Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Great work Danny
Well done

I was reading a blog this morning by the guys at ‘Creating Chaos’ about “Where is the core?”
This led me to start thinking of these applications in to Muay Thai.
One of the key points made in all the class demonstrations is how crucial balance is, in delivering solid technique, not only for power but for good scoring.

To simplify and get people to think about ‘activating’ their core, then I think there is a place for this type of isometric training (planks etc) from an educational perspective. Once people realise which muscles they should be activating, and the kinaesthetic feeling associated with these muscles working, they can then apply this in to more dynamic/sports specific movements, such as punching, ensuring the weight on both feet remains 50/50; Or where they should be ‘activating’ during kicking….
As this educational level increases, then terms like “kinetic linking” will have a deeper meaning because clients have already felt it in movement/action with simplified versions. This then means that you don’t get the ‘glazed over’ look from clients/students

Point 2

Having good core strength and balance means that you will gain the advantage of better proprioception from the nervous system, and you will be able to drive more power through your kicks.
From my coaching (and personal) experience, people tend to think of their bodies in separate sections. For example:
• Head
• Shoulders
• Upper body
• Mid-section
• Quads
• Calves and feet

What we are intending to do in the process of kicking is bring in to alignment all these ‘parts’ to bring to life the kicking machine that is you. This means that everything becomes ‘one’. You stop analysing at a deeper level, allow your conscious mind to get out of the way, and allow your body to work in harmony with the signals that your unconscious brain is transmitting.
This is how we learn from an early age…. simply copy….
The key to getting speed in to the kick is fast-twitch muscle-fibre recruitment from drilling your kicks time and time again and really feeling that back-foot powering in to the floor and getting that fast acceleration. That solidness that you feel under your back-foot as the kick is taking off, is the ‘proprioception’ that develops real power.
As I have said previously on these blog pages:
Technique+ Speed = Power

Now that we have introduced a new area of development, this makes the equation a little bit more complex:
(Technique + Speed) x (Effort / Proprioception) = POWER

So next time you are working on the pads, you first learn the technique, then you can apply speed, then apply the effort, whilst also sensing the proprioception, and this will mean that you don’t have to worry about kicking hard because it will already be there.

At Chokdee Academy, we run a great Core-conditioning class on a Tuesday (6:15-7pm) to identify and improve core strength, which means that you have the sports-specific training available to be kicking like monsters.

HAPPY KICKING GUYS AND GALS

Please forgive me if I am a bit blunt, but I want the gravity of my message to really sink in.

Being an ‘independent’ fighter means that you are too arrogant to trust a more experienced martial arts professional with your personal development. If you are an independent fighter then promoters will use you as a journeyman….someone to pad out a professionals record to give their preferred fighter some ring time and experience in beating someone up. You will be deemed as someone who is a bit of a one-trick pony as you will more than likely just be ‘tough’…rather than skilled.

If you are an independent fighter then you do not have someone looking out for your best interest. You will develop your ‘toughness’ and learn how to take a punch, but this isnt necessarily the best option. Wouldnt it be better to learn how to defend a punch/kick properly? Learning these techniques means that you are dedicated to one gym, one coach and the finesse of drilling techniques time and time again, will make the execution of the technique in competition fluid and effective. If you do not have that 2nd pair of eyes assessing your technique then it is very difficult to make the corrective changes that you need to make. That 2nd pair of eyes takes the guess work out of it and can easily correct technique in a few minutes rather than months of trial and error.The reason that people dedicate their lives to learning martial arts, and instructing, is making it easier and easier for each generation to pass that information on. This then, its down the communication skills of the instructor to be able to pass that on. They have spent years learning the art, learning the fight game and understanding the skills and strategies of how to beat different types of opponents. Independent fighters do not have this experience.

