hongkongfooey
Black Belt
I am 6'1".
WMKS Shogun
Green Belt
I am a whopping 5'6''. Several of my students are taller than I am, but that is okay, I can still kick them in the head
Arizona Angel
Master Black Belt
I am 5'6" and find myself reaching upwards a lot, but since most of the world is taller than me, I might as well be learning how to do it correctly.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
all of 5'10"...ish...
IWishToLearn
3rd Black Belt
Just under 6' here. I'm still a little guy though .
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mrhnau
Senior Master
I used to be six foot, then spinal compression from my bike accident robbed me of some height 
.
The advantage is that when people accuse me of being 'stiff necked' I can either answer with "Yes, that's right!" or "How did you know?" :lol:.
. The advantage is that when people accuse me of being 'stiff necked' I can either answer with "Yes, that's right!" or "How did you know?" :lol:.
I am 6' 4" and still wasn't as tall as some of the guys on my b-ball team.
In my youth I was about 6' 6", then in college it was about 6'4", then around thirty it was about 6'0", then at 35 it was 5'10", now at 50 I am about 5'9" Ok I have always been that hieght but it sounded so much better this way.
astrobiologist
Brown Belt
I'm 5'6" and I love it... The perfect height for a stocky guy like me.
5’6”
Never been an issue.
I was the “smallest person on my high school football team, but one of the strongest. Being right guard at 5’6”, weight 150# is not healthy….Sure I could bench 250# at the time, but man I got dropped on my *** a lot!!
I competed in highland games once. Again smallest person there. I was about 190#. Again one of the strongest, I think I was benching around 350# at the time, it didnÂ’t matter. The bigger heavier guys had the height advantage, reach advantage and plain mass advantage. I could better most of them in the gym pushing iron, but on the field, I couldnÂ’t compete.
The bets thing about being short? The oldest people in the world are short. We live longer!!
Never been an issue.
I was the “smallest person on my high school football team, but one of the strongest. Being right guard at 5’6”, weight 150# is not healthy….Sure I could bench 250# at the time, but man I got dropped on my *** a lot!!
I competed in highland games once. Again smallest person there. I was about 190#. Again one of the strongest, I think I was benching around 350# at the time, it didnÂ’t matter. The bigger heavier guys had the height advantage, reach advantage and plain mass advantage. I could better most of them in the gym pushing iron, but on the field, I couldnÂ’t compete.
The bets thing about being short? The oldest people in the world are short. We live longer!!
I quoted this because I have heard this said numerous times over the years.
At 6'4, I can say that I have had no difficulty in learning Asian martial arts. I have the same advantages and disadvantages that I have in western martial arts. Namely greater ease of outfighting and less ease infighting.
Funny, but a look at historic suits of European armor will tell you that the developement of Western martial arts was also pioneered by people who were between five feet and five six. Your average Greek or Italian is not generally of tremendous height, yet Greece and Italy are noted for their developement of wrestling. Also, in fencing, the Italian and French schools are argueably the best known, and the French are not known for exceptional height at the time that fencing was developed either.
My point is that nearly every martial system with any age on it was developed by a culture with a shorter average height than is seen in modern western society.
Each height range has its advantages and disadvantages. In general, a shorter person has an advantage in throwing arts and a taller person has an advantage in striking arts. But I've seen tall guys who can throw like they were born with a judogi and short gals that kick like Dolph Lundgren.
The key is to train and to develop your skills to take advantage of your height, be it tall or short or anywhere in between.
Daniel
astrobiologist
Brown Belt
Truly well said!
blindsage
Master of Arts
I'm 6ft and haven't ever felt it was a problem in my MA practice.
FYI, I believe the actual average height for men in the U.S. is 5'8" or 5'9", for women it's about 5'4". You are on the tall side if you are 6' even, it's just that even though they're in the minority, we do have plenty of people over that height here. So sometime you don't think your that tall, but next time you're in a crowd look around and see how many male heads you can see over, I bet it's around 2/3rds of those visible.
FYI, I believe the actual average height for men in the U.S. is 5'8" or 5'9", for women it's about 5'4". You are on the tall side if you are 6' even, it's just that even though they're in the minority, we do have plenty of people over that height here. So sometime you don't think your that tall, but next time you're in a crowd look around and see how many male heads you can see over, I bet it's around 2/3rds of those visible.
