Want to improve my BJJ, but I dont care for the gi.

If you want access to top BJJ players , you're gonna have to put on a gi. If you want access to top boxers you're going to have to ,not, throw a leg kick. Your coming to them to improve in a portion of your game. Gotta go ahead and humble yourself
 
This is not a Gi vs Nogi debate. Never was. This is about BJJ applicability in MMA. I think I got some answers. I have no future in Gi or Nogi professionally. To argue which is better for grappling has nothing to do with my question.




There is a D2 team not to far from me. How would I go about arranging something like that? Being that is a college that I do not/never attende
Then what you want to learn is mma not bjj. You should go to an mma school then. Somewhere like att or something like that where you learn mma grappling.
 
Just gonna throw out there that nearly every single top submission and no-gi grappler also has an extensive background in training BJJ in the gi.
 
Just gonna throw out there that nearly every single top submission and no-gi grappler also has an extensive background in training BJJ in the gi.

thats because most top subgrapplers come from bjj, brazilians are very heavy on the gi.
 
I was like you, until I finally committed to gi training. now I like gi way more than no gi
 
thats because most top subgrapplers come from bjj, brazilians are very heavy on the gi.

That's the point I was trying to make. Training in the gi has a direct correlation of also being good at no-gi.
 
That's the point I was trying to make. Training in the gi has a direct correlation of also being good at no-gi.

My point was numbers... There is more elite gi grapplers than only no gi grapplers. I do believe the gi gives you some additional benefits, but I do not agree that you must train in the gi to be an elite no gi grappler... We have countless examples...
 
My point was numbers... There is more elite gi grapplers than only no gi grapplers. I do believe the gi gives you some additional benefits, but I do not agree that you must train in the gi to be an elite no gi grappler... We have countless examples...

Agree

Iron sharpens iron.

If the main source of training partners train GI, then it would be a waste to not take on such opportunity.
 
Iron sharpens iron.

If the main source of training partners train GI, then it would be a waste to not take on such opportunity.

I agree, unless you have no interest in the gi, and you have similar training partners who do no gi. If you are wanting to become elite no gi player and you have a bunch of white blues and purples at most.. But on the other room you got a bunch of gi killers... I believe the answer is obvious. But that has nothing to do with the gi, and all to do with training partners.
 
I was like you, until I finally committed to gi training. now I like gi way more than no gi

Same here. I was a hardliner for no gi, but now do mostly gi and noticed my no gi game is much better when I do practice it.
 
The solution for you, it seems to me, is to use your time in the gi to learn the meta game, strategy and tactics. When you get your no gi time in MMA class, use that to test your techniques and to be ambitious. Essentially, your gi practice will be your "reading" and your no gi will be your "essays". Hope this helps.

Why would he want to learn the meta games of the gi if his goal is MMA?
 
Not sure of your history, but one huge thing non-gi types seem to misunderstand about the gi is how much it enhances BJJ. There's a meta game offered by the gi that you just have to experience to understand, and I've never known anybody who's attempted to learn the gi game who didn't end up strongly appreciating it. I agree that the gi seems rigid and archaic, but you're missing out on many significant aspects of this sport by avoiding it.

Me too. I hated gi and you couldn't get me to wear one for my first couple of years training. And I hated it for a few months after forcing myself to do it but I grew to love it and appreciate it. I can't imagine having to only pick gi or no gi
 
Me too. I hated gi and you couldn't get me to wear one for my first couple of years training. And I hated it for a few months after forcing myself to do it but I grew to love it and appreciate it. I can't imagine having to only pick gi or no gi

I did mostly gi the first 4 years of my training, i liked it, but I always enjoyed no gi classes way more. Eddie bravo said once."every time we had no gi class was like vacation time to me" it stuck to me, because that's exactly how I felt... So I said, this is not my job, why the fuck wouldn't I have vacations all the time if that's what i want and unlike in real life, I can actually do it... So it's vacation time every day now for me...

Weird enough Rosacea showed up in my life and it reinforced my decision on dropping the gi...
 