Obviously there are benefits to training at a few different gyms. I started training muay thai with Andy Wilby and Pierre Mahon. I then moved gym (a massive change in itself) to Bad Company Gym as I could get more fight opportunities. Mr Smith has always been the central lynch-pin for any fight organisation (promoters should never approach the fighters themselves in the first place). I used to get additional training at Master A’s Gym in Manchester every Saturday and this came with Mr Smiths blessing. I also travelled over to Jitti Gym where there were already close links with Bad Company.As you can see there is an ettiquette. There are things that promoters/fighters should and shouldnt do. If all you want to be is “a punch-bag” for a figher who is going places, then by all means be an independent fighter, but you will simply not be taken seriously by the fight community.

How do you get around this?

Find a gym where you have the very best instruction you can find, so that you can be the very best you can be as qucikly as possible. This means you will shed all that sloppy technique very quickly and you will learn the basics of strategy and setting techniques up. Once you go through this rapid learning curve, THIS IS when your REAL journey in martial arts starts. The dedication required to make correct technique second nature. The focus of attension as you are preparing in a professional manner. This is not a place to take things easy.I hope the independent fighters take notice of this as it is easy to be a “big fish in a little pond” (be the local ‘hard man through reputation’), but if people want to be considered a real “fighter” then they have to be dedicated and affliated to one gym, to allow them to be the best version of themselves they can be.

I hope this helps

Rich 2x World Champion, 2x European Champion, Life Coach, NLP Mind Coach and Hypnotherapist

Tam Damriram, Danny Harrison Little and Kaolanlek Sam

Further to this success Danny is matched up to fight on the THAI FIGHT EXTREME show in Pattaya on April 17th against Roongroj Petchrungruang. This is going to be on the undercard to some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Buakow, Berneung, Saiyok, Sudsakorn, Singhmanee, Khem. These guys are so famous in muay thai that they dont need second names
This show is going to be filmed for Ch3 on Thai TV so I will try and get a link so you can all watch.

Danny and Berneung Sakhomsin at Thai Fight Press conference

18:00 – 20:00 (live on chanel 3) Main Fights
1. Bernueng Top Kings Boxing (Thailand) vs Chaz Mulkey (USA) – 74kg
2. Saiyok Pumphanmuang (Thailand) vs Rustem Zaripov (Russia) – 70kg
3. Kem Sitsongpeenong (Thailand) vs Josh Palmer (UK) – 70kg
4. Sudsakorn S. Klinmee (Thailand) vs Singhmanee Kaewsamrit (Thailand)
* Elimination fight (The winner will be the Thai representative for Thai Fight Tournament at 67kg)
5. Main Event – Buakaw Por Pramuk (Thailand) vs Mickael Cornubet (France) – 70kg
6. Roongroj Petchrungruang (Thailand) vs Danny Jittigym (England) – 68kg

THAI FIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE

WATCH THIS SPACE

I want to say thanks to Micheal from ‘Made4fighters.com’ for his guest post and also spurring me back in to action again. The facebook followers will already know what a massive year we have had already but thought I would fill-in the readers from the States, Thailand, Australia and all the other places where we have avid followers.

January is always a busy time in gyms and we have had a massive influx of revellers, pushing their fitness to new realms with the kettlebell classes and functional fitness classes. January was absolutely ram-packed with clients dropping weight after the Christmas binge.

At the end of January, Chokdee’s main three fighters (Danny Harrison-Little, Dan Malarkey and Mat Reading) went out to Thailand to train at Jitti Gym in preparation for their bouts on the HGH Promotion in Leeds on Feb 18th. On the day before the lads flew out we found out that Mat Readings opponent had pulled out so I spoke to Jitti and he was able to pull a few strings and got Mat matched up on the MBK Show. Literally, straight from landing, Mat was almost falling straight in to the ring against a 90kgs Thai!!!!!
I didn’t know that they made Thai’s that big!!!!!
Mat being the consummate professional got straight on with business and finished his opponent via head-kick TKO in the second round. As he came through this bout relatively unscathed, he fought the following week at MBK against an Italian and won via boxing TKO in round 2 again!
2-fights, 2 wins, 2-ko’s, in round 2…in the space of 2 weeks…… SPOOKY!!!!!

