Honestly.... is the gi really a good idea ?

E

Evenflow80

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I'm speaking in a self defense situation...im training so much in the gi that basically all my passes and sweeps and sub setups rely on the gi. The one day we train no gi I completely and utterly suck

I know instructions say that people in real life wear jackets or even just shirts which can sub for a gi in a real fight but is even that accurate? I feel like if I pull on the lapel of a jacket it will slide right off his arm haha.

More experienced grapples than me what are you honest thoughts without any ego or toeing the line ? Just your own honest and anonymous opinions?
 
Honestly I train both. I think they are both great. I even compete in no gi tournaments.

You need to figure out what grips transfer from no gi to gi. For example, when going for an arm drag Instead of grabbing the cloth behind the elbow learn how to hook the elbow with your hand.

Now I'm not saying don't use the gi when you're doing gi. I'm saying think about and use different grips when it's beneficial.

Gi and no gi are similiar but different. I love both. I did a gi class this morning at 6 and then no gi at noon. I try and train both as much as I can.
 
If you're training on a regular basis, you're going to have such a huge advantage over some untrained idiot that gi or no-gi won't matter. That said, collar chokes, sleeve and pants grips, etc all work in street clothes.
 
If you ever get mugged, keep it simple. O-soto-gari can be done on a shirtless guy.

Edit:

I'm not an expert in grappling, though. The extent of my knowledge comes from traditional karate grappling and a couple of years in Japanese jujitsu.
 
lts5025 said:
If you're training on a regular basis, you're going to have such a huge advantage over some untrained idiot that gi or no-gi won't matter. That said, collar chokes, sleeve and pants grips, etc all work in street clothes.
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That's very true. If you look at street fights on YouTube, 99% of the participants are totally untrained. Anyone with even the most basic fighting skills has an advantage in defending themselves. It seems that the majority of the human race has zero interest in learning how to fight.
 
Train both, with time you Will learn how to adapt, it isn't rocket science, trust me
 
kamalayka said:
Why? Sharing self-defense knowledge may help save someone's life.
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Theoretically sure, but it's increadbly unlikely. Only about 5 in every 100,000 people are murdered, only a fraction of those murders could even theoretically be prevented through martial arts and only a fraction of those would have been stoped if the the victim had known martial arts.

That being said this subject was interesting the first dozen times it was discussed, but at this point everything to be said on this subject has been repeated many times just on this forum.

You know what technique you should practice the most if you really want to make yourself safer? Break falls. People hurt themselves, and even die, in short falls all the time. I actually saved myself from serious injury just by knowing how to fall. I was crossing the street on my bicycle and someone late for work made a left without looking; they hit the front wheel of my bike going about 30 thr owing me to the ground. I probably would have bashed my head on the concrete pretty good, but I did a break fall and walked away with nothing but scratches and bruises.
 
Silverblur said:
Theoretically sure, but it's increadbly unlikely. Only about 5 in every 100,000 people are murdered, only a fraction of those murders could even theoretically be prevented through martial arts and only a fraction of those would have been stoped if the the victim had known martial arts.

That being said this subject was interesting the first dozen times it was discussed, but at this point everything to be said on this subject has been repeated many times just on this forum.

You know what technique you should practice the most if you really want to make yourself safer? Break falls. People hurt themselves, and even die, in short falls all the time. I actually saved myself from serious injury just by knowing how to fall. I was crossing the street on my bicycle and someone late for work made a left without looking; they hit the front wheel of my bike going about 30 thr owing me to the ground. I probably would have bashed my head on the concrete pretty good, but I did a break fall and walked away with nothing but scratches and bruises.
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Geez man. You must be the life of the party.

I'm kidding. Mostly I'm just talking about your average bar scuffle. Nothing major or too dangerous.
 
Gi is fun, and it keeps me in shape. Did I mention it’s fun? Really, really fun.
 
You ever tugged on a tshirt collar??? Them shits are sturdy as hell. If you need grips for a self defense situation than jeans and a tank top are good enough for the 30 seconds the altercation should be taking place.

If you rely on spider guard than the gi isn't the problem, your personal focus is.
 
Evenflow80 said:
Geez man. You must be the life of the party.

I'm kidding. Mostly I'm just talking about your average bar scuffle. Nothing major or too dangerous.
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Heh depends on my mood.

Anyway the main point of my post was the second paragraph; this subject has been done to death.

But you seem like a good sport do here are my thoughts; different to grips will work to different degrees depending on what the other person is wearing. The belt/pant waste grip is probably the most reliable since normal belts don't come loose so easily and most pants wastes are easier to grip than gi pants. However the best argument for gi training though is defense: if someone grabs your collar and stiff arms you it's going to shit down a lot of your options unless you know how to deal with .it
 
the gi is an okay idea. its not great.

a durable piece of training clothing that might mimick what people wear irl makes sense.

the belt definitely doesnt make sense and is annoying as fuck.

and training with different parts of the clothing missing (i.e. short sleeves, short pants, no collar etc.) would be most ideal so you can learn to vary your game to different situations, but no one does this.
 
GI techniques account for a variable

That being an opponent wearing thick clothing or a jacket

No Gi is has more universal application being that you only depend on natural grips for techniques
 
This pretty much depends if you're solely training for street self defence I guess. I think most of us who stick with BJJ just do it as we enjoy it, and we pick up skills at the same time. Its not really my main focus of whether it works in a street fight.
 
Evenflow80 said:
I'm speaking in a self defense situation...im training so much in the gi that basically all my passes and sweeps and sub setups rely on the gi. The one day we train no gi I completely and utterly suck

I know instructions say that people in real life wear jackets or even just shirts which can sub for a gi in a real fight but is even that accurate? I feel like if I pull on the lapel of a jacket it will slide right off his arm haha.

More experienced grapples than me what are you honest thoughts without any ego or toeing the line ? Just your own honest and anonymous opinions?
Click to expand...

It's less a problem with the gi and more a problem with your game and training being too reliant on it.
 
vcmmafan said:
GI techniques account for a variable

That being an opponent wearing thick clothing or a jacket

No Gi is has more universal application being that you only depend on natural grips for techniques
Click to expand...

Another variable is whether you are wearing clothing that can be manipulated. People grabbing your jacket/suit coat/whatever to stiff arm/snapdown/pull over your head. Something to work on given that people grab on naturally when it's there.

When people talk GI/NO-GI for fighting, they usually mean offense, but defense is also a consideration. Escapes that work perfectly for wrestling, NO-GI, and MMA can get you caught when your clothes can be grabbed to stop you from escaping pins, standing up, or breaking contact.
 
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you might not be able to pass the guard in no gi at your gym now... but if you ever did get into a requirement to use it for self defense, you probably wouldn't have to pass guard at all. And if you did, it would very likely be against someone who had no idea how to prevent it....Also you could punch them in the face when your doing it.

The part of BJJ that deals with learning how to fight people who don't do BJJ is realistically only the first 30-40 classes. After those, you're learning how to deal with people who know BJJ.

If you get into a bar fight, fancy sweeps and stuff will just get you punched in the kisser and potentially bottled. Just train cause its fun.

Also learn some damn nogi passes n00b :p
 
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