I (21f) am 5’5" and skinny. I recently attended a self-defense class, and there I was tought how to use a pocket knife. And as I have some male friends 6’5"+ tall, I thought that that height actually makes your belly particularly vulnerable in case of a fight (in comparisson with short people):
- a short person’s shoulder height is around the same level as your belly making it easier to stab/hit;
- your belly is proportionally a larger target.
And in general, if a 6’5"+ guy stands in front of me with his stomach released (even if he has just a bit of a belly) it feels like having an exposed, large and squishy punching/stabbing bag right in front of me, into which, if needed, I can easily harshly and deeply plunge anything straight away.
I also practice historical fencing (rapier) and most of the times I stab tall opponents into the belly - my favorite thrusts are ducking counterattacks when I duck while they attack, go low and impale a tall guy’s unprotected belly right onto my rapier.
What do you think about it?
The only real advantage being small has is that a larger opponent might underestimate you or just have no idea how to fight someone smaller. Otherwise, in any physical fight, they’re just going to have an advantage.
Why would they let you get to their belly with their superior reach? They can use their own knife/whatever to hit you first.
Obviously, for anything, they might also just not be as trained as you or have whatever other disadvantages, but in general, assuming equal skill and effort and no mental biases, i.e. everything else being equal, larger simply equals better in a physical fight.
As a retired martial arts instructor, I can’t really say that being shorter gives you much of an advantage when targeting an opponent’s belly…but it does mean you will have a lower center for gravity compared to larger opponents.
In grappling terms, this gives you a slight advantage in applying leverage for most shoulder throws. Your natural pivot point at the hip is lower than theirs so they will be top heavy compared to you.
Unfortunately, if your arms are proportional to your height, then larger opponents will have a reach advantage over you, which may negate the advantage you have due to your lower center of gravity. They will be able to keep you from closing the distance needed to apply your leverage.
But, if you happen to have unusually long arms relative to your height, then you can still get a hold of them before they can get a hold of you…and more effectively position them for a throw.
The short arms thing is real as fuck. I’m 5’1 and am constantly inconvenienced by how short my arms are (elbows don’t reach armrests, can’t reach the back of the cupboard, can’t reach the corner of the kitchen countertop, etc). I think in a fight with a taller person they would have the advantage: faster due to longer legs and longer range arm reach.
Solution? Return to monke and enjoy the fruits of your long armed labour.
Well, with no actual experience in fighting, I believe everything comes down to strategy and practice. You can exploit the easier access to Belly or the fact that they are heavier but it’s also a disadvantage that you’re smaller and lighter so it’s easier to toss you around I guess.
If a large man gets ahold of you, youre fucked
Practise getting away
It’s comparatively easier for a tall person to knee you in the face or keep you at range though.
Well, I can be sneakier and dodge easier when a tall guy attacks my head. While a tall guy represents a larger target and when he attacks my head and leaves his belly exposed - I can quite easily attack him in the stomach (I do that pretty often in rapier fencing, by the way). Also belly is a larger target than head, and belly is the center of mass meaning its more difficult to deflect than head when its being attacked.
Who’s to say they can’t dodge you as well? If they’ve got a reach advantage already tall doesn’t necessarily equal slow. If you’ve got a sword and I’ve got a spear as long as I keep my distance you can dodge a lot but you’ll be hard pressed to hit me unless you get inside my range.
Yep, but if we both have rapiers its pretty realistic for me to get inside your range and stab you in the belly :D
Yeah no it’s totally realistic, but my arm is still probably much longer than yours.
Yep, but its easier for me to dodge your attacks. You’d find it really challenging protecting your belly area from my rapier actually. You’d likely hold your weapon on your chest/shoulder level, while your gut would be left pretty unprotected. And if I manage to dodge, get under your blade - you’re done, with your belly impaled right onto my rapier :D
If we’re talking fencing maybe? Sure? I wouldn’t know I’ve not trained fencing. You’d know better than I. If we’re talking actual combat where I’ve trained a tiny bit with the sword and staff, I mean there’s just ways around that. Where I hold my sword or staff or whatever has little bearing on my defensive range. You’re just assuming you’re much faster than me because I’m guessing that’s what fencing is more about. But that’s with something extremely light and flexible. If where you held your weapon was all that was too it people would have been much less inclined to use say a giant battle axe. Also an actual fight ends quickly id never risk being inside your weapon range unless I knew I had a good shot. There’s no constraint on me attacking first or having to attack you a specific way.
