I need some advices because I'm too short and light... :(

[Gabrielle]

Hi karatekas!

I'm new and I'm a girl of 17 years old, I'm green belt in shotokan style...

I'm short, my height is 5,25 feet (1.60 meters) and all my karate mates are at least 1.80 meters..at least, they are all males and they are all Black belts .. :'(

Now for my height no one fights against me in a serious way, they often kid me because I'm little and sick ( even if I'm sick I'have enough muscoles eh!)

With this behaviour I don't learn nothing, when I was yellow belt I used to accept this because I was really a newbie, but Now I want to learn how to do a good kumite...

So I want to begin a special training to improve my agility, and my explosive power, and anyone could suggest me the best techinque to defeat a boy who is the double of you?

Maybe some grip o it's only a mental problem?

I need a customized training

PS my weight is 47 kg = 103,62 Ibs

[MasterPain]

Beating someone twice your size? WEAPONS! You will never fight someone that much larger in competition, so if you do fight someone that large they have very bad intentions.

As for the way they're treating you in class, explain to them that you are serious about the art and want to be treated with the same respect they would show a man of your size.

[Gabrielle]

yea, I don't want to fight in competitions, that's is not my major worry, I want to learn how to defend my self in a bad situation, I think that the martial arts could teach this in someway..

I'm very sad.. so there's no way, a girl would never defeat a tall boy?

There's no trainings to improve your fight ability?

Without weapons xD

[JusticeZero]

If you are attacked, it won't be by a highly trained fighter. It will be by someone who is cowardly and wants to find someone they can overpower.

Think of the phrase "I don't have to be faster than the bear, I just have to be faster than you". You are training to be reliably "faster than" a strung out bully by practicing your running with bears and gazelles. Your size means you will never be able to keep up with many of them, but you don't need to, you just need to keep getting better than you were because the 2.1 meter muscular guys in your class are not representative of anyone who will try to hurt you.

I'm sure Ev is going to pipe up here at some point, because she trains in a very heavy contact school and knocks the heck out of all sorts of monster guys, and iirc she's shorter than you are.

Talk to your teacher and training partners and try to communicate that you need to get better at self defense, because they won't always be there to protect you.

Meanwhile, learn how to deliver calm, controlled, smiling, but REALLY FREAKING HARD hits. If they won't take you seriously, keep stepping up how much power you're dishing out until they start taking you seriously just to avoid the bruising. Or get mad at you, at which point you'll actually have something to work with.

[Wastelander]

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, you need to talk to your instructor and tell him/her your goals, and explain how you want to be treated in the dojo. The instructor sets the tone for the class, and if he/she is on board with you then it will be much easier for your training partners to treat you the way that you want to be treated.

Second of all, at your size you are never going to be more powerful than a man twice your size, but that doesn't mean that you can't be effective in defending yourself. Train for accuracy, speed and explosiveness in stressful situations and that will serve you very well--as JusticeZero mentioned, most attackers outside of the dojo are going to be untrained and looking for a weak target. If you are accurate, fast and explosive then you will hit plenty hard enough to stop an attacker like that.

In pursuit of becoming more explosive and developing striking power, I would recommend that you research strength and conditioning programs the focus on explosiveness, and work your strikes on a makiwara, heavy bag and punch mitts held by your instructor. This should also help you develop the speed of your strikes, but be sure to do footwork drills to make sure that your entire body moves quickly and smoothly. For accuracy, mitt work, using a BOB and sparring are going to be your best bets.

[sensei8]

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

You've thus far, been given some pretty solid advice, imho.

Pain is not a respecter of size; hit in the right places and the right way, tree's are downed for far much lesser reasons.

[kensei]

Only thing I can say is "take it to them" and force them to take you seriously.

[AdamKralic]

Speed and agility. Many tall people are slow and clumsy. Even karate fighters when compared to shorter, lighter opponents. Also taller people are larger targets. You are a smaller target meaning that they can only score...on a much smaller target which requires them to be much more accurate than they might be used to.

Build up your speed and reflexes. Read about drills that you can do at home. Practice on building your strengths and hiding your weaknesses.

Angles. You need to be awesome at footwork and moving into advantageous position. Use angles and circular motion constantly. A small fighter has to learn how to get in and out of their range without getting hit themselves. Angles are the key.

There is a lot more than that to learn of course and you will. But start good footwork training immediately.

[AdamKralic]

I posted this fight in another thread...but it works here too.

This is my son. He is 10 in this fight and the smaller fighter. He's hitting a growth spurt now but then as you might imagine...he faced all the problems that you faced well minus the girl part. (btw...the BEST fighter he currently faces is a girl that is exactly his size...she is a truly great fighter)

Anyways back to when he was 10: Lighter than most, smaller than most.

The kid that is fighting him is applying plenty of pressure. He is going for hard front kicks repeatedly. A few of them ones where he's jumping into them for more power. He connects like once for every 10 times my son hits him.

(My son is in the red boots) Side to side movement, angles, circular motion...

[yamesu]

I'm very sad.. so there's no way, a girl would never defeat a tall boy?

Two words =- groin kick!!!!