Sport Taekwondo-How important is height?

[Thousand Kicks]

At the local tournament level there will be a wide variety of sizes. The big problem with dropping weight is the opposition gets faster. At heavyweight, we are powerful, but less mobile and less active (I say we because I am 6'3" and 210 lbs). One weight class down, at 176lbs, are the guys who pack a punch and have pretty good athleticism. You describe yourself as having a stocky build. How is your movement?

You are kind of in a pickle. At heavy weight the height disadvantage will only be a problem if your movement is not good. At 176lbs you will face somewhat shorter opposition (they will still be taller then 5'8"). Your power and size might be an advantage, but if your movement is not good then you will have problems with faster more agile fighters.

My advice? Stay where you are weight-wise. Work on countering and timing. Work on jaming attacks. Don't let your opponent gain momentum.

At my last tourny; I lost my first fight to a guy who was 6'6" and about 260 lbs. My biggest issue...being too stationary.

I went to a work out hosted by Stephen Lopez once. He's taller than I am and he fights at what...160lbs? That my friends is scary.

 

[Gorilla]

Steven Lopez fights at 176 now...In 2000 Olympics he fought a 149... He says he is 6'2 but I agree with you he is 6'4..,

 

[ETinCYQX]

At the local tournament level there will be a wide variety of sizes. The big problem with dropping weight is the opposition gets faster. At heavyweight, we are powerful, but less mobile and less active (I say we because I am 6'3" and 210 lbs). One weight class down, at 176lbs, are the guys who pack a punch and have pretty good athleticism. You describe yourself as having a stocky build. How is your movement?

You are kind of in a pickle. At heavy weight the height disadvantage will only be a problem if your movement is not good. At 176lbs you will face somewhat shorter opposition (they will still be taller then 5'8"). Your power and size might be an advantage, but if your movement is not good then you will have problems with faster more agile fighters.

My advice? Stay where you are weight-wise. Work on countering and timing. Work on jaming attacks. Don't let your opponent gain momentum.

At my last tourny; I lost my first fight to a guy who was 6'6" and about 260 lbs. My biggest issue...being too stationary.

I went to a work out hosted by Stephen Lopez once. He's taller than I am and he fights at what...160lbs? That my friends is scary.

I usually do pretty ok in sparring with the juniors and other BB's. I do a lot of sprinting and mobility work, a lot of Judo sparring, so I'm doing stuff other than lifting. Movement could be better but when I get back to competition, I'll be training 5 days a week with my coach, a bunch of good junior athletes, and some other adult black belts. Plus, I'll probably go work with some of my friends who are into kickboxing when I get the chance, do a little Judo, etc.

 

[Thousand Kicks]

I usually do pretty ok in sparring with the juniors and other BB's. I do a lot of sprinting and mobility work, a lot of Judo sparring, so I'm doing stuff other than lifting. Movement could be better but when I get back to competition, I'll be training 5 days a week with my coach, a bunch of good junior athletes, and some other adult black belts. Plus, I'll probably go work with some of my friends who are into kickboxing when I get the chance, do a little Judo, etc.

Oh man...I remember when I used to train that much. I kinda miss it and kinda don't at the same time.

Are any of your potential training partners taller than you? If so, then I'd make a bee line straight to them. I would suggest working on jamming attacks.

The main thing when fighting somebody taller than you is to stop their momentum when they try to attack.

One drill our teacher has us do is to jam or smother stepping or skipping type kicks. You have to focus on going with with rotation of the kick. Pick the wrong direction and the results aren't pretty. However, when you get good at it, you add a great tool for controlling distance. Most of the time we avoid kicks by stepping away. Opponents will naturally start using motions or stepping kicks to catch you while you move. If you start jamming then the opponent is caught in a guessing game and they attack with less confindence because they are't sure which way you'll go.

Start with forearm pads. You will definitely eat a few during the learning process.

 

[ETinCYQX]

Oh man...I remember when I used to train that much. I kinda miss it and kinda don't at the same time.

Are any of your potential training partners taller than you? If so, then I'd make a bee line straight to them. I would suggest working on jamming attacks.

The main thing when fighting somebody taller than you is to stop their momentum when they try to attack.

One drill our teacher has us do is to jam or smother stepping or skipping type kicks. You have to focus on going with with rotation of the kick. Pick the wrong direction and the results aren't pretty. However, when you get good at it, you add a great tool for controlling distance. Most of the time we avoid kicks by stepping away. Opponents will naturally start using motions or stepping kicks to catch you while you move. If you start jamming then the opponent is caught in a guessing game and they attack with less confindence because they are't sure which way you'll go.

Start with forearm pads. You will definitely eat a few during the learning process.

We have fourteen year olds taller than me...lol...

What I have been working on is counter kicks, mostly the jump back kick and the spin hook kick. My last instructor got me into moving into kicks and being faster, and it made a big difference for me.

Our main school has a competition team (mostly juniors) that train 4x a week along with an adult class that also trains 4x a week. When I get back in there permanently, I will train as much as I can handle and spar as much as possible, with mostly the juniors because they compete more often.