Shaq Fu- Martial Arts for the Gigantic

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PaladinX13

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If you're 7 feet tall and 325 lbs (Shaq is something like 7'1" 315lbs) of muscle, what is the ideal martial art for you? Are agility important arts simply out of the question? Are people that big doomed to be slow? Would it be physically impossible for such a man to do a standing somersault (just out of curiousity- not as a practical martial arts move)?
 
Are you trying to tell us your 7 ft. 315 lbs ?



BTW, what kind of crackhead would pick a fight with someone Shaqs size ?
 
Watch an NBA game...you call Shaq *slow*? Compared to the little pipsqueaks in his league he may not be quite as fast, but compared to the 99.99999% of the rest of humanity...

Mike
 
sigh... why... is... it... so... hard... just... to... answer?

ATeaM, no one I know is 7' 315lbs... 7' 325lbs, however, is a totally different story. ;) Besides, I can think of quite a few reasons why people might attack someone that size (street cred, drunken "invincibility", wants to test themselves, etc.)... but, I'm told, that isn't the point of martial arts, now is it? People can want to learn to do martial arts and how to fight, for other reasons than wanting to or expecting to fight.

Coronach, I end up watching the Lakers fairly regularly as Kobe's my brother's favorite player. While he might not be a "lumbering giant", he is slow in a martial arts/dexterity kinda way... put another way, we don't expect Shaq's next film to star opposite Jet Li where Shaq is described as having "Fists of Lightning".
 
Someone with extremely long limbs can pick an art that lets them be used to advantage. Judo, or other arts that require one to close with an adversary, would largely negate that advantage.

Someone that large should be careful in an armed society- it can reasonably be argued that someone in an altercation with such a behemoth was indeed "in fear for his life", and so was justified in using potentially lethal force in defense.

Large people are just bigger targets, but don't let 'em hit or grab you. I always like training with much bigger training partners, except when they're sloppy and arrogant. Then I tend to make my application of techniques just a weee bit more painful, in the hope they will learn while they can, in a safe environment.
 
What would be an art that fits your criteria? I mean, I notice that is an occuring theme in the martial arts- "This will let you take on people much larger than yourself" but what of the large themselves? You point out how it can be costly for a large person to defend themselves against- say a gang thug looking for some street cred (he knows the big guy is a mild mannered law abiding citizen who- if he fights back, is likely to get in more trouble than if he just takes the beating).

Or, if a large person wants to take part in some form of serious competitive competition... I would hope they do more than enter the ring screaming "I'M BIG!!!" then get the tar beaten out of them by martial artists who train on taking down big guys. There is a sense, almost, that against a martial artist a big guy is "just bigger targets" as you say.

So what's a big guy to do?
 
Train - with people of different sizes, including big people. And train under someone with some real skills of their own.

In my experience, a lot of big people rely on their size. It's hard for them to learn techniques, simply because they can force them to work against smaller people. That's fine - until they run up against somebody too big to force their technique on.

How about wrestling? Or boxing? From what I've seen, though, there seems to be a maximum optimum size for fighters. I don't know why this is, it's just based on observations - there just aren't a lot of highly skilled fighters of any sort that I would consider Huge (not just real big).
 
Sheesh - anyone here remember that Bruce Lee flick that had Kareem in it? At least I think it was Kareem...

Big guys get noticed more.

I took one karate class once, and the instructor decided to use the biggest guy in the class as an example. That hurt, especially when he popped me in my nose. He ended up with a couple of broken ribs, and I dropped the class.
 
Paladin, Dave makes good points. A lot of the big people I've trained with think someone has to be big to teach them anything, or be worth training with. FWIW, most of these people I have to really hold back with when training, because they are usually inflexible. (I'm 5'6", and heavy at 148 or so.)

Much as I hate to say it, something like TKD might actually be of utility to someone like Shaq. Anything that has longer-ranged strikes and kicks. Boxing might also be a good choice. People this big really need to work on speed and agility, because power obviously comes easy. For li'l guys like me, OTOH, speed and agility come easy. I work on power most of the time.

I guess I'm not really answering your question. Yes, I think big guys can be agile. I have seen a 300+ lb fat man whip through rolls while having wrist locks applied by about the closest the US has to a "master" martial artist. Can they be as agile as a little guy? Maybe not, but the big ones can make up the difference in distance and power. 'Kay?
 
The Bruce Lee movie with Kareem in it was Game Of Death. That was the movie Bruce Lee was working on when he died. It had the pagodas and there was a new villian to fight on every level.
 
Why do you want to do martial arts ? Self Defense ? Exercise ? Fun ?

Self Defense- A number of martial arts would suit your purposes, I would stay away from the ones requiring a gi (for a number of reasons, finding a gi your size being one of them). Pancrase, Krav Maga, lots of hybrid MMA would suit your purposes.

Excercise, fun, agility- Boxing or kickboxing. For a big guy these would be the most fun. You would improve your agility and speed, have an easier time doing it than learning fancy shmancy "whooping crane" kicks in the other old school styles. Besides, boxing is cool. You need to take up boxing.
 
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