# JKD vs. Wing Chun



## DoubleZ711 (Mar 12, 2009)

Don't flame me please!!!

How does this Martial Art compare with Wing Chun in terms of pure self-defense and effectiveness? The only reason I wouldn't want to take something simpler like karate or taekwondo is because most of the moves they teach don't really seem to be useful in a real life situation, but then again, I am only a boxer, which can hardly be considered a real martial art, so I may be wrong. Anyways, I could lie and say that I am not at all fascinated by this art simply because of Bruce Lee, but that would of course.. be a lie.

However, I am thinking of starting an MA pretty soon and I am thinking of either this or Wing Chun.

If one of you guys has the time, can you please tell me the MAJOR differences between the two? I don't need to know slightly insignificant stuff like where it was founded and by whom etc... 

Anyways, Thanks!!


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## Observer (Mar 12, 2009)

This doesn't really answer your question as I don't have the complete answer.  

The way I see it is Wing Chun is a complete system of self defence with its own concepts and theory, which does not contradict themselves.  Out of these come the hand and leg techniques found in the forms.  When you see a competent WingChunner fight, you can see definite signatures of Wing Chun.  This is so for other competent exponents of other styles of martial art.

With JKD, I don't think you have this signature with regards to its own set of concepts and theory because it contains a mixtures of techniques from various styles of martial arts favoured by Bruce Lee.  What you see is someone trying to mimic Bruce Lee in his approach to fighting.

So, if you're fascinated by Bruce Lee then JKD is for you because you can then 'pretend' to be him.  If you're fascinated in martial art, learn the style that you like.


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## KamonGuy2 (Mar 17, 2009)

Wing chun wins. Always. End of story. 

Lol

In seriousness, it is like comparing a sword to a spear. In some scenarios the concepts of JKD are better suited, and sometimes wing chun is a better fit. 

There was a lot of talk a few years back that Bruce Lee had come up with JKD simply in order to avoid directly insulting the wing chun community

Lee was not a master of wing chun but could apply what he had learnt effectively
Therefore, he would struggle attempting to teach pure wing chun to students (because he didnt know all of it!)

So he merged what he had learnt with a lot of western concepts and came up with JKD

It obviously worked for him (his impressive movies and vid clips show that), but wont work for everyone

A lot of wing chun has evolved so that there are less fixed positions and more free drills (lok sao, dan chi sao, chi sao)


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## Tez3 (Mar 17, 2009)

This is a duplicate thread as the OP already posted this in the JKD section where there's a lengthy discussion already underway.
Could a mod merge the two at all?


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## Ben Grimm (Mar 18, 2009)

I can't find the other thread so I'm going to post here. It's as Kamon Guy said just before, but IMHO because of your boxing training, you might fit better in JKD.


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## bs10927 (Mar 18, 2009)

I like Wing Chun because I don't like high kicking anymore.
i'm not flexible like when i was a kid when i studied a little karate kickboxing.   when i started looking for a martial art again, being older, i kept researching for something with low kicking if any.  Then I found Wing Chun.  I never knew that Bruce studied it before... I wish I knew about it earlier in life.  It's addicting.  I still suck at chi sao but I like it.


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## Ben Grimm (Mar 20, 2009)

Yeah, it's a really efficient art. Low kicks, close range hand strikes.


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## Ogriv83 (Mar 20, 2009)

I think observer nailed it on the head. Wing chun has a specific system to the style where as JKD is much more flexible.


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## naneek (Mar 21, 2009)

if you try both out or just go observe some of their classes then it might give you a better idea of which you might prefer, the sematics of the arts are less important to me than just enjoying what you are doing!!

by the way i would consider boxing to be a legtimate martial art and a very effective one at that!


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## profesormental (Mar 23, 2009)

Greetings.

If you're looking for self defense aspect, here is the real deal...

It depends on the instructor, not the style.

The trends I've seen are that Wing Chun is more exacting with proper alignment and structure so you don't get your block taken off.

Depending on the kind of JKD, you'll get Filipino martial arts, or loose basics of Wing Chun with mixed martial arts like Muay Thai kickboxing and such.

Yet the safest bet is to check out individual instructors. If they take a lot of care and effort in developing prescise basic movements and the higher level trainers are of excellent execution, that is your best bet.

In my case, I'm biased for Wing Chun, since the way I was taught was very much fight/street oriented.

Hope that helps.

Juan M. Mercado
Wing Chun Trainer since 1995


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## dnovice (Apr 1, 2009)

take trial classes and see which one you like and feel comfortable with.


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