Hey ya'll. I in addition to my San Da/Kung Fu training, also do no gi Submission Grappling. I've always heard that without the gi, that you wont be as technical as a person who studies with the gi. Well to make my grappling/ground game better, I will be also taking up BJJ (with a gi). One thing I've heard is that transitioning from no gi to gi is a very hard transition, is that true? (btw I will still be doing my no gi grappling still)
dont do it!! you dont need that shit!! nogi is for ppl who have become disillusioned with the gi... not the other way round
ignore the above post, the gi game can help you further refine your grappling technique and take your understanding of detail and nuance in grappling to another level. of course not all techniques you learn with the gi will translate directly to no gi or mma, but many of the skills you learn will eg balance, patience, posture, grip strength... The majority of really good mma grapplers have pretty extensive gi histories as well as no gi/mma. just be prepared to be controlled more easily than before, choked when you see no danger and not be able to power out of submissions the same way. but its a lot of fun!
Thank you for the helpful post. I got interested when I heard that a lot of highly respected MMA fighters said that to be great on the ground you need to learn with the gi. I do no gi, and do pretty well, but I know my ground game needs improvement, and gi BJJ could help me out.
I went from pure no gi to doing both. i drift in and out of the gi but when i do it for a significant amount of time rather than the odd session here and there, i find my no-gi game is a lot tighter. It also makes me work on escaping subs in a more technical manner, rather than relying on sweat/power in certain situations. I'll never give up no gi though, do it 3 days a week and gi only once or twice. And let's be honest, the majority of top no-gi guys in the world all do gi
Yes, one thing I'll never do is give up my no gi training. I love it and find it very helpful. But I want my ground game to be tighter, and more technical.
I don't think it is a very hard transition. it is different, much more technical. teaches you not to get in bad spots more than in no-gi where you can slip out of alot of things with power or slickeryness.i do mostly no gi but am trying to get back into the gi but it just changes your thought process a bit for the better
It's not necessarily more technical overall. I quoted that you have to be more technical with escapes in gi, but at the same time you have to be more technical with subs in no-gi as you lose a lot of the grips and control.
If you think you want to be an MMA pro, no gi is the way to go. If you are interested in combatives, self defense or the historic side of grappling do some gi training. Most people in fights wear clothes. Somehow a bogus idea has come about that gi training "isn't realistic". No gi training isn't realistic just like training barefoot isn't realistic. In the real world most shitheads are wearing at least a t-shirt and with practice you can use it to choke them out.
The oddest parts for me were the straight arm judo lapel grips from knees/standing, the sleeve pistol grips when in someone's guard, and of course, gi chokes from positions you think you're safe in. The rest of the adjustments are more intuitive, although I still sometimes utilize no-gi grips instead of readily available and often more effective gi grips.
i agree, thats what i was trying to get across. but i think by knowing that escaping is harder it changes your mindset into the more technical side of knowing what you can and cant get away with. to me it's less athleticism and more technique. submisission wise in no-gi i just go for higher percentage submsissions. bent arm bars and chokes. i read somewhere that most subs in adcc are rnc's, high percentage.
i went from a freestyle wrestling background to no gi sub grappling, i continue to train both now, i compete wrestling on a university and i train no gi bjj at a local club.....i dont see how gi bjj is more technical then no gi, i see that gi bjj deals with controling and subing people using the gi, and i see that no gi bjj you learn to control and sub people with whatever they are wearing, obvously you cant do any gi chokes when training no gi, other then that i firmly believe that no gi bjj is 100% better, it is more specfic to real world self defense and depending on your rout you plan on taking, the transiting from no gi bjj and mma is much easyer, think about it, if you consantly use gi grips to choke, joint lock and sweep going from there to no gi you have to relearn most of your techniques. no gi bjj to mma=easy because you'v been doing it all along well aside from strikes. another reason why i train no bjj is that i compete in wrestling several times a year and if i start taining gi bjj it could potently effect my wrestling, but training no gi bjj i am always working on realistic grips and motions all the time in both sports.
"balance, patience, posture, grip strength..." this is not limited to ONLY gi training, you can learn alllll of that AND you dont need to unlearn stuff later by training no gi.
I agree that gi is definatley worth the time and effort. I don't understand why people think no-gi is more realistic. In a real fight people grab your clothing!!! If you don't know how to deal with being grabbed and held by your clothing then your at a disadvantage plain and simple. Plus you will have the ability to use your opponents clothing against them. As far as I know your not even allowed to grab the shorts in a no-gi match, that seems pretty unrealistic to me. As someone said before, most people wear clothes, so learn to deal with them. I also think that training without shoes is a major disadvantage from a self defence perspective. Sinking in the hooks is bloody hard when your wearing shoes!
just because "most people in fights wear clothes" doesnt mean i have to grip onto their clothing, no gi grips would work perfectly fine in a 'real' fight as well. i think people who train gi get insulted when other people say gi bjj is garbage compared to no gi bjj. i know i would if i trained gi...but i dont and NEVER will! somr reasons i dont could be: i do not plan on competing in gi tournaments, i do not want to maybe mess my grips in my wrestling and also some day i'd like to try my hand at pankration.
of course you are gonna think that the gi is not more technical when you have never done it. The reason it is more technical, is because it is slower, you need to use technique instead of slipperyness and explosiveness to escape a bad position, if you go into gi jiu-jitsu knowing that you want to fight MMA, obviously you are gonna focus more on using no-gi grips and a no-gi style game even though you have a gi on, it just makes more sense, then all your techniques will cross over. I don't know where people get the deluded idea that no-gi is more realistic for the streets than gi... how many attackers run around in vale tudo shorts, c'mon... you can gi choke someone in a stretchy t-shirt.
then i guess everything must regress back to NHB, going by that logic because in a 'real' fight the person is proably going to punch you so i guess no gi and gi bjj should start training with strikes too. Another thing i found was that a no gi bjj person vs/ gi bjj person both with the same level of skill, who would win? no doubt in my mind! the no gi person would own the gi person, primarly because the gi person would be out of his element becasue they are facing someone whos not wearing the excat same thing they are wearing and that they trained them to have and because of that facing someone who might be wearing a short sleeve spandex shirt (that would proably rip while their griping it because the strength of the material is weaker then the beloved gi) or no shirt at all doesnt go to well for them. on teh other hand the no gi person is 100% confortable and imposes their techniques the same way that they have been training them. in closing: NoGi>Gi
^ shut up already. it is clear you have NO idea what the hell you are talking about. just like last time I read one of your posts, in closing: You are an idiot.
OK put whoever you want up against marcello garcia, he trains predominantly in the gi, up to a week out from competition.