How tall are you by the way?
You should join a mma/fight gym. It’s fun, will keep you in shape, and will probably be an enlightening and humbling experience. Skill, technique, and experience go a long way, but weight classes exist for good reason.
Being short gives you a massive advantage in gunfights.
And airplanes.
The main problem with the belly as a target in a self defense scenario is that it’s too slow. If you’re being attacked, you want to end the fight and escape as quickly as possible. Wounds to the belly kill via blood loss and sepsis, which takes at least several minutes during which the attacker can keep causing you damage.
The femoral artery in the inner thigh is what you want to aim for. Also, the tendons along the inner wrist are responsible for grip strength; if severed, that hand can’t hold anything. Take a good look at the anatomy of those areas and you’ll have a good start.
Your reaction times and agility from fencing will help you in a real fight, but the actual techniques not so much. Stick to slashing attacks, as stabbing can result in your blade getting stuck in or between bones.
Thanks for advice!
Though I think it would be more difficult to stab such specific targets which you describe. So, yep, slashing is an option - but then still: wouldn’t the belly be a perfect target for a kind of combination between a stab and a cut? For example if I plunge my blade into a tall guy’s gut and then instantly move the blade up disemboweling him, or just immediately slice his belly open with my blade. My idea is that in contrast to just a stab, such a disembowelment will likely immediately incapacitate the tall opponent and also will be pretty easy and realistic to perform.
In the immortal words of Mike Tyson
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.
Everyone has a plan until they get stabbed in the belly by a smaller opponent.
Exactly
I don’t know about knives, but in fencing sword, the first target is the hand and arm, not the belly. The hand is as close to you though for any size of your opponent.
A tall opponent has a longer reach, so that is what you need to be wary of in fencing. It means it does have a advantage to attack. But once the blades crossed, the advantage is gone, and the you have the advantage bellow your taller opponent. Because you have more room for movement in the two blades space than your opponent. You are committed there though, because getting away from the situation will be harder.
In most altercations, the first to use violence is the likely winner. Unless you walk around with a knife in hand all the time, it is unlikely to make a difference. Even then, you must always be prepared because even holding a knife, you have blind spots to be exploited.
I am tall with broad shoulders for my height. I think of my size as being an easier target for a bullet, though in practice I know that difference is rather insignificant. I look at displays of strength and force as weakness and fear. Even a kid can pull a trigger.
I primarily fear groups of stupid people, and the intelligent. I am probably biased because I am too large and intimidating to be worth the effort to fight, and have little that anyone would want. No one can fight off several attackers at once. The human propensity for dogmatic stupidity and confirmation bias is horrendous. On the other hand, I fear the domination of the intelligent, because the human capacity for cleverness is beyond the scope of anyone’s ability to counter.
In pretty much every situation, you are safer if you run. Instead of working on fighting back, having sure footing, agility, and confidence in your ability to run faster and further than any opponent is far more likely to save you. Your stride is much shorter than mine, but you are likely to be able to change directions faster than me and my momentum. Like in american football, I must increase the buffer distance before engagement when facing a smaller person in order to prevent them using my momentum against me. When I am all out in pursuit, it is the moment just before contact that is critical for awareness, confidence, and the agility to change directions quickly that will prevent me from catching you. It is also a mistake to assume I will tire or lack endurance to chase. You must have a stronger spirit than your opponent and the confidence that you can out agility them every time they try. There is no fairness in this type of altercation. I know that is scary. It is always better to turn to flight first in the fight or flight mechanism. Then come back with your fight when you control more variables.
Why would I run from you and increase the risk of you catching and grabbing me, when I can fight back by quickly pulling the knife out of my pocket and (since I’m sneakier, a smaller target and also have swordfighting skills due to fencing) just plunge my knife right into your belly up to the hilt (or even quickly slice your belly open to ensure you’re incapacitated and represent no threat to me)?
Because I will grab your hand. You could hurt me in other unique ways due to my chronic injuries. At the same time, I have spent the last 12 years in severe and unrelenting pain. As a former cyclist racer, I already had an enormous propensity for pain. Now, I’m nearly impervious to it. Nothing you could do would stop me until I lose consciousness. I don’t say that to be mean or a troll or anything. At your age, it is hard to fathom how perception of pain changes at double your age. Like in militaries, the vanguard goes last (older experienced people). We are more susceptible to injuries in some ways, but make up for it in experience and particularly in capacity for pain. Similarly in cycling racing at the amateur local levels, the masters races are often the fastest and most brutal. When you’re older, you know your real limits far better than the voice in your head screaming for you to stop.
