Why you need to train the Gi

[Paul McKeown]

This old chestnut...Points made by coach about why you need to train the Gi

''But if you have a look at the current ufc champions, and see how many are black belts with gi! If you want to understand jiu jitsu you must train with the gi! You can take the gi off coming up to a fight, but you can't fully appreciate or excel with jiu jitsu if you don't train in the gi! How many tournaments has Bravo won, or his students? Have they ever won ADCC or the UFC? If training without the gi was better surely they'd clean up in no gi competitions? All the current ADCC champions fight and train in the gi, Brauilo didn't start no gi till he was a brown belt and Roger till he was a black belt!''

''I think you miss understood Rogers statement? (statement of his saying 80% bjj is useless in mma) Training with the gi makes you technically better, you have to work much harder on the correct positioning and technique to escape! You understand the positions better and you don't lose that when you take the gi off! I have seen for so many years that people who don't train with the gi, rely heavily on their psychical attributes (strength and speed) to fight. It's much easier to escape if you're sweating and you're stronger and fitter than the other guy! But if you have the technical knowledge to put behind that, you will be a better fighter. I have watched a lot of so called mma fighters walk through the doors of the gym over the years. Very few of them would stay after being schooled by guy's in our club who all learned in the gi! (I'm referring to no gi class as well as gi)''

''If you make jiu jitsu your art you must learn in the gi to understand it fully! The honest truth is that those who hate the gi, are simply not good enough to compete with it on and make up all this shit. Eddie Bravo is a perfect example he could not make the grade at the top level, so to stand out he started this crap about nogi. But he still trains in the gi himself, as does his pal joe rogan. He has never produced any major champions in either nogi or mma. It's all a spin to make him money and fame, and the reason the gi schools are so successful and have been around so long is because they're better! They all take the gi off to train specifically for adcc or mma for short periods before a fight, then return to the gi to learn the art better. The fact that every major champ in the modern game, of either adcc or mma trains in the gi speaks for itself!''

Thoughts and opinions?

I'm of the opinion if you only want to compete in MMA or NoGi grappling then wearing a gi is pointless, just seems common sense to me. If going to gi classes helps you get in more grappling hours then yeah definitely do it as it will translate to an extent...but saying doing nogi bjj alone wont make as good at nogi bjj than if you have trained gi bjj as well seems odd to me (assuming your getting in the same hours of training). And when talking about defending against punches etc then the gi seems TOTALLY pointless

[Zach Maslany]

10th planet is only 10 years old bro. Just wait until the system gets older. Eddie has been training strictly no gi for years and royler had zero answer for Eddie's no gi clinch game. The best guys in the UFC on the ground are wrestlers and they have never trained in the super hero outfit. Spare me the Barao and jose aldo train gi. Where are there submissions then? Anthony Pettis subbed Ben henderson and henderson is a black belt in gi, pettis trains no gi. If you want to do no gi and mma then forget about the gi. Flag football aint the same as tackle

[Paul McKeown]

Definitely bro I agree with all your points....Saw this Chris Brennan quote which i think sums it up

How can training with something on that absorbs sweat and slows the game down help you get tighter when you take it off. That is like saying having sex with a condom on helps tighten up the game when you take it off. That is complete shit. It will make it much faster and harder to control once you have it off and you will need to find all new ways to slow it down and control it again. They are two totally different things and I prefer without

[Zach Maslany]

hahahhahah thats a good way to think about it. I also prefer without. hahah

[Chris Herzog]

About 80% of the first 90% of that 1st post is mostly not true.

[Paul McKeown]

Yeah having been a member of these forums for quite a while now I definitely know now that the whole idea that people from 10th planet dont win any tournaments is just ridiculous! Obviously being a gi instructor I doubt he would know all the tournaments that 10th planet have been cleaning up in in the states

[Amir Allam]

This is a tired old argument, and it makes a classic <i>cum hoc ergo propter hoc</i> fallacy. Man, shit sounds so much cooler in latin. Anyway, I'm going to refrain from offering a long-winded rebuttal; instead I'll just offer a counterexample from personal experience. (Also, LoL @ Eddie Bravo using "psychical [sic] attributes (strength and speed) to fight." That cracks me up!)

I won't name names because I don't want to seem like I'm trying to discredit anyone, but I've trained with many of the very best grapplers around today; ADCC champions, IBJJF champions both gi & nogi, and Pan-am champions. In my opinion, none of them have been anywhere near the devastation that is Josh Barnett, who doesn't train in the gi. Honestly, I pick him over any other grappler alive today in a no-gi jiujitsu match with or without points.

I think the gi is great, and any sort of grappling training will make you better at grappling. But I see no reason to believe that it is necessary.

[Robert Carlin]

I think you're preaching to the converted buddy! The arguments for Gi are so ludicrously invalid that it surprises me so many people can't see the bigger picture. Zach summed it up for me. The traditionalists have been honing their skills in competition since the 1930's, is it any surprise they have more champions than a system that has only been developing for 10 years? Yet look at the waves we are making! Already. The 10th planet system is so young and only a small handful could say they have it mastered. In 20-30 or 40 years time we'll see a much better reflection. After Eddies win at Metamoris people are beginning to look foolish with their misconceptions.

[Ron Benore]

I train both. I actually have a legitimate reason for doing so. Five days a week I am in a suit for work. I am regularly in a courtroom and I often anger criminal defendants and/or their family. Therefore, I would like to know how to defend myself with what I wear to work! I also run around in shorts and a t-shirt when I am not working so I love training no-gi as well. Saying that . . . they are different as well as compliment each other. However, I don't have a problem if someone doesn't want to train with a gi. It is their own decision.

[David Rosado]

I think it's a conspiracy. There's a lot if money in the gi market. They pay these guys to take pics in their gi. I mean, their gi always look so clean and belt so unworn. Plus, why is there never footage of them rolling in the gi? There's tons of other footage. Where are the gi videos? I call shenanigans!