Does size give people an advantage in a fight?

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on SEP 26, 2022

Does size give people an advantage in a fight?

 

I had a question from a potential student this week who was concerned over his (low) weight and how effective certain styles were for him.

Does size give people an advantage in a fight?

Size does matter in the martial arts, but not necessarily in the way you might think.

Generally speaking, height, reach and weight play a significant role in every combat sport. In martial arts fights and tournaments, there are weight classes to ensure that opponents are evenly matched….. Of course, in a self-defense situation, you don’t get to pick the size of your opponent.

We often hear that one style is more powerful than another, but this is incorrect. It’s NOT the style of karate that has power. NO one style is stronger than any other, regardless of what you maybe told. It is the individual and how they apply themselves.

Everything matters in regards to a real fight. You can make anything work for you, or against you. Many factors are at play and size is typically something that could matter.

But anything and everything can matter in a self-defense scenario….. Confidence, skill, endurance, power, mobility, even the kind of shoes you are wearing can matter….. even the environment matters!

Important too is your confidence and people handling skills. If you know how to manage people and are a confident individual, you should NEVER get into a fight unless you seek it out for yourself….. Self-defense skills don’t start with a physical response.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the type of body you have, or the style you follow. It’s about how you train within the right context, having the right mindset and how you follow the martial art you are studying. Anyone with any body type can master any form of martial art with proper training. The only question is, how much effort are you willing to put in?

Worrying about optimal body type, beyond working to optimize your own, is a fool’s errand. Because if self-defense is your goal, you will never be able to pick the size of your opponent.

Fighting skills alone are not enough. You have to have good conditioning, a reliable skill set that you have pressure tested, a strategy (verbal and physical) and most importantly, the correct mindset.

With a real self-defense scenario you will have no idea of what you are getting yourself into. Even if you have some fighting experience, and your opponent is unarmed and alone, you are still leaping into the unknown.

There simply is nothing to gain in fighting someone in a street fight unless there is absolutely no option. You can lose everything – your life, your health, and possibly decades in prison if your opponent falls down, hits his head, and dies.

Of course size and weight are important, and it’s imperative to consider this in your training, because you will never know the advantages your opponent may have. “The bigger they are, the harder they hit” is a good lesson to learn. But the better answer is, don’t get into a fight. Avoid them at all costs. What matters most is not weight or height, there are a many more factors more important than either.