Work on breaking grips on gi pants, or wear tights?

[Manny Rocha]

I prefer the traction and feel of gi pants. But at the last tournament I went against a player who uses the gi a lot, and he used them to pass. Just want to know if its worth it to wear the pants and either learn to break grips or just deal with it, or if tights and my normal ankle sleeves will give close to the same amount of traction. Thanks.

[Brian Debes]

Tights. (Note that this is my personal views and is also based on the assumption that you don’t train Gi as well)
1. Even though it’s generally illegal to grab them, people will, at least for brief moments. It’s like grabbing the cage in MMA; pretty much everyone grabs it for a moment now and then and it can make a huge difference.
2. It’s easier to wear tights all the time in class and get used to them than to train all the time in class no-gi with no one grabbling them and have people grab them in competition. It’s the same philosophy on sports specific training we at 10th planet embrace when it comes to gi vs no-gi.

[Amber Kamischke]

I feel that I have more mobility in tights than gi pants. I also like the cotton ones rather than ones made from rashguards material because they get less slippery when wet from sweat.

[ScottRay]

I highly advise against the gi pants for competition. People will grab them, guaranteed. When that happens, whether you know grip breaks or not, it can be crucial and change the whole match. The real answer is whatever you choose, be sure you train in the same type of attire. Being use to the clothing is the most important thing..

[Mike Nall]

I prefer the traction and feel of gi pants. But at the last tournament I went against a player who uses the gi a lot, and he used them to pass. Just want to know if its worth it to wear the pants and either learn to break grips or just deal with it, or if tights and my normal ankle sleeves will give close to the same amount of traction. Thanks.

If you don't want your pants to get grabbed don't wear gi pants. People aren't even doing it to cheat, it's just often an instinct to grab them. If you're doing no gi you might as well just do no gi and wear shorts or spats or both. Sometimes I wear gi pants when I do a no-gi roll at the end of the night after a gi class, and getting it grabbed just comes with the territory. Bill Cooper is really the only high level grappler I've seen compete no-gi with any frequency wearing gi pants. And even then he was probably just lazy after competing in the gi earlier or didn't have any shorts.

[Will Thaxton]

I feel most comfortable in pants. Eddie doesn't seem to do to bad in them.

[Tori Applegate]

Def go with tights. I have a pair of the 10p ones and I like them a lot. But talk to someone at your school that has them and kind of judge your size. You saw me at the Strikehard tournie I believe, and I was wearing those tights and they're a men's medium and I weigh 120 . Most guys don't like them toooo tight. I get really good traction and I mainly play a lot of RG. Hope this helps. Also, might def want to go with the cotton ones..Sean had some that were more of a sports material (not sure what kind). #1 they didn't really stretch well. #2 they tore up fast. #3 they were very scratchy on the inside to wear. I know, I wore them once..terrible. Also, you can wear shorts over them. A lot of guys at our school do that.

[sean applegate]

Try the spats hoach. The pants are cool but people will grab them and at the kakuto it's not illegal for them to grab the pants anyways.

[John Mejia]

Don't wear any spats, Vale Tudo shorts or bust

[Kyle Spalla]

Don't wear any spats, Vale Tudo shorts or bust

Kind of where my heads at. I feel I get better grip with out spats, even with sweating. Vale Tudo short leave no grabbing options, less they grab your cup and you got to make immediate eye contact less they want to appear gay.