How to Throw Big When You’re Small
May. 04, 2011 By: Filed in: Throws/Takedowns
In the past year, I’ve picked up a few students who are smaller women. When I say small, I mean like 12-year-old small. These women are between 5’0″ and 5’2″. They are truly petite. I’ve been working with them lately to help them with their throwing. They may not have confidence in their ability to throw a 6’3″ guy who is over 200 lbs right now, but ironically, they’ll be better at throwing down the line if they stick with it.
For smaller men and women, it’s natural to get a little frustrated when they see bigger students who are able to do throws on almost anyone seemingly without trouble. What they don’t know is that the ability to throw competently of these much bigger students is nothing more than an illusion.
Yes, it’s true. Bigger people can more easily pick someone up and toss them to the ground, but that’s not necessarily skilled throwing. Oftentimes, bigger people compensate for poor form by using their strength in ways that are imperceptible to someone without a lot of experience.
Smaller students often do struggle more with throwing bigger people to start with, but more often than not, it’s a confidence issue. They worry that they won’t be able to support the weight of the person they’re throwing so they hesitate mid-throw. Ironically, this hesitation is often what causes that which they worry about to happen in the first place.
In many ways, it is a lot easier for a smaller, shorter person to throw a bigger person because they have a low centre of gravity, so it’s not as hard to bend to the level they need to complete the throw. Also, if they are on the slimmer side, their girth doesn’t get in the way when they move in for the throw.
The biggest hurdle for smaller people isn’t really about overcoming a physical attribute. It’s all in the mind. They simply need to trust that good technique will allow them to throw safely, and they need to have confidence that they have the ability to do it. And once they have this confidence, they’ll usually have technically much better throws than the fellow students who are much bigger than them, who continue to struggle not to use their strength.
So how does one get to this magical place?
The way I work with smaller people to develop this confidence is to start working with small to mid-sized people and work their way up to the big boys. By working with smaller people, they can develop an understanding of how the throw works, as well as their own technique in entering and executing the throw. They’ll develop their confidence in completing the throw skillfully without the mental roadblock of the perceived risk of getting crushed by a much bigger person if they mess up. Then when they’ve got their throwing mojo going with small to mid-sized people, they’ll be better equipped both mentally and physically to get it going with the big guys.
It also helps to seek examples for you to follow. If you have smaller people in your dojo who are able to throw big guys, watch what they do. It’ll help give you the confidence that you too are able to do it. I’ll try to scrape together a reasonable video of me throwing around a big guy for inspiration some time next week.
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Progressive overload, with throws, I like it 🙂
Can't wait to see the video 🙂
Throwing depends mainly on kuzushi or breaking the balance of the uke: doing this requires no real strength but perfect timing and a thorough understanding of body mechanics. It's entirely possible to throw even the biggest person while he resists if you have developed the two attributes mentioned above but in practice I'd loosen him up with a strike or two before attempting a throw, with the exception of counterthrowing or sacrifice throws in response to a loss of balance. All in all throws are not all that basic since they can be rather easily countered when not perfectly executed, especially throws requiring you to turn your back on the uke which I'd rather avoid if at all possible. To me the most natural/effective throws are basic leg throws like o soto gari and o uchi gari and those involving the hands like kiri otoshi which is my favourite since it takes very little effort and it's quite surprising given the right entry.
As a small person, I thank you very much for this post. You're totally right on the confidence issue. I'm barely 5 feet tall, but yet I regularly do takedowns in my karate class of men who are at least a foot taller than me, and often 100 lbs heavier. I kind of like it. 🙂
Hi Lori,
Throwing really is a smaller person's art. I am on the big side of the equation and I have to spend a lot of time working on my throws as I have a tendency to 'muscle' my partner over when I shouldn't.
We have a new student who is quite a bit smaller than me. I am at least a 100 pounds heavier and maybe half a foot taller. We've taken the same approach to building confidence. Recently, this student threw me for the first time properly and was shocked how easy is way. My higher tipping point and the new student's proper technique made me nearly fly across the room. The look of astonishment was priceless.
That's one of the interesting things about Jiu Jitsu. When smaller or weaker students start, I always tell them that they actually have a bit of advantage over the long run as they have to learn the techniques properly from the start. This way, they don't develop the bad habits of a bigger martial artist (like I have), which saves time and, with throws, sore backs.
I like your approach.
I'd start with throws that don't require you to lift the partner like hip or shoulderthrows. This teaches the main principles of action-reaction and kuzushi. In any case the person thrown should be proficient in break falling since hesitance on the uke's part is a major cause of injuries or simply failing to effect the throw.
Thanks for all the comments, everyone! For the record, this post was more directed at smaller people struggling with hip and shoulder throws. There are certainly more practical throws/takedowns out there for smaller people, but it is a good exercise in technique and kuzushi to try these more difficult throws with the added challenge of doing them on larger people. This post was written to help people with the process of developing the confidence in technique to do so.
For my next post, I'll cover the more technical aspects that allow everyone (not just smaller people) to throw more efficiently and effectively.
Thanks again for reading everyone!
Amen! I started rock climbing this year and the hardest part, is trusting your body. There are 2 ways to climb at a gym: top-rope climbing and bouldering. With top-rope, you wear a harness so that if you fall, it’s no problem and you just hang there. With bouldering, you can’t climb as high because you fall to the ground and have to land. I find top-rope climbing easier because you’re more likely to take risks: reach for a rock even if you think you can’t get it. With bouldering, you need to be much more in tune with your body and it’s limits: you can’t take big risks because you need to make sure you can fall safely. The same thing applies to jitsu. You need to learn to trust yourself and your instructors. When I learned the more advanced break falls, I followed my instructors directions exactly even though it felt counterintuitive (jump higher and the breakfall will hurt less) because everything else he’s said so far was right. Once again, he didn’t let me down. My point is, I agree: it’s all mental. A lot of jitsu is against our instincts: get close to your attacker, jump higher and a breakfall will hurt less, you can throw someone twice your size. You can do all these things if you trust your body and your instructor.
Hi,
Thanks so much for this post. At my jujutsu class last night I was on the verge of giving up, my first attempts were so disastrous, but after reading your notes, an ear-bashing from my other half and him insisting I try the technique on him in the park for twenty minutes I actually managed to throw him, not great but enough for me to know it just needs practise. I am 8 stone and 5′ 2″, my partner is 6′ 3″ and 17 stone…..
Hayley