You may have heard it in passing. Maybe you’ve watched movies in which you see a tiny but skilled martial artist taking down a large man. You may have even had a martial artist tell it to you with confidence. Size doesn’t mean anything if you’re a trained martial artist.

Is this statement true? No. However, part of the issue here is the wording. I’ve found many people understand that size is definitely a factor, but the way it’s being stated isn’t correct. When people hear this, they take it literally. It would be more accurate to state that size does not need to be a factor. Yet even this is not always the case, but much closer to the truth. Size is definitely a factor when it comes to martial arts and self-defense. You’re lying to yourself if you believe otherwise. However, that
doesn’t have to be the only factor in the equation. Successful self-defense has a lot of factors involved with each scenario that plays out. With proper training, you can make size less of a factor over time.

Understanding the positives and negatives of each body type is an important place to start when it comes to overcoming size issues. I’ve watched these positives and negatives play out in my school numerous times. The small and slim practitioner generally has energy for days, whereas many of the larger practitioner’s tire quicker. There are two things to draw from this. One, the smaller person can place more prolonged effort into their training than the larger student. Another thing I have noticed
over the years is precision in technique. My larger students have a tendency to rely on their size and strength, and therefore needing perfect technique isn’t as important. Compare that to my smaller students that need near perfect technique to make things work against larger students. Over time, the smaller student tends to understand and perform techniques on a very high level.

Other body shapes to consider are slim and muscular. Generally speaking, flexibility comes into play. Slender body types are typically more flexible and muscular body types are usually less flexible. This can either hinder self-defense movements or open one up to more options. Pressure points are also affected in these two body types more than others. A slender person is much harder to manipulate through pressure points as those pressure points are more recessed in the body and hidden. Compare
that to someone who is muscular where those muscles may potentially push many of those pressure points to the surface of the body. This makes them much easier to access and manipulate. Note that I haven’t been able to find scientific research on pressure points being more or less manipulated depending on body types. I state this through anecdotal evidence from well over twenty years of seeing it be true from training partners and students. Unfortunately, when it comes to pressure points,
especially regarding martial arts, there has been very little research.

What many mean by stating, “size doesn’t matter in martial arts”, is that anyone of any size or physical dexterity can learn and be efficient in martial arts and self-defense. I like to break things down into percentages when it comes to discussions like this. Many people tend to think in black and white, all or nothing, when it comes to these discussions. It’s easy to state that a six foot eight, three-hundred-pound muscular man will dominate a four-foot ten-inch, ninety pound opponent. Nothing is 100%, however. Yes, the larger man has a greater chance, but it’s never 100%. Self-defense is all about finding ways to increase your percentages and lower your opponent’s percentages.

If we assume that both the large man and small man have no experience in self-defense, then the large man has an extremely high chance of success, and the small man an extremely low chance. Training in marital arts doesn’t give that small man a 100% chance of defending himself in that scenario. Maybe a years worth of solid training, and assuming the large man still has no training, then maybe the smaller man now has a twenty percent chance of success. Each year of training adds to that number. Keep in mind, however, that if the larger man begins training, then those numbers change again.

Anyone can train in martial arts and improve their chances of successfully defending themselves. Size doesn’t need to be the only factor in self-defense. Nor does this mean that size doesn’t matter. To reiterate, it’s all just part of the equation where there are many factors involved. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, self-defense and martial arts can’t be described in such simple statements. Self-defense isn’t contained to just a one on one fight where both fighters have equal training and are both squared off ready for a fight. It’s an extremely complicated topic where a person needs to set the parameters and scenarios before discussing whether or not size and strength matter.