When the lads got back, it was straight back to business on the HGH show with Dan Malarkey and Danny Little. Dan Malarkey fought an opponent from Master Skens Academy in Manchester. It was an even first round, Master Skens guy came strong in the second nearly knocking Dan down for an eight count with vicious boxing but in the third Dan stepped in and landed a series of sweet knees to the body stopping his opponent in the third round.
Danny Harrison Little fought Steve Winstanley from Wigan, who is a veteran of over 20 fights. You could tell from the way that both guys came out to fight that they were showing experienced beyond what their records indicated. Danny, just returning from Thailand, had picked up that ‘Thai-style’ with a slow start, but the very first venomous kick landed bang on target and had Steve wincing in pain. Danny spotting this effect, pounced on the opportunity, stepped in and landed a beautifully placed knee to stop Steve in 1-min 35-secs of round 1. This was an English Title eliminator, and Danny will be challenging for the ISKA English Title on the next HGH Show in June/July.

As Danny Harrison Little was uninjured from his bout we were offered a last minute replacement on the WBC Show in Bournemouth. Danny faced the local lad, Liam Barker from Thai-Works Gym. This was for the British Chang Cup, which is a B-Class tournament to encourage B-class fighters and carry them through to A-Class. This is sponsored by Chang Beer and there will be some promotional work with Everton FC in the near future.
Again, that experienced tentative start, with explosive exchanges set the tempo for the bout. Liam landing a few low kicks but Danny shrugged them off. Round 2 had some very nice kick exchanges with Liam looking dangerous with his boxing, trying to nullify Dannys clinch work. In round 3 we stepped up the intensity and utilised some great knees to the body and head to drop Liam for an 8-count. Liam showed great heart and determination to get up off the canvas, but this only the start to the end as Danny grew in confidence, stepping in to land more knees to the head and body to end the contest by TKO in round 3.
Danny is now the British Chang Cup Champion and a nice large trophy to go along with it. Danny is now flying out to Thailand for more training at the world-famous Jitti Gym, before his ISKA English Title bout later this year.

So thats 5-fight, 5-wins, 5-KO’s for Chokdee so far this year…..

Coming up we have Mat Reading in action on the Harrogate Kao Loi show at the Manhatton Snooker Club in April as well as Mat n Dan Malarkey on the Studio 2000 Show in Derby in May.

In other news from Chokdee:
• We had 8 guys out from York University on the Varsity MMA Challenge, against Hull Uni. These are the first MMA fighters we have had out of Chokdee with an even 4-win, 4-loss result. Good work guys.
• 2 of the lads we have been co-training, alongside Quannum MMA (Huddersfield) both won on the Cage Confrontation 5 Show. George Smith beat Nic Sanderson (Multi Masters Academy) to win the Semi-Pro English Title, and Josh Moorby beat Rob Hardman (Fight Factory).
• 2 of the Karate guys have been drafted in to the British Shotokan Karate Team
• Graham Snow has lost over a stone (16lbs) in 4 weeks since he started training with us
• Natalie Noble has dropped 2 dress sizes
• We have also helped 3 people stop smoking

Chokdee Academy is going from strength to strength and we are already looking forwards to bigger things later this year. I have to say a special thank you to my wife, Jo, David Butlin, Nick Richards, Sarah Vincent and to all the students that keep adding to this continued success. We have a cracking team here at Chokdee and you should be proud to be part of it…. I know I am.
Again, sorry for leaving is so long to keep you informed, but hopefully you can now see why….

As one of the most rapidly expanded sports across the globe, MMA continues to attract new viewers and participants at and astounding rate.  However, for those on the outside looking in, MMA can be quite a daunting prospect.  Walking into a gym or class for the first time can be pretty unnerving and puts off many who are curious about the sport.  The reality is that the vast majority of experienced MMA enthusiasts are more than welcoming to new members and enjoy passing on their knowledge and offering advice.  That said, you don’t want to make a fool of yourself before you really get started and there are a few bits of MMA gear that you should kit yourself out with before you get involved.

