I often get asked about self-defense and for example aikido or what do you think about Russian (Systema) or Indonesian (Silat) martials arts? And which is better, wing chun or Jeet Kune Do (JKD)?
The short answer to all of these is that Aikido is not very good self-defense. I'll write more about why not some other time. For now just trust me, choose Aikido for all other reasons than for self-defense.
I haven't seen or tried any Russian, Indonesian martial arts, kicking or grappling arts, that has much to offer to my goal which is:
to find the best, most simple and effective way to defend and fight for yourself under any circumstances, for any person no matter height and weight.
And it has to be speedy, enabling the practitioner to stop the opponent quickly
to avoid the need for lot's stamina training).
Furthermore, this simple method has to be able to deal with standup fighting, takedown attempts, attacks by multiple opponents and opponents armed with weapons. All of these attacks have to be able to be dealt with on any surface and both in a confined or in an open space.
So considering my goal choosing between Wing Chun and JKD is easy.
Wing Chun is just much better for realistic fighting, whereas a lot of (Japanese) JKD seems to be for actors looking for fast and flashy looking but not necessarily effective techniques.
(But all Japanese JKD might not be the same, like not all wing chun is the same. So you might be lucky to find a great JKD teacher, likewise when I write about wing chun, it's only about J's GYM wing chun.)
