One of my assistant instructors is a young woman similar in stature to you , maybe even smaller. Of course she has been training for 11 years , not the 1 year you want to do it in , but she has always been one of the most “feared” fighters at the club. I pity the fool that tries to jump this “small woman” . We train in Tae Kwon Do and there should be a club close to your chosen university to continue your training. 182 countries have membership in the World Tae Kwon Do federation , and more than 10 million black belts world wide. You might be lucky enough to find an instructor like me who shows many martial arts at his or her club.

I like kenpo have seen small guys and wemen drop big guys

there all the best if your tall muay tai is for you, if your athletic choose karate or take won do , if your not strong and have very little striking skill choose aikido.wing Chung and jiu jitsu is for every one.

choosing the best type of martial art is like choose your dream car some might choose fast one ,some big ,on looks it depends on the person just like martial arts that why there is so much argument which one is the best a short person might argue that bjj is better than muay tai because he can kick as good as the tall people in muay tai and a tall person will get grappled easy in bjj because hes got alot of limbs and bones sticking out . no one can tell you the best martial art they would just tell what there good at.

NOTE if your talking about Brazilian ju jitsu it would be the perfect martial art for some one your height .it doesn’t have nothing to do with how strong you are I’m 5″11 and I submit people 6-7 feet tall I’m there all so girls in my class that can beat me. if i were you i would choose japanese ju -jitsu NOT brazlian ju jitsu there not the same jjj has strikes and kicks with a little bit of subbmission fighing, bjj is just submission fighting but more in depeth

my girlfriend likes tae kwon do, kickboxing and tae bo dont limit yourself to one style try the best one for you

Ok first of all, Jujitsu doesn’t just overpower an opponent, it uses joint locks and manipulation and leveraghe to submit an opponent, and ANYONE can do this even someone who is 5’4″ female and 120lbs or less because it doesn’t take much strength to apply the techniques.

So whoever fed you that line of bulls**t is not only wrong, but ignorant and has no clue about what the discipline is about

If you want to study JiuJitsu, then do it, it’s YOUR decision as to what discipline you want study, not anyone elses, and NO ONE can tell you what Martial Art is “best” for YOU.

second of all (and I know you might wind up asking this question later so I’m gonna go ‘head and answer it now): What many people fail to realize about Martial Arts is that there isn’t a particular “brand” that is a “best fit”.

There IS NOT a Martial Art that works for people with SPECIFIC body characteristics (height, weight, body type, gender, etc.)

Because the fact is that when people ask “what’s a good Martial Art for me to learn?” or “what’s the “best” Martial Art to learn” has 2 major problems:

1st: these questions just beg for the majority of people here to start blurting out names of disciplines that are probably not even available in your area.

2nd: Just because they recommend a Martial Art that they may (or worse MAY NOT) have studied and it just happened to become THEIR favorite Martial Art because they’re interested in studying it or it worked for them** doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for you or that you’ll find it interesting.

(**this is due to the pride they have in their discipline, which is a good thing; but should be looked at more realistically about what YOU need to get out of the discipline and not what THEY want to tell you about what they’ve studied)

First of all, what YOU need to do is research local schools by looking in the phone book or internet search engine to find out if there ARE any Martial Arts schools in your area.

If you can study a “standing game ” Martial Art (a traditional or classic Martial art like Karate, Kung Fu, a Korean martial Art, or even Muay Thai) and then train in a “ground game” Martial Art (like Judo or Jiujitsu) then you’ll be a fairly well rounded Martial artist because you’ll be able to handle yourself in both sides of a fight if it ever comes down to it.

Second, if you can find at least 3 schools that interest you, watch a few classes at each one and decide which one out of those 3 schools that interested you the most.

Third, the next thing you should do is find out if they have some trial classes (up to a weeks worth to help you make a decision, hopefully without being hassled to join or sign a contract to join the class), and if you find that you like the school, then enroll in the class.

You just need to find a Martial Arts School that will provide a safe, “family like” environment for you and that the instructor(s) are going to help you become the best Martial Artist that you can become.

The discipline you may wind up studying DOESN’T MATTER because there is NO discipline that is better than another, because they ALL have their strengths AND weaknesses

What matters is that you feel comfortable in the classes (and like the classes) and feel comfortable that the instructor (and the instructor’s TEACHING style and not the discipline itself) can properly teach you self defense without the “smoke and mirrors” .