Suitable fight shorts

In theory your first few sessions will be all about learning strikes and doing some condition training.  However, within no time you will be practicing grappling moves and holds with other members.  At this point you are going to need some fight shorts that are specially strengthened in all the right places.

If you don’t then you are likely to find yourself stood in your underwear as your regular sports shorts are torn to pieces by your training partner.  It is probably best to invest in some proper fight shorts from the off, even before you start grappling training.  The reason being that they usually incorporate split seams, which allow plenty of movement whilst practicing your kicks.

Protecting your groin

Whilst strikes to the groin have been outlawed in mainstream MMA since the late 1990s, there is always the likelihood that an accidental low blow could land.  There are three main kinds of groin guard that should help avoid any damage in such an instance; Thai style metal cups, jock straps with fitted cups and compression shorts that come complete with cups.

Advising on which is best for each individual is difficult.  It really comes down to your personal preference and also body shape.  A good idea can be to join up to a few MMA message board forums and ask the members for their experiences.  Try especially to talk to people that have a similar height, weight and physique as yourself.

Guarding against skin rash

Once you start sparring properly you are going to spend a lot of time rolling round on the training mat.  In order to protect your upper body from skin damage caused by surface friction you should invest in a rash guard.

These items are designed to hug to the body, so will not encumber you during training, whilst greatly reducing friction.

Saving your teeth

As you get more into the sport of MMA you are sure to pick up various injuries along the way.  That said, most gyms and clubs do not permit head blows for sparring bouts involving newcomers.  But again, there is the chance of an accidental impact and no-one wants to lose their pearly whites.

You can pick up a standard mouth guard for less than a tenner, which will do the job fine.  If you find that you are really enjoying MMA then you may want to consider getting a better or even specially fitted mouth guard later on.

The right gloves

Most gyms and classes will provide training gloves that everyone can make use of.  However, the high number of people using them means that they aren’t always going to be the best fit for your hands.

If you buy your own pair of gloves they will over time mould to the shape of your hands and provide a snug fit.  Pick up some 12 or 14oz oz traditional boxing gloves, which can be used for pad and bag work when you first start out, as chances are you won’t be sparring.  You will also need some 6oz fingerless grappling gloves, which allow free movement as you practice your groundwork.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there you go guys….. Thanks to Micheal from Made4Fighters.com for an informative post about the pro’s and cons of the best equipment for MMA.
If you want to come down and train MMA at Chokdee Academy we have one of the very best MMA coaches in the country, Mr Dave ‘B52′ Butlin, who is the UK M1 Global Challenge Coach, teaching on a Sunday afternoon 13:30-15:30

If you want to be the best, train with the best…..

Do

1. Plan your work outs
If you plan your workouts you will be more inclined to stick to the plan, rather than your workout being a whimsical default through boredom.

2. Drink plenty of water
In the holiday season, a regular problem for people working out is dehydration…..Whether this is through alcohol or even eating too much. One of the regular problems that people have during the festive period is eating too much which can cause blockages in your digestive system. By drinking plenty of water and eating fibrous food this will avoid any digestive blockages.

3. Eat properly so you are fuelled for your workout
Over the holiday period, you will be breaking your body’s normal natural cycles, with times of breakfast, lunch and evening meals, so this may mean that you do not have your normal levels of energy. If you are planning your workouts (Lesson #1) then you will be able t plan your nutrition. As my MBN Clients will tell you, timing of meals is just as important as the requirements your desire from that nutritional energy.

4. Give away food gifts
I don’t know about you, but I always get hundreds of chocolate bars and selection boxes, and this can lead to the poor nutrition mentioned in #3. An extension of gratitude and passing on these food gifts will keep that karma come back to you.

Dont

1. Sit on your butt all week
Stopping training totally will grind your metabolism to a stand-still. This means that you will pile on the fat, and it will be easy to drop in to two of the main dieting problems
• Unconscious eating
• Eating through boredom

2. Go back for seconds
Over Christmas, a sign of your hosts lavishness, is to put on more food than is necessary. Going back for seconds means that you are not regulating how much food you are taking on board.

