One of Marcelo's matches from the worlds

[Griffin Lambert]

Here you go.

[bobby rivers]

And Marcelo for birdie on the 7th. This one is gonna break left to right and is just over 10 ft from the hole. He really like guillatines and north south. What do you think Norm?

Boring commentating. But so is gi jj. Yeah, I said it. This was the highest level. Total athletic badasses. Like puttin Micheal Phelps in a pool of molasses. What ya'll think?

[Will Thaxton]

I'm with ya bro. A new MMA school just opened in Tuscaloosa and they train Gi. I'm like WTF? I'm not even gonna bother with a free class. I did get in the best shape of my life sweating my balls off in the Gi.

[Mike Nall]

And Marcelo for birdie on the 7th. This one is gonna break left to right and is just over 10 ft from the hole. He really like guillatines and north south. What do you think Norm?

Boring commentating. But so is gi jj. Yeah, I said it. This was the highest level. Total athletic badasses. Like puttin Micheal Phelps in a pool of molasses. What ya'll think?

I can't front. I train gi and no-gi. I love doing both. But in terms of watching the sport? I can only really watch no-gi. I mean I watch the Worlds, just because I want to see who wins and how, to keep up with it. But that shit is not that fun to watch. No-gi is way easier on the eyes, just because it's faster paced.

[Scott Philips]

budo videos says no.

[Brian Morency]

[Isaiah Mendoza]

clicking play... loading...
"video is no longer available"

FDAHKFDAJFUCK!!!

[Isaiah Mendoza]

bahahahaha it's hilarious how everytime you think the guy is gonna sweep him he just flips his hips at the last second and regains his base. he looks retardedly hard to sweep.

[Harry Evans]

I used to compete as a rock climber, and this debate always reminds me of the one between sport climbers (rope) and boulderers (no-rope). I think we can learn a little from them. Bouldering involves short, 2-10 move climbs with no rope, concentrating the power, intensity, and excitement of a long climb into a quick event. Every movement is intense, and really important. Rope climbs stretches it out more, relying on endurance and timing. They can be 30 feet long, or 300. There are difficult "crux" moves along the way, and you conserve energy in between. This can be a nightmare to spectate. It's like whale watching - one exciting moment if you are lucky, and the rest is just sitting around in the cold.

Some climbers cross-train, while others refuse to acknowledge the other method. Yet some climbers hate bouldering, but train it for their power and explosiveness, and some boulderers hate the rope and the patience, but do it for endurance. As a general rule, the best boulderers train on ropes, and the best sport guys train on boulders. Why? It's called cross-training. Different styles (whether rope/no-rope, or gi/no-gi) emphasize different movements, muscles, and even thought processes. Whatever you practice most has been drilled into you. If you spend all day shooting triangles, you probably have strong abductor muscles (squeezing your thighs together); if you spend all day doing no-gi, you have strong "no-gi muscles", movements, and attacks.

The thing people forget is that you use ALL of your muscles to fight, and "gi" movements can be appropriate in no-gi at the right time. The "no-gi" muscles are just the ones most common to no-gi. That's why football players don't practice by just playing football all week: they may rarely use a certain muscle, but when they need it, it won't be there if they don't cross-train. It amazes me that no-gi guys will treat the gi like it is plagued, and then go lift weights. What is the difference? You don't intend to compete in weight lifting any more than you do to compete in the gi. It's just that there may be something that these weight lifters are doing that you can steal for yourself, so you do. And the gi is a hell of a lot more similar to no-gi than weight lifting is.

So my long, roundabout point is: take a day every once in a while and put on your gi. You may not use the grips in competition, but maybe can break that drunken asshole's grip on your leather jacket, and then choke him out with his. You may not use that rolling loop choke with the lapel, but maybe the new angle you hadn't seen before will open up some ideas for new passes, or a modified guillotine.