I did mostly gi the first 4 years of my training, i liked it, but I always enjoyed no gi classes way more. Eddie bravo said once."every time we had no gi class was like vacation time to me" it stuck to me, because that's exactly how I felt... So I said, this is not my job, why the fuck wouldn't I have vacations all the time if that's what i want and unlike in real life, I can actually do it... So it's vacation time every day now for me...

Weird enough Rosacea showed up in my life and it reinforced my decision on dropping the gi...
I would train without the gi 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the time if my academy had enough classes for that to be doable.

Right now I get 1-2 no-gi days a week. Tops. :(
 
I would train without the gi 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the time if my academy had enough classes for that to be doable.

Right now I get 1-2 no-gi days a week. Tops. :(

Well considering that i only train 3 times a week tops, that's all good... But if it was like 4 years ago when I trained 5 times a week... That would've sucked...
 
If mma is what you think you want to compete in then just go to the mma school. Mma is different than bjj and you will need to learn different skills to be proficient in it.

However, if your desire to not put a gi on severely limits the amount of time you get to train, you may need to put on a gi to get the additional training hours.
 
First let me say I LOVE GRAPPLING, but I have zero desire to compete in sport BJJ. If I ever have a future in combat sports, its in MMA, not BJJ. While I respect the intricate berimbolos and 50/50 stuff, I think its applicability is largely in IBJJF and It would not be the smartest allocation of time for MMA.

All of the schools in my area are GI, sport style gyms. There is a MMA gym, but I want to learn it from someone clean and with a strong lineage. This leaves me in the middle of things. Learn from a MMA gym, and also learn wrestling and clinching, or go to a BJJ school and just grab the collar and lapels.

I know alot of people say rolling in the Gi makes you better No-gi, but I highly disagree. If all of your attacks come from the collar, then you probably have a sub-par overhook and underhook game, which is way more important for MMA. What is your opinion? What would be smarter for me to do?

The whole 'do you need the gi to be good' thing is highly overblown. Here's my take on it: you don't need the gi to be good at no-gi (Olympic wrestlers seem pretty good at controlling people on the mat, and I don't think most of them ever trained in a gi), but because BJJ is at heart a gi sport most good instructors will teach primarily in the gi, most good training partners will do a lot of gi, and most training opportunities in general in terms of open mats and the like will be in the gi. So while you don't need the gi to be good, the gi opens up a world of higher level coaching and sparring that you simply will not have access to if you're strictly a no-gi guy. It's much less about transfer of abilities one direction or the other (most of what you learn as a novice will be easily transferable) than it is about who you're going to train with.

At the MMA gym, who teaches grappling? What's his lineage? My coach is an old school Gracie Barra guy, but he also trains some UFC fighters totally no-gi (though all of them do train in the gi as well, mostly to get more mat time).
 
I agree, unless you have no interest in the gi, and you have similar training partners who do no gi. If you are wanting to become elite no gi player and you have a bunch of white blues and purples at most.. But on the other room you got a bunch of gi killers... I believe the answer is obvious. But that has nothing to do with the gi, and all to do with training partners.

Correct

The myth that training in a GI improve your nogi skills has sailed long time ago.
 
Why would he want to learn the meta games of the gi if his goal is MMA?

Exposing yourself to different sets of movements and patterns with the intention of achieving the same or similar results will open your mind to the vastness of the possibilities you have as a grappler. Especially when you're fresh, the more you know.
 
The whole 'do you need the gi to be good' thing is highly overblown. Here's my take on it: you don't need the gi to be good at no-gi (Olympic wrestlers seem pretty good at controlling people on the mat, and I don't think most of them ever trained in a gi), but because BJJ is at heart a gi sport most good instructors will teach primarily in the gi, most good training partners will do a lot of gi, and most training opportunities in general in terms of open mats and the like will be in the gi. So while you don't need the gi to be good, the gi opens up a world of higher level coaching and sparring that you simply will not have access to if you're strictly a no-gi guy. It's much less about transfer of abilities one direction or the other (most of what you learn as a novice will be easily transferable) than it is about who you're going to train with.

At the MMA gym, who teaches grappling? What's his lineage? My coach is an old school Gracie Barra guy, but he also trains some UFC fighters totally no-gi (though all of them do train in the gi as well, mostly to get more mat time).
Really some UFC fighters need to train in the gi to get more mat time?
 
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