Standing still, but for a reason.
These are gorgeous, but why are they all either short tiny little people or way tall? Where are the 5'8" women, so I can compare myself?
Via Krista.
(Also, this reminds me that I was battling my body type the whole time I was in tkd. I'm sure that if I hadn't come in with years of tkd behind me, our grandmaster would have sent me over to judo. He used to walk down the line of new people and tell anyone who wasn't tall and skinny that they had "judo body" and should come back the next night. Which is what you get to do, I guess, when you're the most respected bad ass in the room.
In his late sixties, I saw him heft a very big guy over his head, freeze for a good long time to demonstrate the hold and the throw, and then keep going.
Which also reminds me of the time after belt testing, when the HapKiDo black belts all went out to dinner to celebrate and discuss the results. Our grandmaster and the hkd master stepped outside to talk about the black belt promotions, and the hkd master noticed that a drunk asshole type guy was walking towards them and looking hostile. The drunk asshole guy was sortof approaching down the block, fixating on them and veering towards. The hkd master had no idea what to do, and was frantically reviewing the etiquette of the situation. Does he step in front of the grandmaster, who can't be expected to soil his hands on street thugs? Is that rude? Does it imply that the grandmaster couldn't handle it? Does he inform the grandmaster and wait for permission to handle it?
What does he do about the fact that on the other side of a large plate glass window, there are about thirty macho college-age black belts, who watch Hong Kong movies every single week and would love nothing more than to come running out of the restaurant shouting Siiiiifuuuu!
The asshole thug guy kept walking toward them, picking up a beer bottle out of the trash. The hkd master is not worried, but still has no idea what response will be proper and respectful to his master. At this point, the thug guy dashed the bottle against the wall, to make a jagged edge. The grandmaster heard this, turned to look and stared him down. Looked at him hard and the guy turned around and walked away. Good choice, dude. Good choice.)
Via Krista.
(Also, this reminds me that I was battling my body type the whole time I was in tkd. I'm sure that if I hadn't come in with years of tkd behind me, our grandmaster would have sent me over to judo. He used to walk down the line of new people and tell anyone who wasn't tall and skinny that they had "judo body" and should come back the next night. Which is what you get to do, I guess, when you're the most respected bad ass in the room.
In his late sixties, I saw him heft a very big guy over his head, freeze for a good long time to demonstrate the hold and the throw, and then keep going.
Which also reminds me of the time after belt testing, when the HapKiDo black belts all went out to dinner to celebrate and discuss the results. Our grandmaster and the hkd master stepped outside to talk about the black belt promotions, and the hkd master noticed that a drunk asshole type guy was walking towards them and looking hostile. The drunk asshole guy was sortof approaching down the block, fixating on them and veering towards. The hkd master had no idea what to do, and was frantically reviewing the etiquette of the situation. Does he step in front of the grandmaster, who can't be expected to soil his hands on street thugs? Is that rude? Does it imply that the grandmaster couldn't handle it? Does he inform the grandmaster and wait for permission to handle it?
What does he do about the fact that on the other side of a large plate glass window, there are about thirty macho college-age black belts, who watch Hong Kong movies every single week and would love nothing more than to come running out of the restaurant shouting Siiiiifuuuu!
The asshole thug guy kept walking toward them, picking up a beer bottle out of the trash. The hkd master is not worried, but still has no idea what response will be proper and respectful to his master. At this point, the thug guy dashed the bottle against the wall, to make a jagged edge. The grandmaster heard this, turned to look and stared him down. Looked at him hard and the guy turned around and walked away. Good choice, dude. Good choice.)
posted by Megan at 5:19 PM
8 Comments:
There are actually several women in the 5'6 - 5'10 range. I can't believe that there's a 5'6 (or is it 8?) gymnast and a 5'8 basketball player. So tall and so short, respectively.
Those images are amazing. Interesting to see that Tara Lipinsky is quite a bit more solid than the gymnasts, despite "girls in little boxes."
Oh, and nice TKD story.
Did no other martial art appeal to you. Doing aikido has been nothing but joy for me so far.
There are actually several women in the 5'6 - 5'10 range.
Ten out of 33, in fact, which is probably a few more than you'd expect in a random sampling of women. Of course there are more women at either extreme than you'd find in a sample of non-athletes.
I have a judo body - heavy frame, muscular build. There's no question that I do better at grappling arts. I can often beat people with a lot more experience than me even in the same weight class.
I enjoy kick boxing more though :D
I am comparatively lousy at it. I have no reach.
I thought about it a couple of times, and not going to humiliate myself with TKD...
I thought there were a reasonable number of women around your (and my) height there too. Interesting, Stacy Dragalla, the pole vaulter, is pretty much exactly my height & weight, but I don't think my body is that shape.
Interesting what you said about martial arts builds, I probably have more of a "TKD build" according to your description, but I always felt too tall and gangly to be any good at it! But then, that's true for me of most sport :) The masters and black belts in my school were mostly more stocky and muscular, too.
Oh, man, Megan -- your bit about "siiifuuuu!" made my day :)
(Partial disclosure -- I took HKD in university, and grew up watching HK martial arts flicks and TV serials pretty much nightly.)
Peace,
Indigo S.
Total strangers looking threatening and then breaking beer bottles against the wall and approaching groups of people is the kind of thing that only seems to happen in stories told by martial arts types. I've never observed that in regular life. Maybe I should take martial arts and then these things will happen to me more often.
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