Appearing on the Jits and Giggles Podcast, Gabi Garcia pushed back against the no-gi wave that has swept the sport in recent years, insisting that the gi remains essential for anyone chasing greatness.
As she put it:
If you don’t train one day a week (in the) gi, you won’t be a champion (in) no-gi.
Garcia explained that her argument has nothing to do with clinging to tradition – it’s about sharpening technical ability.
In her view, gi training develops precision and discipline in a way that pure no-gi training cannot:
You need to train with gi and take (your) time.
She also highlighted a weakness she sees in today’s generation of grapplers:
I saw a lot of people they know a lot of like (leg)locks but they don’t know (how to) pass the guard and basics.
For Garcia, the gi fosters key skills that transfer across all forms of Jiu-Jitsu:
When you’re training with gi you know where you put your hand, you know where you need to, like, the adjust the position, right?
Garcia didn’t stop at the gi vs. no-gi debate either.
She emphasized her preference for dominant, controlling positions over risky submission shootouts:
The most beautiful positions for me is the back attack and mount position, because when you attack like you expose your legs too and it’s a 50-50, you know, for both sides.
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