TO GI OR NOT TO GI THAT IS THE QUESTION

I'm going to try and put my take on the age old question of which is better to train gi or no gi.  Now when I first started training ju jitsu I didn't really know what to expect.  I showed up to Ray Longo's MMA academy in Garden City, New York.  Now this was back when Matt Serra had just knocked out GSP.  I didn't know what to expect, I've never been in an MMA gym before.  When I walked in I have to say I almost walked out from the smell of sweat lol.  It was so hot in there.  There were camera crews walking around taking video because Pete Sell was getting ready for a fight.  The Gym was packed with names that everyone knows now.  Costas Philipou, Luke Cuomo, Pete Sell and Al Iaquinta were all training there at the time.   Chris Weidman is now partner with Ray Longo, but I am pretty sure he wasn't training there at the time.

Now when I started training there was no gi program so the only thing I learned was no gi.  Back then I was brilliant at it.  I was super athletic and just had a knack for it.  It translated very well from high school wrestling.  Time passed and they eventually started training with the gi.  I went out bought a 200 dollar ronin gi.  I showed up to class and they had some blue belts from Serra's BJJ.  I got absolutely humiliated.  I had been training for a while at that point without the gi, but I just couldn't defend the different chokes and didn't know how to break grips.  

At this time I was in the middle of planning a wedding and shortly after moving to a different state.  I was nervous because I was moving to a new area and wasn't sure if they even had a ju jitsu academy or what to expect since I was coming from a gym that was packed with really high level guys.  I found a school called Tri State MMA in Milford, PA.  I joined and really went from focusing on all no gi to focusing primarily on the gi.  It was the best decision ever.  Focusing on gi slows things down and you can really focus on technique.  There are way more attacks you can go for.  There are different ways to defend.  

Gi Training benefits-  you can focus on technique.  You have a lot of different attacks you can pull off, It is less gross than training no gi.  You get super human grip strength.  I feel like I am more of a martial artist when I put on the kimono.  I think the only bad things is you feel naked when you train without the gi, and it is way slower than no gi.  there is nothing to hold on to.

No gi training benefits-  You can really take advantage of being athletic.  You will be able to handle a more explosive pace.  It translates over to MMA way better.  If you wrestled you will pick up very quick.  The problem I have with no gi is it is gross sometimes.  There are less attacks you can pull off.  It is way more fast paced and you can escape positions a lot easier than with the gi

If you ask me which is better No gi or Gi I will tell you from my personal experience Gi is better.  I like having all of the different options of chokes and different guards you can play.  I  think gi translates better to no gi than vice versa.  I don't like having someones ball sweat wiped across my face trying to defend a triangle.  

The best thing I think is that you should come up with whats best for you.  I also think you should cross train between the two.  Being well versed in both is what I think is best.  Every one has their preference mine is gi.  What do you prefer training and why?  feel free to comment below don't forget to vote for me if you like my post and also follow me if you like, but let me know if you do and I will return the favor!!!