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My name is Romeo Barnes. I'm an author and a BJJ black belt with cerebral palsy. This blog is about my life balancing existence in two worlds. My latest book, My World is now available Amazon.com. Glad you're here, enjoy the journey.

Gi vs No-Gi

Which one should I train? It baffles me that Gi vs No-Gi is still a discussion. Not only that but when this is actually discussed it's always by no-gi advocates discussing why the gi is bad. The Gi advocate is never part of this discussion. I'll break down the usual points given for each and give a final opinion.

Gi:
-Makes your defense better
-More offense
-Superior leverage
-Leverage is easier to get and maintain

No-Gi:
-Faster
-Not everything from the translates
-Gi guys get smashed in MMA
-More street applicable


Synopsis:

The truth is all of these statements are correct if you look at BJJ in segments. Every BJJ athlete who has won a title in MMA, particularly in the UFC has been graded in the gi.
Everything that is important translates. BJJ is about body mechanics and efficiency, that has nothing to do with Gi vs No-gi that is the athlete not being able to translate his or her skill effectively. It's not that "wrist control is bad" which a phrase that is constantly thrown around. If that was the case armdrags would never happen and the basic push-pull triangle wouldn't be a thing, but it happens in no-gi tournaments and in MMA more often than you think. Efficiency brings me to my final point, the street. They say "T-shirts rip" and unless it's always winter there's not going to be anything for you to grab." T-shirts rip is false and it's not false because t-shirts don't rip. It's false because if it does rip it means you're executing incorrectly. If you're grabbing someone's shirt you shouldn't been dragging them around, you should be choking them and if you're choking them properly the shirt will not rip because you only tighten the shirt enough to turn the choke on then you just hold it. There's very little pressure on the fabric and that pressure is sustained solely to keep the neck still. If a guy in a hoodie attacks me and my hand ends up inside the hood itself as I attempt to guillotine him, why shouldn't I just loop choke him rather than having to scramble to reset the guillotine? There's no reason, but if I never trained in the gi I would never have learned how to properly execute a loop choke. In truth, while the gi does slow things down what the gi and give you more control, it also teaches you to be adaptable and use what's available to you.

Verdict:
In order to be a truly well-rounded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete you must train both.

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