Gi or no Gi? That is the ?

[BJJAndWrestling]

What would be better in a street fight to be someone who is trained in bjj with a gi or with out a gi?
I say with out a gi because somethimes ppl take off their shirts and nobody wheres a gi in a street fight!
Are there certain things that a bjj guy with a gi can do that a bjj guy with out a gi can't do?

[SamuraiGuy]

Both.

Plain and simple.

If I had to pick one I would say... hmmm I dont know, the chances of you fighting smoeone with a coat and or shirt, and pants on, is more likely than fighting a guy with no shirt and or rashgaurd and shorts.

Theres also the fact that alot of techniques with the gi are simple to convert to no-gi, if you do 3 years of gi and go to a no gi class, you would do fine, if you did 3 years of no gi and went to a gi class having never put one on... prepare to get destroyed.

The gi also makes your more of a technical fighter, Dave Camirrillo (sp?) has a good quote on the importance of the gi, I cant find/remember it but its to the affect of... when you train no gi you can rely on your physical attributes to control/win... when you train gi, you can only rely on technique, therefore your technique with a gi becomes better.

From personal experience, there are people who can beat me in No-Gi where I train, and I can kill them with the gi on, these people are all larger btw. (Theres also smaller people who can kill me in both).

Just do both, its so much simpler as you get the best of both worlds, if you live in siberia or russia, I'd say gi definetly, if you live in california/mexico, go no-gi, if you live somewhere in between, both.

You could just buy a knife though.

[danfaggella]

Yes, both is the answer. Theres no need to make sure you train 1/2 with gi and 1/2 without, because thats hard to do and you may not be doing BJJ primarily for self-defence. The thing is, knowledge of how to grab clothing and use it as a handle, as wel as how to defend that, is pretty vital because while you probably can't hip throw a 200lb man by his t-shirt, you can usually choke him unconcious with it. If you're concerned about self-defence being rounded is very key. Understand striking and weapons as well, grappling is one apect of fighting, though it is often enough.

Take in what you can from both, understand how they each work and feel a bit differently though largely similar. You may need to choke someone out with your own sweater, who knows.

[BJJAndWrestling]

Oh i wasn't really sure if you could use their shirt like the gi but i guess you can! Doesn't bjj start off from the knees?

[BJJAndWrestling]

Oh wait what if you do no gi but with a shirt on?
Then you would probably wanna do it that way, right?

[danfaggella]

Most no-gi establishments still train with shirts and such, but they just don't use them to aply technique because:

-Its a no-gi class
-Most clothing isn't nearly as durrable as a gi

And yes, many BJJ places have thier students start grappling from the knees. This is because with limited space people would be crashing all over eachother, and because there is much less risk of injury durring knee-sparring sessions (even if there is enough space) because most injuries occur durring the takedown.

[EmptyneSs]

knowledge of manipulating the gi will allow you many other options than just no gi alone. a big part of jiu jitsu is learning to strangle people with their own clothing as well as yours. look how many people in the streets wear collared shirts, jackets, and coats. a decent jiu jitsu or judo guy can easily strangle someone wearing just a t shirt. its up to you, do you want this knowledge or not?

using the gi can help you develope awesome grip strength that will help greatly when doing no gi.

using the gi also makes you pay more attention to technique and position since you cant just slip out of a move because your bodies are sweaty.

[SamuraiGuy]

To the question of just training no-gi with a t-shirt, and learning to choke with the t-shirt in that, it wont work like that. Because they wont teach gi (t-shirt) chokes in No-Gi class.

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

If for some odd/theoretical reason you have to pick one, I would point out that any no gi technique can be done in a gi but not vice-versa

[OmaPlata]

Originally Posted by BJJAndWrestling

What would be better in a street fight to be someone who is trained in bjj with a gi or with out a gi?
I say with out a gi because somethimes ppl take off their shirts and nobody wheres a gi in a street fight!
Are there certain things that a bjj guy with a gi can do that a bjj guy with out a gi can't do?

The basics are the same with either the Gi or without:
Takedowns: if the GI isnt available, use a takedown that dont require it.
Position: Once the guy is down, get position. Again, using the GI or not will depend if you have it.
Control: once you have position, maintain control. The Gi still isnt needed.
Submission: Submitt the guy without using GI chokes, ala armbars or RNC. The GI is helpful from the mount and grabbing arms from the guard, but without it, there are still plenty of submission available. Most BJJ schools train with both, but some schools only let the advanced (blue & up) train No GI. The very beginners should learn a little Gi first so they dont get confused

[JKDBerlin]

For me Grappling consists of three parts:
Gi
No-Gi
with Punches and Kicks etc.

Everything is quite a bit different but needs to be trained if you want the complete picture.

Greetings

[jeff5]

I agree that both is probably the right answer. It kind of depends on where you live too. Take here in Chicago for example. For many months out of the year we're wearing either coats or heavier clothing. This makes many of the chokes, manuevers, etc., done with a Gi very applicable.

[shamster]

I agree with not neglecting the gi. Personally, I choose to train primarily with the gi, and just do some no-gi training once in a while.
Royler Gracie, who is one of the all time best submission grapplers ever (if not the best) trains primarily with a gi, and only ditches the gi for training just prior to a no-gi event.

[danfaggella]

I am a HUGE fan of Royler and he is probably my grappling idol, along with Saku. Hes very small but very very good. However, I find it hard to beleive that Gi training is as/more effective than no-gi training when you are training for a no-gi event. I don't really like Eddy Bravo, though I respect that he really points this out in his book and in his teachings. He even tapped Royler out (I wish Royler could have put him in a come, though).

I beleive gi/no-gi both have thier merits, but when you are training to be a diver, will you do all your practice dives from a different hight than they will be in competition? If you are a soccer player, will you play with a different size/shape ball than will be in your competition? Its only logical. Granded, the gi can help people rely less on shipperyness, but if you tell yourself not to rely on slipperyness, and stick to it, you will benefit yourself the same way with no-gi training.

[SamuraiGuy]

**** EDDIE BRAVO

seriously, he fucking caught royler once and now he thinks hes the fucking king of the world. If anything it says more about how good Royler is.

That's the guy that beat Royler once! Oh man.

Do you think the others in that competition were looking forward to a chance at getting to fight Eddie Bravo, I'm sure they were all clamoring for it.

It pisses me off how he rides this one win out, he uses it to sell his books/dvds, FROM THE MAN WHO BEAT ROYLER GRACIE, whooptie fucking do, everyone loves Bravo now, what if E. Telles had fought Royler that day, would everyone love the fucking turtle. E. Telles revolutionalizing jiu jitsu... people will think your crazy, but now Eddie Bravo is amazing, he didnt even invent the twister its just a wrestling move.

And now he trains only No-Gi and trains only people No-Gi what a douche, he doesnt think there are any benefits of training with a gi when 99.9% of the best grapplers in the world do (you can even include him in that cause he used the gi). **** I'm eddie bravo, I caught royler once, I'm just gonna go against everything in recent grappling history, you dont need the fucking gi, marcelo garcia whos won two adcc's in a row, he shouldnt wear the fucking gi, Ronaldo Jacare Souza, yeah he doesnt need the fucking gi, Royler doesnt need the gi, Rickson Gracie never should have put on a gi it just limits him....

fucking douchebag.

And if you say he can kick my ass, whoopty frigging doo, there are alot of people that can kick my ass, if I got a lucky triangle on him maybe I can sell, Jiu Jitsu UNCOVERED!, By SamuraiGuy. THE GUY WHO BEAT THE GUY WHO BEAT ROYLER ONCE!

whew end rant.