I feel like my spine has a long sword shoved through it top to bottom all the time. I hurt in places and ways no human should be aware of their existence. When you are young, you likely imagine stuff like this is impossible; that everything can be fixed or means death. Such is not the case. It is possible to suffer terribly in ways where nothing can be done. I actually appear weaker in my hobbling and caution, trying to avoid cycles of injury, but under that façade, I am still capable, and mask the underlying ability to handle any pain short of death. My margins are on that line all the time. Even since my broken neck and back, I have broken bones riding a bike for physical therapy, and I just rode home with them and while bleeding rather seriously just out of my stubbornness and desire to say I have done so. The swelling actually puts pressure on my spine in ways that make my constant pain go away. Stabbing me, might actually help make me much stronger.
Well, how will grabbing my hand help you, when my blade is plunged into your belly? How are you going to hold my hand exactly at the position I drove the knife into your stomach? And why you think I cannot just really quickly slice open your belly, even before you grab my hand? And with your gut sliced open its not long before you pass out as well. So, if we’re talking about self-defense I can pretty realistically disembowel you actually.
Go hunting some time and try dressing an animal. Try and use a pocket knife or any other for that matter. You will quickly find the value of a filleting knife and that there is much to the technique. It is not at all like you imagine it to be, I promise it is much much harder than that and nothing like games or movies might have you imagine. It is more like cutting a tough steak. Some little knife is nothing more than superficial cutting at best. Even if you really hit an artery somewhere, you would be strangled twice over before that wound would lead to a loss of consciousness.
For me, as a former racing cyclist, you never want to be around my legs. My lower body is deceptively massive and stronger than you can imagine, especially at my size. All I have to do is bulldoze you with my weight and size. If you are expecting some kind of parried fighting you are wrong. I will put my weight and efforts into stopping and pinning your arm, but my objective is to physically dominate you by force and I do not care if you get a stab. In my crashes on the bike I lost one of the nerves in my chin for a quarter of my face where I am numb to pressure and temperature. I split my right hand between index and middle finger into my palm. I am covered in scars from road rash taking off large chunks of skin. I know pain on another level. If I am on top of you at all, you have no chance of overcoming the force of my legs. My thighs are likely around the size of your waist if you are a skinny 5’5". So yeah, good luck with former racing me. You would likely unintentionally push my head to my left. Even a mild blow there would likely cause me major trouble and maybe death. Likewise with punching at a my ribs that connect to my sternum. You could easily crush or collapse my vertebrae with little effort. The rest of me is a strong 42yo, but my mid to upper spine is something like 90.
Some people do not feel pain. I got that ability the hard way, but I have known two people that got it with genetics. They actually have trouble where they could bleed out before noticing it. Never assume anything when you are throwing out all morality to turn to violence. Your opponent is the smartest, most well armed, strongest and most agile person on the planet. To assume anything less is to wind up dead. Never pull a gun you are unwilling or unable to use, same with a knife. Make every threat real or you end up dead because luck is a killer that must never get called. Surprise is everything in fighting, so constrain every variable possible. If you are pulling a knife in defense, that means I am attacking. That means I have constrained the variables. That means I am prepared and you will never have the chance to draw your knife. I am not attacking you because, like everyone else, I am not motivated to harm you in any way. At your age, I had a 12 gage, a .243, and a .22 that helped me through that phase. Humans are not fully cognitively developed until the age of around 25. The logic skills and self awareness in this specific area are a major aspect of what is still growing and developing. Try to keep that anxiety in check as best as possible. It is natural to feel such anxiety. It is part of developing self awareness and logical scopes of vulnerability and hierarchy. We do not talk about this stage of development enough in US culture.
My partner and I sometimes sparring and discuss on different scenarios. But those are just games and hypotheses. There are always advantages and disadvantages, prepared and not prepared, there can be ambushes that we don’t know how we died, a fight with the same weapon is not fair because all sorts of things. All in all, we don’t want to be caught in a fight. If have to, we want the information/power/instrument the opponent don’t know we have. And then, we might still die…
So I might want to keep the advantage that I thought I have, or my opponent thought I don’t have, as a secret. Maybe?
