Women's Self Defense

[lolita24]

How could I possibly win a fight against someone bigger and stronger than me?

[Harkon72]

Size, Strength and Speed are relative; My wife is 5' 2", I'm 5' 11" and 14 stone, I have trained in Karatedo for over 25 years. But when she gets inside my reach and uses correct technique; I hit the floor like a sack of spuds. It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.

[mal103]

When you get to a certain level of Karate and start to understand the applications of the advanced Kata you will learn the many techniques needed to take down a stronger/bigger opponent.

A lot of these techniques are the same in many MA so it doesn't have to be Karate. You just need lots of training with the right teacher.

[Safroot]

It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.

good one

[Wastelander]

How could I possibly win a fight against someone bigger and stronger than me?

First of all, welcome to the forum!

With regard to your question, I'm afraid it's a little to vague to give you a more specific answer than the ones you've already been given. Proper training over time will develop the technique, speed, power, and composure under pressure necessary to defend yourself. Hopefully. I will be honest with you--there is no martial art that can guarantee you will overcome a larger attacker 100% of the time. The best they can do is give you a much better chance than you would have without martial arts training.

[Zaine]

How could I possibly win a fight against someone bigger and stronger than me?

First of all, welcome to the forum!

With regard to your question, I'm afraid it's a little to vague to give you a more specific answer than the ones you've already been given. Proper training over time will develop the technique, speed, power, and composure under pressure necessary to defend yourself. Hopefully. I will be honest with you--there is no martial art that can guarantee you will overcome a larger attacker 100% of the time. The best they can do is give you a much better chance than you would have without martial arts training.

Agreed. Although I cannot give you an answer from a feminine perspective, I can relate my experience fighting larger people. My sensei was both taller and larger than any of his students and because of this we spent time learning techniques to use against a bigger opponent. So there are a plethora of techniques that allow you to effectively defeat a larger opponent but, like Wastelander has said, there is no guarantee. Just as there is no guarantee that a larger opponent will defeat a smaller one.

[xnovak1023]

I am very biased on this subject. At the beginning of my training in Aikido, I was still a child but being larger than a normal child and a lack of a children's class, my instructor put me in with the adults. It was there I learned size does not matter. Nor does gender, as the many female Aikidoka threw and trained with uke much larger than themselves.

I am still in my first month in Shotokan, but from what I have seen in my short time and the time I have been introduced to this art through other martial artist acquaintances in the past, and my endless reading through the dozen or so books I have purchased, the same theory applies as I have stated above.

In the many martial arts I have encountered and studied, there is a plethora of techniques to ward off larger opponents. But in my opinion, the same can be applied to any technique based on your understanding of body mechanics and kinetics, which to some comes naturally with some good, old fashioned training.

So in ending, (to my rather lengthy post) in whatever art you may study, as long as you train hard and examine different views on techniques, size and gender does not matter.

[CredoTe]

How could I possibly win a fight against someone bigger and stronger than me?

First of all, welcome to the forum!

With regard to your question, I'm afraid it's a little to vague to give you a more specific answer than the ones you've already been given. Proper training over time will develop the technique, speed, power, and composure under pressure necessary to defend yourself. Hopefully. I will be honest with you--there is no martial art that can guarantee you will overcome a larger attacker 100% of the time. The best they can do is give you a much better chance than you would have without martial arts training.

Agreed. Although I cannot give you an answer from a feminine perspective, I can relate my experience fighting larger people. My sensei was both taller and larger than any of his students and because of this we spent time learning techniques to use against a bigger opponent. So there are a plethora of techniques that allow you to effectively defeat a larger opponent but, like Wastelander has said, there is no guarantee. Just as there is no guarantee that a larger opponent will defeat a smaller one.

Great posts, great advice from both... Anything I may add would muddy the water

And, yes, welcome to KF lolita24!

[andym]

How could I possibly win a fight against someone bigger and stronger than me?

One of the big things women and smaller people have in their favour - surprise ! The bigger and strong don't expect a fight back, they are over confidant. Cats and dogs, most dogs are bigger than cats and love to chase them....right up to the point were the cat stops running. Suddenly the dogs usually don't want to know and decide to trot off somewhere else.

One technical point to do with this type of situation : accuracy is king.

[devil dog]

It is not only possible it happens more than you think. On a trip to Okinawa I had a senior instructor not only dump me on my butt but made me want to stay there. I am 6'2" and 230 lbs, he is 5' nothing and I would guess no more than 135 lbs.

My 12 year old daughter took me down during her Gokyu test and there was nothing I could do about it.

Leverage, speed and proper technique is all that is required. I am not saying that once you take them down you get down and try to finish the fight with a much stronger opponent. You need to use a finishing technique and run!!!!!!!!

When I was just a youngster I was tall and skinny and I could never compete when it came to wrestling a stronger opponent. However I was quicker than most and knew how to use there body against them and apply proper leverage. I don't care how big a guy is if proper technique is used he/she will go down every time.

Now if your talking about fighting the same applies. If you hit someone in the right place it's lights out or down they go in a lot of pain without needing to be built like a tank.

One of my students took a womens self defense course in Krav Maga and they taught her a lot of great techniques to combat a larger stronger opponent. She came back and shared these techniques with the women in my dojo and I sat in to watch and played the attacker.

If you get hit in the throat and can't breath - you can't fight, You get hit in the eyes and can't see - you can't fight, you get hit in the knee and can't stand you can't fight. Simple little techniques like this allow a women to fight off larger opponents and flee to safety.

After seeing and experiencing this first hand there is a lot of merit to these techniques and can help a smaller person deal with a larger attacker.