation, but the atmosphere and lack of skill in the higher belt students I find... disturbing. You shouldn't be in yellow belt if you can't do the basic punches and blocks at least -_-;;

Which brings me to now. I want to find another style that's way more focused into self-defence. I prefer traditional style arts and I thought karate (and it's billion forms) were the best fit since I am a tiny tiny person (5'1") as styles that need long reach or grappling fairly hard IMO. There's plenty of commando-style courses around but I want to make it a progressive thing hence the traditional form with all the ranks (I prefer to call them milestones) entailed. Though do recommend anything that might help. I don't intend to compete either.

So, any experts or other (tiny) gentlemen and ladies had the same problem and can shed some light? Glad for any help you guys can provide :)

[jnp]

We typically recommend Judo. I have personally been cleanly thrown with my feet above my head by a 110 lb female Judoka, and I'm a halfway decent wrestler. Full disclosure, she was a third degree black belt.

Hitting someone with the planet is a very effective form of self defense.

Boxing and Kickboxing are also excellent martial arts that teach no nonsense self defense skills, although I realize they are not traditional Eastern martial arts. They are however, traditional western martial arts.

[Phrost]

My brain isn't fully working yet this morning; what's GKR?

As for style advice, we nearly always recommend Judo to start. It's cheap, widely available, and teaches you up front how not to get hurt while training with the amount of intensity that will actually prepare you for a real self defense situation.

And especially with you being smaller, learning mastery of leverage and a realistic understanding of how to employ it against larger opponents, will be essential.

Also, if you're looking to learn something for self defense because you believe you have a specific threat you need to counter, learn how to operate a firearm and get your concealed carry permit.

Welcome to the site. Ignore Lebell.

[Phrost]

Haha, JNP Judo-Sniped me.

[slamdunc]

Welcome to Bullshido. In order for the advice you get here to be accurate, you probably need to outline your ultimate goals. A lot of styles and systems are 'focused on self-defense'; are you wanting to learn so that you can teach, fight amateur, fight pro, be able to defend yourself, or just to be more well-rounded?

[bigdaddy]

I would suggest Judo. My wife has a very petite frame, doctor has actually told her she needs to gain weight, she really enjoys Judo and when she gets it right, it is very effective for her. More importantly, as has been stated, it depends a lot on where your goals and interests lie.

[Sam Browning]

Does the original poster live in a location where she can legally possess firearms?

[JingMerchant!]

Anyway just a bit of background: I had never done any MA before but earlier this year a GKR rep passed by my house and offered a trial membership. Yeah yeah I know it gets all the hate, but as a beginner it did make me get off my lazy arse and actually do something

GKR? As in Go Kan Ryu Karate...???

My brain isn't fully working yet this morning; what's GKR?

I'll pass you on to the threads started here. Alot of info was gathered by our old mate Sochin.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...hlight=kan+ryu
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...423&highlight=
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...hlight=kan+ryu
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...394&highlight=

TL;DR version - GKR (Assuming it's the same one) is Bullshit of the highest order! It's a pyramid scheme! All you are learning there is how to propagate further bullshit and delusion!

Leave!

Leave now!

I cannot stress this enough!

Go and find the nearest Judo dojo and don't look back!

If Self defence is your goal and you live in a country that doesn't allow you to carry firearms, may I suggest you pick up a couple of books by Geoff Thompson as well. That should give you an insight into situational awareness. Start doing some regular cardio too!

Have you left yet....? If not, why the hell not??

Welcome to Bullshido : Home of tough love in the MA world, since 2002.

[Like Water]

Many threads on this site about the importance of of "liveness" in practice, that address the too soft issue. Read up on them and you should learn what to look for when trying out new schools.

As has been said: Judo. And you'd best believe it. I'm over six feet tall and female Judokas your size have never had any trouble throwing me around like a ragdoll. Judo and BJJ both emphasize leverage, and are great arts for teaching the small to beat the bigger folks through technique, not strength. But Judo is much, much cheaper than BJJ.

Kyokushin karate is cheap like Judo, though (at least around here anyways) much harder to find. It's a solid art, and any real Kyokushin school is going to be anything but soft.
Boxing and kickboxing also great for women, intense workouts, and you'll learn to go hard. But of course you said you still wanted that Eastern feel.

[The Question]

Does the original poster live in a location where she can legally possess firearms?

Aiyo, chill out John Wayne Matlock.

Though I guess being 5'1'' is going to make it difficult to fight effectively if self defense is the only goal.

Judo what you gotta do. I don't see you knocking out a motherfucker. Although I would recommend BJJ to you, because I've been choked out by a motherfucker under 5 feet once. Also, it's pretty good at dealing with people trying to hold you down.

We typically recommend Judo. I have personally been cleanly thrown with my feet above my head by a 110 lb female Judoka, and I'm a halfway decent wrestler. Full disclosure, she was a third degree black belt.

Hitting someone with the planet is a very effective form of self defense.

Boxing and Kickboxing are also excellent martial arts that teach no nonsense self defense skills, although I realize they are not traditional Eastern martial arts. They are however, traditional western martial arts.

