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Best Self Defense System? • Correct Me If I Am Wrong

There are many self defense systems in the world, yet which one do you think is the best one? Join me in this discussion either here in the comments or in my new forum, which you will find here: www.rokasleo.com/forums/ If you want to support this project check my Patreon page here: ► https://www.patreon.com/rokasleo For more Aikido, BJJ ( Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ), Self Defense, Boxing and other videos check the AikidoSiauliai channel where we constantly release videos on martial arts, self defense, combat sports and more: www.youtube.com/aikidosiauliai SUBSCRIBE to see when the next videos will come out: ► http://bit.ly/1KPZpv0 Check the video which started this journey of questioning martial arts and self defense: ► https://youtu.be/0KUXTC8g_pk

Comments

AikidoSiauliai says:

Which self defense system that can be practiced do you think is the best? What do you think the best self defense system should consist of? What do you think about Tony Blauer's SPEAR? Let me know either here or in the new AikidoSiauliai forum: http://rokasleo.com/forums/

Looking forward to hear from you

jp says:

Judo. Always judo.

Billy Quirin says:

For me it will be old jujitsu or gracie jujitsu.

Saxon Israel says:

A combination of Western boxing and wrestling will, with just 3 months of serious training, make you able tp defend yourself against 99% of all attacks. And it will be waqy more effective than 3 years of fx Taekwondo or Karate.

Julien Thévenoz says:

I actually think that BJJ is WAAAAY overhyped and overrated as a self-defense system, and that many of the advocates of BJJ for self-defense ignore a few main points. Mainly : you do not want to go to the ground, ever, in a street fight (and almost all self defense experts will tell you that).
1) The ground is hard and may be covered with spiky/cutting material such as broken glass (very common in bars and bar streets, where many fights take place).
2) When you are on the ground, you make yourself a more vulnerable target to a standing opponent, as you are easy to stomp/kick (which is very hard to defend). It's also easier for them to pick the angle from which to attack from
3) You loose your mobility, which is a problem for 1v1 "fair fights" as well as multiple v 1. Mobility is of utmost importance, since it is the primary defense against attacks (stepping back, slipping, etc). Being on the ground also hinders you from adapting quickly to a changing situation. If other attackers are coming, you have to untie from your opponent, get up and then run or face them, which is quite a loss of time. So by being on the ground, you forfeit your primary line of defense AND compromise your ability to adapt quickly.
Other important points about BJJ :
4) It is completely useless against multiple opponents, since BJJ aims at taking one opponent to the ground and controlling him. As soon as you want to face another opponent, you have to let go of the first (you could of course try to break his arm or choke him, but it takes precious time, time that you don't have when dealing with multiple attackers).
5) BJJ is ill-suited to take care of knifes and blades, since you need to be in contact range to use BJJ, and BJJ positions often give good angles of attack to a knife wielding opponent.
6) BJJ aims at controlling the opponent. But if you want to survive to a real, life-endangering fight, you shouldn't aim to peacefully control the opponent, but to hurt him and cripple him as quickly as possible to minimize danger to yourself. So instead of trying to bring the opponent to tap out by slowly increasing the pressure on an arm-lock, you should yank the arm quickly to break it. This can also be done (in a less risky fashion) with stand-up locks, which few BJJ people practice.
6) Finally, there is no striking in BJJ, which is a major downside.

So what do I think is the BEST self-defense style ?
In my opinion, it would be any non-sport style that doesn't have any rules. For exemple : Krav Maga, old styles of Kung-Fu (Baji-Quan, Chow Gar, Choy Li Fut, …) okinawan Karate (Uechi-Ryu, Goju-ryu, Shorin-ryu,…), the SPEAR system, Silat, or really whatever else. What I theoretically wouldn't consider "good self-defense styles" would be things like Kyokushin Karate, MMA, BJJ, boxing, even Muay Thai, because they have rules that restrict the practitioner. But these styles have the advantage of putting the martial artist to the test, of teaching him what "real fighting" is, how to take and give good punches (old styles of TMA and Krav Maga should also teach these things, if they are taught properly). The reality is that your ability to defend yourself is mostly dependent on the teacher and how it teaches you.

That's only my opinion though, and don't forget to correct me if I'm wrong.

Pericles Romero says:

S.P.E.A.R uses Aikido’s tegatana. Have you noticed it Rockas?

paraglide01 says:

The best selfdefence system imho is the Glock 9mm carried with a loaded chamber and regular shooting training under pressure.