The instructor should also like to do it more for the teaching aspect rather than the “making money” which it is a business to make money after all; but it should not be the only reason for teaching the discipline.

The biggest problem you should worry about in finding a school is being aware of schools that’re a “McDojo’s” or “belt factory” type of school.

These schools usually do a lot of boasting; particularly about how soon their students make their 1st degree black belts. A prime example of this: having several “young black belts” that’re usually 9 or 10 yr old kids, which should be a rare thing to see unless the child started learning the discipline when they were 4 yrs old, or promising that as a student you’ll be making your black belt in about a year’s time (the average should be between 4 to 5 years or better) which often means that they have a high student turnout rate. This is a Red Flag

They may also try to get you to commit to (by signing) a contract, usually one that’s 6 months long or more or try to get you to pay down a large sum of money for that kind of time period. This is a BIG red flag

And don’t be fooled by these schools telling you about how many tournaments or competitions their students have entered and placed in or won a trophy, which is NOT a necessity in Martial Arts. Tournaments/competitions can be good to test your own skills at point sparring but again, it’s not necessary because they are the LEAST important aspect to concern yourself with in Martial Arts.

Long story short, these schools will basically “give” you your belt ranks every few months as long as you are paying the outrageous fees per month, and you won’t really learn self defense.

There is much truth to what is already said here. Do find something you are interested in. There probably is a group teaching/studying martial arts on campus, check this out. Now read up on martial arts in general, see where each one originates, from which culture it came, also where it came from. Find out the differences within each. When you find one that really interests you, then find someone whom teaches nearby, and ask to take a few trial classes, if you find the program interesting go.
Beware of contracts and less that reputable pseudo Senseis’ that don’t really know how to teach and are not certified to teach.

lr

yeah listen to the experts do a ground or grappling style.just where you want to be on the rolling on the ground while a 6’4-250lb bloke is trying to rape you.good advice guys.do a stand up style crosstrain in ground and grappling styles.or if you can find one a good freestlye karate instructor,it normally teaches stand up,grappling and ground.
the last place you want to be is on the ground,but it’s still good to know how to fight there.once your there though your options are very restricted,ie:you have to win or your cactus.on your feet you have a lot more options one of which is if you can hurt the other person for long enough to run away.which considering the fact that you are a 17 year old girl and that you already said(all the know all experts mustn’t have read)that you couldn’t over power them,it is definately your best option.bjj is a rort it’s just a fad and eveyone wants to be hip and join the craze.dont be sucked in by the sales pitch that thier all taught in thier training.

Since it sounds like you are primarily concerned with self defense, perhaps you should consider a focused self defense course for women that focuses on training you to use all your power in very simple and lethal maneuvers that will enable you to get away from a dangerous situation. Perhaps you’ve seen such classes on TV in which the attacker is heavily padded and shielded so that you can strike with full force on targets such as eyes and groin. This will help you feel confident in dangerous situations and allow you to train “live” so that you would actually be able to do something in such straits rather than freeze up trying to think of which “technique” will work best. As another person said in this thread, keep it simple and you will have more success.

If you want a good workout, and that is the focus, then study something like kick-boxing, judo, or jujitsu and you’ll get a great cardio workout as well as learn something valuable. If you want to investigate beginning the path of a martial artist, though, be sure that you understand that any true martial art is about mind, body and spirit, and not simply self defense. Any “martial art” that tells you that you’ll be able to defend yourself after a few months is either lying to you or seriously self delusional. Real ability with the martial arts takes years, and it isn’t all about the ability to defend one’s own body.

Bottom line:
Good Self Defense: just take a focused, “live,” class that will train you in simple and effective technique that won’t overcomplicate the need to defend yourself.

Good Workout: judo, jujitsu, kenpo, kick boxing, anything. Hell, go dancing every other day and you get a good workout.

Good Martial Arts: Find a teacher who will help you grow, develop, and learn about something meaningful. The ability to defend yourself would be a byproduct that develops over time.

Good question. Something like Hapkido or Aikido can suit you well if you don’t believe you can overpower someone.

Where are you going to college. Some schools offer classes on campus. Some schools offer classes designed especially for women. There may be schools near the campus. There’s no point in getting advice if the options aren’t available to you.

I’m not sure why someone would tell you that Jujitsu was about overpowering your opponent, because that the opposite is true. Grappling is about leverage. Leverage is not about power.

Good luck to you.