Rolled in a Gi for the first time tonight...

[Brandon Jeffries]

Fuckin sucked. Went to a school one of my buddies goes to. They handed me a Gi, and not to be disrespectful, I put it on. Only got tapped once, and the dude was 100 lbs more than me. I even landed a Japanese Necktie on one guy, but he had only been training for like a month. The Gi is heavy and hot. It is also way thicker than any clothing the average american would wear, other than a jacket....

[Corky]

gi is fun in my opinion
its good for getting in tip top condition since it makes you sweat alot more
especially when you live where i do and the weather can get to 120 degrees here

[Danny Stolfi]

http://www.submissioncontrol.com/mai...-or-not-to-gi/

This is an part of article one of my blackbelt instructors wrote

"The technical aspect of gi training has to do with the fabric of the uniform itself. The gi is made of heavy-weight cotton, which absorbs sweat and adds a tremendous amount of friction when applying submission holds, making escaping extremely difficult. The gi also provides countless handles to secure limbs, assuring your opponent doesn’t just slip away.

While strength and speed are not the most important attributes in BJJ, they can certainly help. The lack of fabric in no-gi training makes absorbing sweat almost nonexistent, leading to a slippery match. This is one of the biggest differences in gi and no-gi training: submissions need to be spot-on to end a match; an opponent in a no-gi contest is more likely to slide out of a submission attempt and turn the match around."

Basically he's saying(and I agree with this) wearing the Gi can help make your defenses tighter, while No-Gi will help make your offense tighter.

Most of the people at my school swear by the Gi, I on the other hand could do without it and prefer training without it. To each his own I suppose.

[AJ Camacho]

I just got strangled to death tonight by a drop in purple belt. Fun times.

I don't know, he just kept grabbing my sleeves. I'm not used to collar choke defenses, so once he got two grips it was pretty much over.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun as hell.. but there's moments when you're tangled in a spider guard where you're just wondering what the fuck the point of it is. With or without the gi though, I fucking love it.

[Chris Odell (Datsusara)]

i'm not a fan of gi training at all however i also wouldn't mind a little less sweat slipperiness then you get in no-gi. the grappling tights help with this and to me seem like a more realistic level of fabric that one might have on in a street situation. i will of course say that if you have to train in the gi, do it in a 100% hemp gi by Datsusara, you'll find it's way less hot and annoying than the normal gis

[rock d]

:-) I have not yet come out about the gi at my school--but I hate it. It's like being an atheist at church. We're forced to use the gi 1/2+ time, and the gi always has prominence. I hate even looking at it. Competing in one feels embarrassing like karate. Last time I rolled a guy literally pulled my sleeve off trying to force an arm bar. All I could think was "how can anyone look at me and honestly think this is rational?" Also, tights look cool!

[Art "ART OF WAR" Belarde]

I love both games. Even though my game is more no GI centric I enjoy working with the GI also. Most make the argument hey we don't where that in the street... Ok cool. Then use no GI moves, but if a guy has a jacket on best believe I am going to choke the life out of him with his owen shit. lol. Moral of the story is if you take in everything you can. Then there is less chance of getting caught with something you haven't seen before.

[Dean Nowling]

i love training both. i think because im a wrestler i find the gi more challenging and if youre competitive like i am, it just makes me want to get better in the gi. you will get an insane grip strength if you train gi though

[Mike Nall]

http://www.submissioncontrol.com/mai...-or-not-to-gi/

This is an part of article one of my blackbelt instructors wrote

"The technical aspect of gi training has to do with the fabric of the uniform itself. The gi is made of heavy-weight cotton, which absorbs sweat and adds a tremendous amount of friction when applying submission holds, making escaping extremely difficult. The gi also provides countless handles to secure limbs, assuring your opponent doesn’t just slip away.

While strength and speed are not the most important attributes in BJJ, they can certainly help. The lack of fabric in no-gi training makes absorbing sweat almost nonexistent, leading to a slippery match. This is one of the biggest differences in gi and no-gi training: submissions need to be spot-on to end a match; an opponent in a no-gi contest is more likely to slide out of a submission attempt and turn the match around."

Basically he's saying(and I agree with this) wearing the Gi can help make your defenses tighter, while No-Gi will help make your offense tighter.

Most of the people at my school swear by the Gi, I on the other hand could do without it and prefer training without it. To each his own I suppose.

I try to train both as much as possible. The times where I do both are the times where I make the most improvements overall. I much prefer no-gi, but the gi is making my no-gi better. I don't rely on too many grips and basically play the same game. That way, when I take the gi off, I feel like I'm flying and my defenses are much tighter because I can't use strength or sweat to rip out of submissions or slide out of positions.

[Josh C.]

Nothing wrong with cross training, some of the people at our school roll & compete in the GI with no formal tranining and have fun at it, it helps pass the time at the GI/NoGi tournaments, since NoGi seems to always go last.