Kyokushin karate is cheap like Judo, though (at least around here anyways) much harder to find. It's a solid art, and any real Kyokushin school is going to be anything but soft.
Boxing and kickboxing also great for women, intense workouts, and you'll learn to go hard. But of course you said you still wanted that Eastern feel.

Thanks for the recommendations :) Yeah I have been thinking of boxing/kickboxing and also Kyokushin. There is a fairly big and successful KKS school in Melbourne, but their timetable clashes a lot with mine. This would've been my first choice if I couldn't find any other style. My partner who is 6' is more interested in kickboxing than Eastern MA though, so I guess we'll give both a few tries and then decide afterwards. I have a feeling he'd gone one way and I'd go the other ;) However I think the boxing gyms around my house are fairly dingy and disreputable so I'll have to scout for a good one.

My brain isn't fully working yet this morning; what's GKR?

TL;DR version - GKR (Assuming it's the same one) is Bullshit of the highest order! It's a pyramid scheme! All you are learning there is how to propagate further bullshit and delusion!

[snip]

Have you left yet....? If not, why the hell not??

That's why I'm the noobie and you aren't! LOL. As much flak as GKR cops, I have not been exposed to any of the admin hullabaloo though. The two sensei I have been training under are Shodan (1st dan BB). Not sure about their years, but since I'm white belt it doesn't really matter. However I was concerned with the grading requirement. I have seen lots of yellow/orange belts who can't even do the basic blocks properly and terrible when doing partner training. The atmosphere is great for kids and families, however for someone who wants more than just self-discipline and confidence boost it's such a bad fit.

Also, if you're looking to learn something for self defense because you believe you have a specific threat you need to counter, learn how to operate a firearm and get your concealed carry permit.

Does the original poster live in a location where she can legally possess firearms?

Sorry guys, firearms in Australia are illegal ;)

Welcome to Bullshido. In order for the advice you get here to be accurate, you probably need to outline your ultimate goals. A lot of styles and systems are 'focused on self-defense'; are you wanting to learn so that you can teach, fight amateur, fight pro, be able to defend yourself, or just to be more well-rounded?

I live in the west of Melbourne where fights break out often in the train station where bogans and ethnics go crazy on themselves or each other. Not to mention the crazy Viet mafia wannabe running around. There had been some scare cases where if you so much look at those guys fighting you might get suckered in, lucky I'd never been in one. That's why I just want to learn self defense where I can neutralize my opponent and either intimidate them to run away or incapacitate them so I can get help. I'm not actively looking for a fight but if I am cornered by a few guys I can hold off on my own. Plus the fitness value is just icing on the cake.

Potential threats include: Really tall lanky blokes, drunk bogan women, douchebags with too much biceps and not much brain and groups of Asian/African thugs (no I'm not being racist, it's just the truth :/)

Many threads on this site about the importance of of "liveness" in practice, that address the too soft issue. Read up on them and you should learn what to look for when trying out new schools.

Yeah I'm trying to find something that has more hands on with lots more practical sparring. :)

Thanks all for the input, I'll start hunting down dojos in Judo and kickboxing and see how we go from there :D Not sure if there's any BJJ dojo near here though, plus I have also heard some shit stories about this style that I have to research a bit more.

[Tameshiwhaty?]

If you want kata go with Kyokushin the kata are nice and the contact is real, if you want a eastern striking art go with kyokushin. I'm a little biased to karate so of course I would recommend it but I tell ya I did kickboxing and liked it but I love karate.

[hungryjoe]

Velnica,

Welcome to the site.

From the perspective of a father with a petite high school aged daughter and more than thirty years in the ma's myself.

With her nearly ten years training, including many in the striking arts, I feel her judo experience is her best defense against an attacker (read hormone raging boys and others). She'd tell you the same.

No matter what, take heed of the advice given on training in an "alive" manner. It will take years to be able to effectively defend yourself against larger attackers and brute strength will many times overcome any but the expert when relying on the striking arts.

One good year of dedicated judo training will put you on track to have an attacker meet mother earth. Along the way you'll learn many good ways to choke a person out if needed. You'll also learn how to manipulate limbs in ways not intended, resulting in said attacker making a trip to the hospital.

Another vote for judo.

[slamdunc]

It would seem that you live in the wild, wild, west without firearms. I'm going to have to vote for Judo as well. Become proficient and then add some striking (perhaps boxing) to round out your style.

[slamdunc]

Dude what on earth a 5'1 girl can do with even 2 or 3 years of boxing against a thug?

With the Judo base, when she's inside (which will probably be most of the time), she can defend; striking to fend off and to fight out. You of all people should know how much power can be generated with proper boxing technique. I am assuming a lot here in the first place, in that she already has a karate base (GKR). Not that it is any kind of MT or anything, but they do have kicking.

She's at a great disadvantage, no matter which style she chooses as a base. This is just MY way, not THE way (all about opinions here). Wearing my real-world hat, I would suggest that she move from the badlands to somewhere a bit safer and take up Tai Chi.