Apache said:

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Any insight on starting out in no gi?

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Visit multiple gyms to see the culture prior to signing up. Take advantage of free trial weeks. At 35 you might want to avoid gyms loaded with 20 something former wrestlers & serious competitors.

Wear a cup & mouthpiece.

You'll be drinking from the firehose starting out. It's a long road & you'll never, ever learn everything. Focus on defense first & a few core attacks. Some will come easier & more naturally, find out what works best for you & your body type and develop your "game". The internet is fully of exotic and difficult submissions, but the basics if mastered will make you a handful for most. Kimura. Armbar. Rear Naked Choke. Triangle Choke. Arm Triangle. D'Arce. Guillotine. etc.

I don't think there is any advantage or disadvantage on starting in gi or no-gi personally. Essentially they are two different sports/martial arts albeit with a lot of crossover.

Gi tends to be slower & has a lot more submissions. I have grown to prefer no-gi because the kimono is freaking hot and it's tough on the fingers. Both are technical in their own way.

You'll benefit greatly in either sport!

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I don't know anyone who wears a cup

Seriously? I got racked once & that was all it took for me.
Quite a few guys in our gym do. Doesn't impact anything & I don't even think about it.

No cup here either. And I only wear a mouth guard if im getting punched.

Yall are more brave than I am! Also the cup I think makes BJJ a little less gay.

Im a 41 yo 210lb guard player. There's nothing I can do to diminish the gayness.

Apache said:

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Yall are more brave than I am! Also the cup I think makes BJJ a little less gay.

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So in your case, the cup is to protect the sparring partner from you, not you from the sparring partner???

I know a few that wear a cup. I always use Under Armor underwear and a pair of NoGi shorts under my Gi. It keeps the boys close to home, so to speak.

I ALWAYS use a mouth guard when live rolling and most especially when competing.

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So in your case, the cup is to protect the sparring partner from you, not you from the sparring partner???

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WTH? I don't want my junk casually dragging on anyone during an armbar or something & I definitely don't want to catch a knee/elbow to the jewels.

Well there's your problem you need to be intentional not casual

Touch

Apache said:

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Touch

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Apache you have a problem!!!

NO TOUCH!

Wanna roll sometime big guy?

Not with you, creep!

Don't make eye contact

Lol not deterred yet.

Talked to my coach (who also trains bjj), he recommended Gi for the fundamental aspect as shared by some here. Also gives me opportunity to train with my son (turns 5 soon, in Gi bjj) better.

Will likely start around April. I want to get to a point of being to effectively spar in boxing before taking some time away from it for the bjj classes.

Appreciate all the feedback!

Sweep4-2 said:

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2012Ag is now pondering how best to say "uhhh…thanks y'all but I'll stick with striking."

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We went over triangle from mount today. Ever time we go through that sequence I consider switching to striking myself...

And then, as if that's not enough, 2 additional teabag submissions!

After those couple of classes I took a few weeks ago I went back last night to officially sign back up and go consistently to see how realistically I can do with with a bad shoulder. Since it was over the holidays the classes I went to a few weeks were pretty light in terms of attendees and also what was covered. Not last night, it was pretty heavy on the cardio with some takedowns and also some knee on belly stuff. After not being in class for a year that was tough, there's nothing you can do to really prepare for another man to put his body weight on your stomach with his knee. Regardless, I'll be back Wednesday even though I had my tail kicked last night. It's been a while since I was that out of breath but it just makes me want to get better. Since I still exercised over the last year I hadn't lost all my strength so I wasn't a complete pushover, but very much not where I want to get back to.

I've heard it said forever than Gi is better for learning fundamentals.
Why do you think that is so?

Apache said:

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I've heard it said forever than Gi is better for learning fundamentals.
Why do you think that is so?

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Great question....IMO it's a couple different reasons.

From a defensive standpoint, you have more to worry about in a GI....the grips your opponent has on your sleeves, lapel, collar, etc. require you to develop good posture, to defend your neck, to frame effectively, to keep your hands/elbows close, etc. Defense and escapes are highly dependent on position, technique, etc in a Gi. In nogi, you can develop sloppy defense (I.e., bad posture, spazzing out of submissions, etc.) that would otherwise get you tapped in a Gi.