Ash says:

The S.P.E.A.R. is a good start GO FOR IT. Saying that it seems to me a knock off (copy) of Geoff Thompson the FENCE with Krav Maga. Its also I think not suitable for women or put another way more suitable for men. I just cant see women having the upper arm strength to make this work https://youtu.be/VysnuMIIllE so what is the best self defence, the one that works for you whether your a man, woman, young person, child etc. The SPEAR is also so damn expensive! anyway between this and your MMA your going to become one serious fighter, once you sort out your punches and kicks 🙂 All the best Rokas.

Theron1480 says:

Fuck all of you mma niggers out there.

Hail Mary says:

Gotta be honest man, self defence systems are basically always horseshit sold by snake-oil salesmen. If people want to learn actual unarmed self defence, Boxing and wrestling or some form of grappling. None of those 3 are "needlessly complex", they all have very simple base techniques.

You're splitting up all of these categories into "Self defence, combat sports martial arts, "Self safety" (Whatever the hell that actually means outside of street sense I have absolutely no idea, sounds like a concept that someone may sell on a bottle, but i'll try and keep an open mind) when in reality I think that's part of the scam. All of the things you've said should serve the same purpose unless you're talking armed combat*. The *reason that something like Aikido gets attacked is because it is not a proficient method of self defence. I thought that's what the last year of your exploration had demonstrated?

The actual question though? Learn a little wrestling defence, and learn Muay Thai, and you're going to be able to handle most street situations. Trying to overcomplicate it with bullshit systems with knife defences, and so on, is a complete waste of time. A teep-kick is far simpler than some fancy disarm, is less likely to get you stabbed (As its actually got a longer range than the knife does) and doesn't involve me counter-intuitively trying to (For some reason) basically grapple with someone with a blade. Kick and run.

I feel you're going well off base, but I won't criticise you for it yet. You do what you want, but I do think you're putting up barriers in your own way. If you're trying to learn to fight; learn to fight, or better yet *do the thing Tadas suggested and train with him properly for a month*, don't hop around between silly systems that are based on exploiting peoples fear.

When you're talking about knives, guns and so forth; the self defence you should be practising is your fucking sprinting. The Israeli's for example teach Krav Maga; but we're talking tight streets in a fucking warzone*, where they *have to fight. If someone pulls a knife on you, or a gun, you give them your wallet, or you run the hell away. I can fight – I'm not getting stabbed for my ID and credit card that I can cancel as soon as I get home. Learn to talk properly sure, de-escalate a situation, yeah, but some fancy disarm or "parrying" against some crack head with a hunting knife? Different situation entirely.

Mike english says:

Traditional Japanese jujitsu.
People go on about bjj…..It's jujitsu with all the nasty stuff taken out. It's Aikido without the not damaging the opponent so much. The down side is a lot of it can't be practiced full on as it will maim kill or seriously fuck some one up. But it works. However throw in western wrestling and some boxing for the sparing and realism in a fight .

Роман Янов says:

It's interesting that you would consider the topic why some self-defense systems do not work in reality. For example, this https://www.youtube.com/user/relaikiboy, a system that is based on "real aikido".
It also seemed to me that the SPEAR System quite similar to Krav Maga

H B says:

I like combat sambo, it's pretty effective. You learn kickboxing there, good, effective throws and it doesn't ignore fighting on the ground. But the most important thing is that you fight against resisting opponents. So I'd pick that. But you should also run, even after 70 years of training (which i dont have) I wouldn't fight a guy with a knife even if someone paid me to.
Just don't do Krav Maga and you're fine.

fergusb says:

I am really interested in martial arts and have considered this question lately. Martial arts are dead in today's civilsed society or that with rule of law. I dont really think there is such thing as self defense systems because inevitably it comes down to training, fitness, awareness and conditioning. If you have to engage with somebody there is already a problem. There is no point doing a self defense class for an hour or 2 a week as youre body or nervous system will simply just forget it and if you were actually willing to commit at least an hour a day, in some way shape or form you'd probably be better off learning a traditional martial art. Again it boils down to the individual practitioner. BJJ is super effective but you do that on the street and you can simply break your bones on the pavement, kung fu is ineffective as people simply dont get the resistance training or sparring they need whether due to lack of training partners or due to lack of practical usage in their daily lives (civilsed society). Many traditional martial arts are battlefield tested and successful but do not transition to today's world. That krav maga though has to be one of the worst things out there, training people to engage and destroy people when fundamentally there are many more options, simply work away. Self defense or fighting is highly complex and it is not something that can be taught in a short space of time, unless you just want a pure killing machine.
I am not one for advertising others but the system you mentioned sounds interesting, but I would be skeptical about all this data and computer breakdowns. Plenty of other systems out there that already cover this kind of stuff, but yes they have lots of techniques and take years to learn with plenty that you will never actually use. Just depends what you want from a system.

Ryan Clark says:

You should try Tim Kennedy's self defense system.

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