Kimono

[Hermosa]

I was curious about something. How many of the readers on this forum here, are primarily BJJ practitioners...and how many of those people train primarily with the gi?--anywhere from 60/40 to 90/10 percent in favor of the gi.

Lastly, is there anyone at all, that ONLY trains with the Gi all the time?


Just a little study I'm doing.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Uber_Tap]

The bjj school I trained at was a kimono/no kimono school. We probably trained 65% no kimono, 35% kimono. To be honest, I prefered no kimono but strictly for vain reasons. I'm a heavy, strong guy so with no kimon I could use my strength and weight against opponents much better when I didn't have to worry about getting caught with some type of kimono choke. While I understand that speaks to my technique, or lack there of, I also think that as much as I shouldn't count only on my strength, smaller people shouldn't count only on kimono techniques to get them out of jams. While I prefer no kimono, I think you should train both so that you at least have a perspective on how technical the game is with one, and how much more strength plays into it without one. No expert here, but just my 2 cents.

[wardancer]

It is almost even e.g (50 % of the BJJ Classes are NO GI).
When we get closer to a particular style of competition (gi or no gi), all the classes just train that style for about 1 month and then we just go back to the usual 50/50 training format.

[Ahoym8e]

There are schools that wont train a student no-gi without also training gi.

Training gi makes your no-gi game twice as good (bold statement, I know).

me: 33% of my time no-gi; 66% gi

[cakegirl]

I train gi 90%, no-gi 10%.

[JaredExtreme]

Like Cakegirl, I train almost exclusively gi. The school I go to has classes everynight on weekdays, and Friday is the only no-gi class. I usually skip Friday because I like having a little break.

Also, like Uber_tap said, no-gi tends to favor the low technique muscle head wrestlers over smaller people who lack the mass to simple lay on someone in side mount. (Sorry, just had to do a little venting there. )

[Hermosa]

Ok..very cool, Now I know that "to gi or not to gi" is an old old debate...but do you think that training with the Gi, improves your no-gi game.

I really believe it does, I also train almost exclusively with the gi and I've never felt lost without it. I feel pretty amazing no-gi actually, but that doesn't make me want to start doing more no-gi..I think the gi is the greater challenge and expands my mind, the reason I believe that my no-gi feels so good is because its like taking a mental step back..less to think about. A simpler game.

I don't think that someone who started with submission wrestling and never put on a gi in their life..would be near as good a guy who trained the same amount of time with one.

[Toudiyama[NL]]

had to do thid one
I like the "No gi era"