With the recent xmass, for lack of anything else to ask for, and because I didn't want to pay for one myself :evil: , I asked my family to get me a Judo gi. To avoid a long story, I was rather uncomfortable with the buy since it's by a brand that I'm not too familiar with. So I have a few questions. 1.) Is anyone familiar with the brand AASTA? I found this link http://www.aastashop.com/ but the logo is different, and they themselves don't produce Judo gi's. 2.) Does it matter if I wear a double weave or a single weave Judo gi to a Judo class? The issue is, I don't know whether my gi is double or single weave (I've never really known what the difference is visually). 3.) The place where I'll be training sells Judo gi's for 50 euros (affordable for me), given my circumstance, would it make sense to buy one of their gi's as opposed to the one I currently know nothing about? So basically, is there such a thing as a useless gi?
Bring it to the dojo and ensure the Sensei is happy for you to train in it .... Best of luck and i hope no one pulls the sleeves off on the first nights training Smurf :woo:
If it's easy to fold up and weighs less than 800g then it's probably a single weave, certainly notice the feel of a double weave when trying to get tsurite. All my gis are single weave, some a bit heavier than others, the two white are barely known, Kiai and Ikon, and my blue gis, Blitz (komaru? the cheaper one) and Adidas (a middleweight and my most expensive gi)
Sorry I sorta forgot about this thread with all the work going on. I'm not too worried about my Gi now, thanks! Another question though. Would it make sense for a beginner to where a rash gaurd or a shirt under their gi?
If you get cold or do enough newaza to make it worthwhile it can be a good idea, The best advice is to see what everyone else does, and do that!
my association offers 2 different styles of gi, the lightweight one is fine for just syllabus work, and is basically just a karate style thin gi, the other is their ground fighting gi, which is more a judogi style. I soon found however they werent very good, because I'm floating around the 200lb mark and often roll with people bigger than me, between us we were ripping my gi to shreds - at the worst point I went through 4 gi's, (5 if you include the one that i had repaired and ripped again the next lesson) in 2 months. these are only £36 each, but the price kinda shows the quality. So i decided to go and buy a "fancier" gi, and eventually went with the "predator BJJ gi" from Black Eagle for about £90 iirc (currently not on their website) and it has lasted me about 15 months so far with no problems at all. If its cold in the dojo (one we use doesnt have heating in the evenings so it can get quite chilly this time of year) then I'll wear a rash guard, or if i'm planning on rolling for a large portion of the night or planning to do any no gi. I'm upset that I missed it, but around this time last year Black Eagle released a limited edition BJJ Gi, that was basically the same as mine ("Pearl" weave I think, same cut etc) but had some fancier embroidery on it and was lined with rash guard material, looked well sexy! unfortunately it sold out before I had the cash to buy it, and I couldnt really warrant forking out for it considering I already had a collection of serviceable gis =p
If you're female then it makes a lot of sense. If you're male (which I'm guessing you are from your username) then it's not really necessary. See if any of the other blokes at your dojo wear one. If no-one does but you still want to, then I suggest you ask your sensei if it would be okay. (Slightly off-topic, but the best tip for a beginner at judo is to keep your fingernails as short as you can without cutting them to the quick. It's amazing how little nail it takes to get bent backwards! )
asking your sensei is always a good bet, we can wear them in classes etc, but aren't supposed to wear anything underneath at gradings or competitions (if male, girls can but must be plain white) me and a mate, who has since left the club hence putting a stop to the plans, had started looking into getting some association rashguards made, so that people could wear them for comps/gradings etc if they wanted, which my sensei thought was a good idea... might try looking into that again...
Id be wary training in BJJ Gi, and wearing a brownbelt when your not a bjj brown belt. People easily get the wrong idea.
If you're in your own dojo it shouldn't matter, the people you're training with should know what your belt represents, if you go to a different club in a different associatin or something make sure they know what you're all about, I'm sure people would understand. Rules in judo and BJJ competitions can be strict regarding what gis you can and can't wear, so if you plan to compete it might be an idea to bear in mind? If you're at a less strict ruled competition or a mixed art competition then perhaps a bit of confusion will put your opponent on edge ;op At the random attack European championships last year because you either wear a red or a white belt in the competition, and categories are age based not belt based, the whole UK team wore white belts for the entire event so people didn't know what they were up against ^__^
Theres quite a few cases of people posting photos of themselves 'rolling' in BJJ gis wearing blackbelts, being visited or challenged by actual BJJ Blackbelts to challenge matches. All Im saying is be careful in what happens to photos /videos with you in whilst looking very much like a high level BJJ'er.
Yeh in any videos I'd try to make it quite clear what grade I was in what art to avoid confusion, but for general training it shouldn't be a problem
