Jiu Jitsu Clothes: Why We Wear What We Wear for No Gi Jiu Jitsu
Jiu jitsu folks, that’s who we are. And you’ve probably seen us around! Wearing our silly skin-tight rash guard shirts, shorts that are just a little too high and tight, holding all our stuff cause we ain’t got no pockets, flopping around in our flip-flops. This is the strange and proud uniform of the no gi jiu jitsu practitioner! But if you’re new to the world of jiu jitsu, you might be wondering, “What are ‘jiu jitsu clothes,’ and why do those weirdos wear what they do?” This blog is for you!
We’ve talked in previous blog posts about how we practice no gi jiu jitsu compared to the more traditional gi jiu jitsu involving wearing (and using in many cases) the martial arts kimono known as the gi. If you’re curious why we choose no gi jiu jitsu instead (even though we have experience with gi jiu jitsu), go check out that post. But today, we’re here to discuss what we DO choose to wear and why.
- Shirt – No Gi Rash Guards
For a shirt, we wear skin-tight rash guards designed to protect our skin from getting friction burns while rolling on the mats. They’re nice and slippery while rolling, too, which contributes to some of the unique characteristics of no gi jiu jitsu: your partner can’t grip your clothing, they can only control you via grips, frames, and hooks on your body. Now, there’s a short-sleeve crew that would rather die than have long sleeves on their rashguards, and there’s a long-sleeve faction that feel the exact same way about needing their sleeves. But whichever camp you fall into, luckily, we’ve got you covered with our custom Airlock team rash guards. (Use code AIRLOCKBJJ for your discount folks). And no, you don’t HAVE to wear our rash guard to train here, but we can confirm that your jiu jitsu performance increases at least 10% when training with the spaceman on your back.
2. Fight Shorts, Spats, or Leggings
Depending on your personal preference, you’ll want to wear pocketless shorts or leggings (sometimes called spats) when training no gi jiu jitsu. There are fight shorts available that are specifically designed for training combat sports for a couple of reasons:
- They have split seams that allow for lots of leg movement (or kicks)
- They don’t have pockets, which helps make them a bit safer as pockets can be dangerous for your training partners fingers or toes if they get stuck in your pockets while rolling
- They have a drawstring and sometimes velcro, which keeps your shorts from getting pulled down while rolling. Which is ideal for obvious reasons.
- They do not have zippers or metal buttons on them, which can hurt your partner or rip up our beautiful mats.
3. Notable accessories for your jiu jitsu clothes – flip flops or Crocs and a mouth guard
Not to be forgotten, you’ve got to have easy footwear to get on and off the mats because it’s GROSS to walk around off the mats in your bare feet! Once again, some would rather die than go without their Crocs while the other (more advanced) half of us would never wear Crocs.
And you’re going to want a mouth guard – they’re cheap and you can shape them yourself at home. It’s such an easy way to protect your teeth, tongue, and lips while rolling. Some would say to never train without them, assuming you want to keep your mouth as it is.
We hope this info was helpful to your jiu jitsu journey! Time to get geared up with all the proper jiu jitsu clothes and get your training started! And NOOOO, you don’t need all these things right when you start jiu jitsu. Come as you are, gear up as you go. That’s how we all do it. Come see us anytime at Airlock Jiu Jitsu in Bastrop TX to get started.