To Gi or Not to Gi, That Is The Question!

Every now and then I hear brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners debate whether its better to learn with a gi or without.  I figured I might as well add my two cents to the discussion.

I am an average guy, average athleticism and average jiu jitsu.  I have been training jiu jitsu on and off for about 15 years, am an average brown belt and rarely do no gi.  I had an interesting experience the other day in the gym where I train.  We had a wrestler / no gi jiu jitsu person come in to visit.  i asked if he wanted to roll and he said he didn’t have a gi.  I said no problem, I’ll try no gi for a change.  I said, I apologize in advance, I haven’t done no gi in a couple years.

We started rolling and  it didn’t take long for me to realize I had no material to grab.  He out wrestled me easy, and I ended up on the bottom and was able to pull guard.  But, once there, I didn’t feel uncomfortable, and the adjustments came easy for me.  I just kept grabbing the wrists, back of the triceps and back of his neck to break his base and set up some attacks.  I got a couple of different arm bars, a triangle and a lucky scissor sweep where I grabbed his wrist and back of the neck.  I did have a lot of trouble sweeping him.  He had really good base and through most of our roll I was on the bottom.

Like I said I am an average joe jitsu guy who has trained with a gi 98% of the time and here I was doing really well against a bigger, stronger and more athletic person than myself.  He had been wresting his whole life and doing brazilian jiu jitsu for years, but only no gi.

I definitely think that people who start bjj should start with a gi.  Think about it.  I held my own with someone who does no gi all the time and I hadn’t done it in a long time.  I could adapt to his game and do well.  He probably could do well wearing a gi as well, but because he didn’t incorporate traditional jiu jitsu, he wouldn’t know how to do a gi choke, for example.  And, because he doesn’t know how to do a gi choke, he won’t know how to defend against it either.

Like I said, I am just an average guy, but thought I would add my opinion!

Happy training!

RocknRoll BJJ & Fitness

http://www.rocknrollbjj.com

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