If you have looked into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at all, you have run into the words gi and no-gi, usually without anyone stopping to explain them. The distinction is simple on the surface and meaningful once you train. This is the version we give new students at True North Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Coquitlam before their first class.
Gi Jiu-Jitsu is trained in the traditional uniform: a heavy cotton jacket, drawstring pants, and a belt. No-gi is trained in a rash guard and shorts or spats. That is the whole difference in equipment. What that difference does to the way you grapple is where it gets interesting.
The Gi Gives You Handles
The jacket changes everything about how you grip. In the gi, you can hold a sleeve, a collar, a lapel, or a pant leg. Those grips are strong, they do not slip, and you can hold them for a long time. A collar grip in the gi is close to a mechanical lock on your partner's posture.
Because grips are so secure, gi Jiu-Jitsu tends to be slower and more positional. You can control someone from a distance using their own uniform. There is time to think. A guard player can hang on to a sleeve and a collar and work through a plan across thirty seconds instead of scrambling for a new grip every three.
The gi also opens up an entire family of chokes that use the fabric itself. Collar chokes, bow-and-arrow, loop chokes, lapel-based finishes. None of those exist without the jacket, and they are some of the most technically satisfying positions in the art.
The trade-off is friction. The gi is grippy, and it is hot. Escapes are harder, which is a feature: if you can escape in the gi, you can usually escape without it.
No-Gi Is Faster and Slipperier
Take the jacket away and there is nothing to hold but the body. Grips become collar ties, underhooks, wrist control, and body locks, and none of them hold as well as a sleeve grip does. The result is a faster, more scrambly style. Positions change quickly. If you lose a grip, you have to move immediately rather than reset.
No-gi leans harder on head position, hip pressure, and body-to-body connection, because those are the only controls left. Wrestling and leg-lock systems play a much bigger role, and the pace tends to suit people who like conditioning and scrambles. Our Adult Jiu-Jitsu program covers both, and we also run wrestling sessions, which feed directly into no-gi takedowns and top control.
Sweating is the other honest difference. Without a jacket to grip, a slippery training partner is genuinely hard to hold. Some techniques that work cleanly in the gi simply do not hold up.
Ruleset Differences
Competition rules diverge in a few ways worth knowing:
- Gripping the uniform. In no-gi you may not grip shorts or a rash guard, even if you are wearing them. Everything is body control.
- Leg locks. No-gi rulesets generally allow a broader range of leg attacks at lower belts than gi rulesets do. Heel hooks, in particular, are a no-gi staple and are restricted or banned in most gi competitions.
- Match pace. Gi matches often build slowly through grip fighting. No-gi matches tend to open faster.
- Points. The scoring for positions is largely the same in both, so what you learn about advancing position transfers directly.
For a beginner, none of this is something to worry about on day one. It matters when you start competing, and by then you will have absorbed most of it by osmosis.
Which Should You Start With?
If you want a straight recommendation: start with the gi if you can, and train no-gi alongside it.
The gi slows the game down, and slow is how technique is learned. When you cannot muscle out of a position or slip free on sweat, you are forced to solve the problem with structure and leverage. Students who build their base in the gi tend to have cleaner mechanics when they move to no-gi.
That said, this is a preference, not a rule. Plenty of excellent grapplers train no-gi almost exclusively, particularly people coming from a wrestling background who already have strong body control. If no-gi is what excites you enough to show up three times a week, train no-gi. Attendance beats theory.
At True North, adults train both. The classes run Monday through Thursday, with midday sessions at 1:00 pm and evening sessions at 6:00 and 7:00 pm, so shift workers and office schedules can both find a slot. The full timetable is on our schedule page.
What You Need to Buy
For gi training: one gi, in white, blue, or black. Any reputable brand will do for your first one. A beginner does not need a premium gi, and a lighter weave is more comfortable through a Coquitlam summer. You will get a white belt with it. Some students wear a rash guard under the jacket to save their skin from mat burn, which is worth doing.
For no-gi training: a rash guard and either shorts without pockets or zippers, or spats. Board shorts with a drawstring and no metal are fine. Nothing with a zip goes on the mats, because zips catch fingers.
For both: a mouthguard if you want one, sandals for walking off the mat, and short nails on hands and feet. That last one is a rule, not a suggestion.
You do not need any of this for a trial class. Athletic clothing with no hard fastenings is enough, and we will lend you a gi if the class you are trying is a gi class.
Do You Have to Choose?
No. Most adult students at our academy train both across the week, and it is the better way to develop. The gi teaches you patience and precision. No-gi teaches you to move, scramble, and stay connected without handles. Each one exposes weaknesses the other lets you hide.
We are on Brunette Ave in Maillardville, a couple of minutes from the Lougheed interchange, and we draw students from Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby and New Westminster. The trial class is free for adults and kids alike. If you want to see the difference yourself instead of reading about it, contact us and try one of each.
Both teach the same core principles of position, leverage, and control. Gi training is closer to grappling with someone wearing a jacket or heavy clothing, which is common in Metro Vancouver most of the year. No-gi training is closer to grappling with someone in a t-shirt or when clothing tears. Training both covers more ground than either alone.
No. For a trial class, athletic clothes without zippers, buttons, or pockets are fine, and we can lend you a gi if you are trying a gi class. Most students buy their own gi once they have decided to keep training.
Yes, and some students do. We would encourage adding gi classes when your schedule allows, because the slower pace and stronger grips tend to build cleaner technique, but a no-gi-only student can absolutely progress.
Neither is harder overall, but they are difficult in different ways. No-gi is more physically demanding because of the pace and the constant scrambling. Gi is more technically demanding at the start because of the sheer number of grips and grip-based attacks to learn.