From an offensive standpoint, in a GI you have to be a lot more technical and make use of different types of passing. So you get better at learning how to control their legs, hips, chest, etc. and how to mitigate guard replacement and framing. In nogi, alot of guys rely purely on speed passing and explosiveness, and typically have less variety in their passing game which makes them less effective in addressing more complex guards.

When I'm coaching less experienced students, I often challenge them to slow their game down......when passing use control, position, direction, etc. When defending use position, incremental position improvements, etc. because it makes them rely more on technique than on explosive, athletic movements (which get less explosive the more tired they are).

Both are great ways to train, but I think gi develops defense, posture, position, etc. better in the beginning.

For me the gi has much more solidified positions. A lot of my nogi seems like it happens in the in between during transitions. I also might not know exactly what im doing.

In the gi I also know which exact grip I have to deny different training partners because they can x then y then z submit me.

My gym had a belt promotion ceremony that I went to this weekend. Our gym is basically the parent gym to a few others in the county so when we have a belt promotion ceremony all the gyms come to ours. None of the guys who were promoted went to our gym, but you get a chance to roll with some people you don't see every day. We got an entire hour of sparring in before, which this was my first one of those in a year so it was tough and I lost every single one of them but one, but I did end up submitting a guy who got promoted to purple that day so I had one feather in my cap to go with a dozen or so losses but I'll take it. I'm not sure why I got a stripe for my blue belt but I got one even though I've been out of the game for a year and I'm the worst guy in the advanced class every week right now since I'm trying to relearn what I've forgotten over the last year. Maybe they're just glad I came back when so many others don't, even though I don't feel like I deserve it it makes me want to make sure I keep showing up and improving so they don't regret it. I know I talk about my BJJ here and there in a self-deprecating way, but I've legitimately been surprised each time I've gotten a stripe, and when I got my blue belt.

One thing I noticed which was odd was literally only one of the adult white belts showed up from any gym, and he was one of ours. When I was a white belt we'd all show up to those because it's a big deal for anyone to be promoted. Our fundamentals classes are smaller now than they were when I started. Our classes would have 20+ guys on busy days and since I've been back there's only been like 4 white belts in each class. The advanced classes have good participation, it's just the fundamentals classes that appear to be lacking numbers.

I'm curious has anyone else seen declining numbers of white belts at your gyms? I know it takes a certain mindset to learn this sport, especially once you're an adult, but I've never regretted going to a single class regardless of how poorly I performed. I always feel better when I leave than when I got there, and it was tough on me mentally when I wasn't going. It's just kind of a bummer to me to see that there's not more white belts than we currently have.

Two of the three gyms I frequent are lacking white belts. It's a concerning phenomena.

In 2024-Summer of 2025, we had barely any adult white belts. Now we have somewhere between 6-10. It has ebbed and flowed through the years.

Also, if you trust your professor, then don't question his decision to give you a belt/stripe. I would ask him what you should be concentrating to further your development, but to retroactively ask why you received something is basically questioning his ability to judge you while also being self deprecating. My guess is he already saw you as a guy who needed that stripe(s), and when you returned, it was time to put them on you.

My gym as a pretty good stack of white belts but its in Austin, which is an advantage.

The biggest advantage though is that we have a hell of a beginner program that teaches the same lessons every 6 weeks on fundamentals, Jiu Jitsu culture, ettiquite, hygene, all of it. A lot of the ones that do that program end up sticking around a while & a lot of advanced belts also attend the fundamentals class as well.

been doing bjj for 17 years and i'd probably still hit the beginners course.

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We got an entire hour of sparring in before, which this was my first one of those in a year so it was tough and I lost every single one of them

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You didn't lose, you learned!

Theories on lower # of white belts:
1. More competition, more gyms. New guys are spread out across more places. (IMO, this was why my previous gym declined in numbers. 20 minutes away lies Stoic jiu jitsu, partially owned by Leif Babin who co-wrote Extreme Ownership with Jocko.)
2. BJJ I feel got a huge boost in popularity with Rogan, Jocko, etc. promoting. Perhaps those that wanted to try it out already have.
3. More no-gi? Just a thought. With CJI, ADCC & other no-gi formats gaining in popularity maybe the traditional gi BJJ is not getting the numbers it was a few years ago. Most of the big names in jiu jitsu competitions I see promoted are no-gi.

Apache said:

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We got an entire hour of sparring in before, which this was my first one of those in a year so it was tough and I lost every single one of them

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You didn't lose, you learned!

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Nah, he lost