3. Over-indulgence
It takes over 20-mins for the ‘full sensation’ to get from your stomach to your brain, and hence you will tend to eat for a further 20-minutes, when you have already taken enough food on-board.

4. Get wrecked
I am not saying that you have live this Christmas period as a monk….but what I do suggest is limiting the amount of booze you do drink. Drinking over 6/7-units of alcohol will mean that taking that many toxins on-board will make you feel terrible….But by following the ‘DO’ list, you will stay hydrated and be able to process these more minor toxic problems.

This is a quick and easy guide that you can pass on to family and friends which will mean that your holiday break is more enjoyable and vibrant.

Many thanks for reading my blog for this past eventful year and we will be offering some fun offers in 2012, so watch this space

We have put out 14-fighters this year across a wide spectrum of shows, from local feeder shows through to the elite level of national competition. We have come up with a record of 11w 2l and 1 NC, which boosts our winning ratio to 85%.
The winning momentum just keeps us getting better and better.

Chokdee welcomed in our first Champion in Danny Harrison-Little, winning the Northern Area WRSA Welterweight Title in fine style against the illustrious Carl Tankard. This was on the Cage Confrontation 3 show half way through the year. Its astounding to hear that Danny had only been training with us for 6-months before winning that title. There are plans forming at the moment for him to train in Thailand and fight for an English Title at the start of 2012.

But its not only about the fighting side of things. I would say that competition is only a small part of what we offer…..

Over the course of the past 12-months one of our students has shed over 22kgs, merely as a by-product of the functional training that we do….AND also learning a new skill at the same time. This then has had a knock-on effect with confidence, self-esteem and communication skills.
This is only one of the 143 clients we have helped this year for weight-loss, through the MBN Programme.

Not only have we done all this, but we have moved in to the new academy!!!!!

The kids classes are going well ……and I have to tell you about Little Tom (7yrs old).
He is an absolute star! He came to the first ever kids class at Chokdee Academy and has battled colds and flu to make his way to as many classes as he can. After only 3 weeks training he is hitting the pads like a seasoned professional. He is doing so well, blocking every kick, he is even getting his own little ‘thaiboxing swagger’ going on.
I can see a great future ahead for him.

The thaiboxing classes are going from strength to strength with new people starting all the time. Its also great to see the York University guys pursuing additional training in readiness for their inter-University MMA Competition next year.

The all new Kettle-bell classes are going well, with all the guys picking up the new techniques so efficiently and discovering new muscles all the time! LOL

The Brazilian Ju-Jitsu classes are developing and we are attracting people from as far away as Hull and Scarborough to come to these growing classes. I want to say thank you to the instructors Danny Mitchell, James Stafford and John Webb. I think its time we take this to the next stage of development, so watch out for some exciting news early in 2012 (…..if not before).

We are hardly closing over the Christmas period, so keep an eye out for the classes which we will be hosting over this festive period.
Closing dates – 24/25/26/27th December …..and the 1st January.
All other days we will be open at some time.

Many thanks for all your support this year and keep an eye out for some of the exciting and fun prospects we have in 2012…..

Let me whet your appetite with:
• Strength n Conditioning improvements
• Diet n Nutrition /Weight-loss programmes
• Competitions
• Seminars
• Special guests from Thaiboxiing/MMA/BJJ
• Fitness Events
• New Classes

So let me now, tell you the story.
As you may or may not know, Chokdee Muay Thai used to run out of Fitness First on Clifton Moor. We had full use of all of the equipment, state of the art treadmills, cardio-vascular machines, weights, personal training, as well as all the classes we were delivering. But since being made redundant from the railway, just over 2 years ago, I have been looking around for the perfect place to set up my new academy. It just seemed like there was never anything quite right.
A few different options came along the way.
I was invited to join forces with the local MMA Gym (Multi Masters) based down Layerthorpe. I even saw ex-students of mine set up their own gyms….. But for me, it was never quite right. I wanted my own place, but whatever I seemed to do, I was either dodging corrupt estate agents or was avoiding stepping on other instructors toes by setting up within their catchment area.
I mean, if you are going to set up your own martial arts academy then you have to embody the ethics that go along with it (Respect, Honest, Humility, Confidence, Commitment etc).
I must have looked at over 200 properties!!!!!!

