One of the guys in a thread on the forum made this statement “ if you train with a gi your nogi escapes will get better. ” My response to that was “I'm not trying to be confrontational but how does training in the gi make your no-gi escapes better again ? “ The tone of the whole conversation was friendly and respectful from both sides by the way.

Then another guy that was friends with the first guy talked about a conversation he had with a BJJ instructor where they came to the conclusion that “ it's better for nogi guys to train in the gi with the rule that you cannot grab the gi under any circumstances... Then the only thing you have to deal with is the traction that the gi creates... If you're gonna train in a gi to make your nogi game better, this is how it should be done in my opinion...”

With that being said I asked for further clarification and he said “ The gi creates TRACTION which makes your escapes harder to perform... If you can do them with the gi on, then you can practically fly out of some positions without the gi…” Later he said “ I'm not saying that it's impossible to have good escapes without the gi, I'm just saying that the gi makes them better, in about half the time in my humble opinion...”

So to this I replied “ I see where you are coming from and I've heard that before. I started BJJ with the gi and still train about half the time in the gi ( when I do Judo ). The gi is like training wheels on a bike that help you learn how to ride. You can learn to ride a bike without training wheels too. ”

One of the other forum members also asked for more clarification "Does the Gi actually make your escapes better in any technical way or does it just make it harder to perform? Please explain how the gi makes no gi escapes better.”

To which I replied “ My take on what he wrote was that the traction with the gi makes you work harder to escape so when you take the gi off it makes your escapes better. This in my opinion is only a perception of being able to escape better. But I could be wrong. ” The guy that we were exchanging ideas with then confirmed that I understood what he was saying.

Earlier in the thread I gave my opinion about it “ I personally don't agree with the idea that the gi helps you learn no-gi escapes or anything else no-gi faster. The only thing the gi does is slow the game down in a way which has nothing to do with technique No-Gi which I feel is counter productive if you are going to compet no-gi or mma. But it is 'a universe full of infinite posiblilties' in the words of Matt Horwich and people are going to have different opinions and philosophies. Good stuff (insert guys name here).”

At this point Eddie Bravo jumped in on the discussion and wrote “ It's hard to explode out of submissions with the gi so you rarely practice your explosiveness so that's why pure jiu jitsu players have way less explosive power than wrestlers. Explosiveness is crucial for MMA.

ALOT of submission defenses with the gi require you to hold on to a part of your gi for defense. Like if someone sits back for an ankle lock, you're supposed to sit up and grab his collar for defense. And when someone goes for a kimura on you, you're supposed to grab your pants for defense. Or when someone has you in spider web going for an arm bar, you're supposed to grab your own collar for defense. Or when someone is trying to RNC you, you're supposed to grab both your collars.

How does the gi help your nogi defense again???

Remember, the only guy to escape Marcelo's RNC in ADCC was Diego Sanchez who had never trained in the gi at that point. His explosiveness got him out ”

To this the guy replied “ So should we all be just wrestlers with submissions instead of relaxing & relying on technique to prevail? I'm really confused, I thought that jiu jitsu was using technique to overcome power... But I'm in no position to make that kind of assessment, it's just always what I thought & believed...”

Then I wrote “ I wouldn't say it's about being a 'wrestler' but a good grappler. Explosiveness is a subset of technique in good grappling just as leverage, timing and balance are. It's better to have the technical movement of a tekk sharp than to just try to muscle out of something but sharp technical movement with the right leverage, timing and explosiveness is better than technique alone any day.

Watch ADCC. All the guys that train with the gi use explosiveness at the right moment when they are grappling. Marcelo, Braulio, Galvao .... ”

At this point the first guy wrote “ Im pretty much the weakest in my class and the lightest so I only have technique to rely on. The gi may not help you bigger guys no-gi game but it has helped mine. Im not saying its a night and day difference but my knee cut passes have improved. I cant contribute all of it to gi but the gi slowed the game down and I was able to rep the technique at a slower pace at about 60 to 75%. ”

These are valid points so I wrote “ You know Eddie was one of the smallest, weakest guys in class and he totally focuses on technique without wearing a gi. And I am only about 160 pounds and I never use to do weight training, I rely on technique.

I would argue that it's not the gi that has improved your knee cut pass but the pace at which you practice the tekk and your attention to detail when you are drilling. If you don't drill technique properly it doesn't matter whether you are wearing a gi or not you won't progress. If you rush when drilling and don't pay attention to the smallest technical movements you will have poor technique.

In fact I would say it's better to drill without a gi for no-gi competition because without the traction of the gi your technique will be MORE PRECISE for no-gi.

If you drill the double under pass all the time with the gi, your movement will not be as precise when you take the gi off because you have to ADJUST to the LACK of FRICTION.

Someone who drills the double under pass no-gi all the time will have MORE PRECISE movement i.e. 'better technique' because they train without the gi all the time and do not have to adjust to the lack of friction or quicker movements without the gi.

I would never try to tell someone that their experience was not valid but these are a few ideas to think about.”

All in all I felt it was a friendly exchange of ideas. If you have not stopped by the 10th Planet website you should check it out !

The Gi vs No-Gi Debate Continues ...?

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Pablo Popovitch on No-Gi

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