And then I came across this real gem of an industrial unit on Rose Avenue, on York Business Park in Poppleton.
It fit the bill perfectly.
It was a new build (3 or 4yrs old), totally blank canvas, bare breezeblock walls, toilet and just under 2500sq ft. The artist in me could now go to work. I worked out what we needed, took dimensions and revisited the unit several times just to make sure everything was going to fit perfectly. I even took down some masking tape and marked-out the areas on the floor so I could take people down and walk through the design with them.
All was going perfectly,….until……

When we looked at all the planning permission certification, the unit was listed as an industrial unit so we had to go through a ‘Change of Use’ at the council. This was a painstakingly slow process, and was essentially the lynch-pin of EVERYTHING.
If we didn’t get the planning permission, it would be back to square one, so needless to say this was probably the most stressful experience I have ever had…..but through this stress I rationalised and learnt some great lessons, not only about the bureaucratic systems that council run but more importantly about myself.
I was investing my life-savings, my hopes and dreams, putting everything on the line to make this happen. But to the Planning Officer at the council, this was just another day at the office, stamping another piece of paper. There was no emotional investment, and as such was no even remotely passionate about what we were striving to achieve.
D-day came, the date when we were supposed to be getting our decision from the planning people.
We were told that we would be getting an e-mail, so I was up at the crack of dawn. 7:30am. No e-mail had arrived. Refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh every 10-mins….. My patience wore thin by 2pm, so I phoned them.
“I am sorry. I am on annual leave until next Thursday. Please call back then!”
After another call to the central office, I finally got through to someone who could help. The head of York City Planning, and he said the 3rd-most beautiful sentence I have ever heard “Yes, I can confirm that planning permission has been granted on Unit 24 Rose Avenue!!!!!” ***
BOOM!!!!! Get in there!!!!!!

It was all systems go.
Check list:
• Rental agents
• Bank Manager
• Equipment suppliers
• Matting
• Joiners
• Plasterers
• Electricians
• Industrial Paint Sprayers
• Carpets

I am not saying there weren’t any other stumbles along the way, there were, but everything else just seemed to happen in an instant. From signing the lease to construction work to fitting it out to running the first class was only 14-days!!!!!!!

I will tell you a little bit more about the quality of the equipment and a few other things in the next blog.

Chokdee Academy

PS ***The 2nd and 1st most beautiful sentences are when my wife said that she would marry me, and when she told me that she was pregnant with our child (in case you were wondering)

GI VS NOGI for MMA.
Hi I’m John, I’m 36 years old and I’ve been doing some form of martial arts since I was 7 years old.
I think as people we find ourselves drawn to specific areas or ways of doing things that are more natural to our physical and or mental makeup and although I’d studied mainly striking arts for many years I first caught the grappling bug when I was in my first year in the army (1991).
I agreed to spar with an army PTI (physical training instructor), who I later learned was half English half Russian, and had spent 3 years in the Russian military sports program and gained the grade “master of sports”( a very high grade) in something called Sambo Wrestling. This is a combo of judo, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling and submission wrestling.
So we sparred, after a short period of fairly even stand up sparring he suggested allowing ground work …I agreed after all I did Japanese Jiu Jitsu right? …Wrong! I was taken down at will and totally dominated on the ground, I couldn’t even get a punch or kick off. And when I did, he would catch it and use it to take me down. From then on I needed to learn grappling. A few years past and I had trained Sambo (without the GI top that is traditional) with him and Thai/kick boxing elsewhere.
By the time I left the army in 2003 I had been training MMA for some time, I even ran my own MMA classes from 2008-2010 in which we had some good success at amateur competition level, it’s fair to say I thought my grappling level was of high calibre.
After I decided to close down my classes I dropped off martial arts training due to Injury and time constraints and in my head I had all but resigned myself to never grappling again.
I have the pleasure of being a friend and former student of 2 time world Muay Thai champion Richard Cadden, and it was during a period of adjustment in my life that I called upon Rich`s skills as a mind coach from his business Star performance mind coaching. and it was after this session that I got talking to Rich about grappling. He mentioned that he had recently started training with a Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (with the GI),and he invited me to join them in training, which I declined stating for MMA gi work has little or no benefit compared to nogi.
Rich and I proceeded to have an in depth discussion about the differences between nogi and gi Jiu Jitsu and their relevance to the MMA fighters and practitioners, it’s fair to say the discussion was divided with Rich explaining how good it was for the MMA fighter to learn BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and with me staying firmly on Team No-Gi fence, explaining that “why train with a gi when in the cage or in normal training in MMA gyms no one would be wearing them! So the techniques would not carry over”….
It’s fair to say I thought I had all the answers to this conversation…but I like to think I am an individual that is open to new ideas and a positive free thinker so I thought this would be a good way to try out BJJ and get myself back into what I loved doing…GRAPPLING!
I arrived for my first BJJ session one Saturday afternoon and I wasn’t sure what I would find on arrival, I wore MMA shorts and a rash guard as the last gi I owned was when I was 15.
I arrived at fitness first gym in York at midday and the class started the area was small and unimpressive it had a few mats pushed together to roll (slang for grapple) on.
After a short warm up we went through a few techniques starting with the correct way to transition from mount all the way around the body back to mount. We also went through getting the arm bar from mount (a technique a thought I knew well) we also did a few techniques I recognised from my traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu days.
I was extremely impressed with the teaching and the attention to detail in which every technique was taught with, every technique was practiced 20-30 times in succession alternating with a partner, and every rep was scrutinise by our resident blue belt instructor for mistakes in the technique of which (to my surprise ) there was many.
I was shocked at the level of my own sloppy technique.
As the weeks passed I continued to train BJJ at Chokdee Muay Thai and MMA eventually purchasing my own gi…and restarting my martial arts education from white belt again, and it is fair to say that I have learned more in the last 6 months in these sessions than in the last 29 years of training, my game has ultimately gotten better and this I believe this is due to a few factors. My willingness to engage in something different without fear or prejudice and good coaching and good team mates.
The main difference in the grappling styles is this …in nogi there are opportunities for escapes if you have made mistakes, in gi there is nowhere near as many opportunities to escape from bad positions this then carries over into MMA. So instead of banking on you being able to slip out of a bad position you put yourself in you learn how not to get caught in the bad position in the first place, it forces you to think a few moves ahead because the chance of rectifying any mistakes made in BJJ is a lot slimmer.
Also what I have noticed is that in any position gi work is harder to escape because of the handholds that are available for your opponent to lock onto, for instance if you are being set up for an arm bar you can’t just pull that arm out of there because your opponent has a fist full of gi stopping your escape, again …this teaches you not to get caught in that position in the first place.
Rolling in a gi is also good for your conditioning as it is very restricting sometimes to be wearing this heavy suit that is also used to by your opponent to pull you around and strangle you with.
BJJ also teaches you to be very tight with your submission attempts as you have this thick material in place to squeeze through as well as your opponent resisting you.
For me techniques that I thought I was good at have got better, tighter and sharper, techniques I thought I was bad at have got better and have become my new go to moves.
I agree for MMA fighters and practitioners you need to mix it up with striking and grappling but what I’m saying is give the gi a go even if only once or twice a week as a change from your nogi routine it WILL ONLY HELP and it breaks the monotony of everyday training.
It’s fair to say I’m sold on the gi….do it take the red pill!
JL Webb.

Dont just take our word for it…… Heres what Carlson Gracie has to say:

http://thefightingphotographer.blogspot.com/2011/09/to-gi-or-not-to-gi.html

Thanks to Carl Fisher from Combat Base for directing this to us