No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu in Brooklyn: Why More Grapplers Are Skipping the Kimono

No-gi lessons in Brooklyn are growing faster than ever, and it's not hard to see why. The MMA world, ADCC, and the rise of submission grappling as a spectator sport have made no-gi the format most people actually want to train in. But if you walk into a lot of traditional BJJ gyms, they'll still tell you to put on a gi first, learn to crawl before you walk, and earn your way to no-gi later.

Here's my honest take: that's not always the right call.

I'm Josh Supitskiy, a purple belt with 7 years of training and competing in both gi and no-gi. I run private lessons out of Darfight Martial Arts at 130 Brighton Beach Ave, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn. My coach is Eugene Sakirski, a Renzo Gracie black belt with 30 years of mat time. We teach both formats, and I want to break down what no-gi actually is, who should start there, and what no-gi private lessons in Brooklyn look like.

Key Takeaways

• No-gi means no kimono, no lapels. You're grappling in shorts and a rash guard, which fundamentally changes how grips, guard retention, and passing work.
• No-gi is faster, more scramble-heavy, and closer to MMA grappling than traditional gi BJJ.
• ADCC and the UFC have pushed a wave of people toward no-gi instruction. The interest is real and it's not a fad.
• You don't have to start with gi. No-gi is a legitimate starting point.
• Private no-gi lessons let you focus on the specific positions that matter most in no-gi: body lock, underhooks, leg entries.

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What No-Gi Actually Means

The obvious part: no-gi means you're not wearing a gi. You're in shorts and a rash guard instead of the traditional kimono. No belt. No lapel. No collar.

The less obvious part is how much that changes everything.

In gi BJJ, gripping the collar and sleeve is a fundamental skill. Your whole guard game, your passing game, your submission setups often flow through grips on the fabric. You can slow the pace way down because you can hold on. You can stall. You can set traps that take real time to develop.

In no-gi, you're gripping wrists, necks, arms, and legs. Nothing else. Grips are slippery, especially when people sweat. Positions that are stable in the gi become loose and transitional without it. The game speeds up dramatically.

It's not just a different uniform. It's a different game with overlapping but distinct skills.

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No-Gi vs. Gi BJJ: The Real Differences

Let me break this down clearly, because it matters for deciding where to start.

Grips. In gi, you can grab fabric. In no-gi, everything is skin and compression material. This changes how you establish control, how you maintain guard, how you pass. Gi grips buy you time. No-gi grips are often temporary.

Guard retention. Keeping someone from passing your guard is harder in no-gi. In gi, you can grab their sleeve or pant leg and slow them down. In no-gi, they can slide right through if you're not using your frames and hips correctly. You have to be more active, more explosive in your guard retention.

Passing. Gi passing often involves methodically peeling grips and pinning fabric. No-gi passing is faster. Guard passes like the torreando, the leg drag, and pressure passing with underhooks become more prominent. The guy on top wants to pressure and smash. The guy on the bottom needs quick reactions.

Submissions. In gi, collar chokes are everywhere. The bow and arrow, the cross collar, the ezekiel. None of those exist in no-gi. Instead you get more neck cranks, arm triangles, guillotines, and leg locks. Leg locks especially are a massive part of the modern no-gi game in a way they're not in gi.

Pace. No-gi is generally faster. More scrambles. More explosive transitions. It can feel chaotic to beginners, but that chaos has structure once you understand it.

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Why No-Gi is Growing: The MMA and ADCC Effect

Ten years ago, most BJJ gyms were predominantly gi. No-gi classes existed but they were often an afterthought, a Friday evening option after the "real" classes.

That's changed. A few things drove it.

First, MMA. The UFC has been around long enough now that a generation of grapplers grew up watching grappling happen without a gi. When you watch Khabib Nurmagomedov control people with body locks and wrestling, or you watch Gordon Ryan choke someone unconscious, you're watching no-gi grappling. That's what people want to learn to do.

Second, ADCC. The ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship has become the most prestigious event in submission grappling. It's no-gi, it's extremely high level, and it's gotten a lot more attention in the last decade. Grapplers who watch ADCC want to train the way those athletes train.

Third, the leg lock revolution. The John Danaher-era emphasis on leg locks, particularly heel hooks and kneebars, changed the no-gi game dramatically. That systematic approach to lower body submissions made no-gi grappling more complex and more interesting to serious students of the sport.

The result is that no-gi is no longer a secondary format. It's a first-class option.

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Who Should Start With No-Gi

Look, I'm not going to tell you that no-gi is for everyone from day one. But I will push back on the idea that gi is mandatory as a starting point.

You should probably start no-gi if:

You're interested in MMA or self-defense in a real-world context. Street clothes have no lapels. No-gi grappling transfers more directly to that environment.

You're primarily interested in sport grappling. If your goal is to compete in submission wrestling or ADCC-style events, train no-gi from the start.

You just want to learn grappling without buying a gi. A rash guard and shorts costs almost nothing compared to a quality gi. Lower barrier to entry.

You're coming from a wrestling background. Wrestlers often find no-gi more intuitive because the body lock, underhook game, and scrambles feel familiar.

You should probably start with gi if:

You specifically want to compete in gi BJJ tournaments, which have their own rules and strategies.

You want to develop patience and precision. The gi forces you to slow down and be technical in a way that can build strong habits.

You're already training at a gym where the culture is heavily gi-focused and you want to fit in with the training community.

The honest truth is: most serious grapplers end up doing both. The skills complement each other. But "start with gi" is not a rule. It's a preference that got elevated to dogma in a lot of schools.

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Story: The Wrestler Who Clicked Immediately

Last year I worked with a guy named Danny. Former high school wrestler, hadn't done any martial arts in ten years, mid-30s. He'd been told by two different gyms that he needed to start in gi classes before doing no-gi.

He came to me for a private session and we went straight into no-gi fundamentals. Within 30 minutes, he was more comfortable than most people are after two months of group classes. His wrestling background gave him a base, and no-gi's scramble-heavy pace fit his instincts. He didn't need to relearn how to move in a kimono before he could learn BJJ. He needed to learn the submission game on top of what he already knew.

We spent three sessions building out his ground game, adding guard work and leg lock basics to his wrestling foundation. That's what private lessons allow: meeting someone where they are.

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What No-Gi Private Lessons Look Like in Brooklyn

Here's how a typical private no-gi session runs with me.

We start by talking through your goals and current level. Five minutes, max. I need to know if you're a complete beginner, if you've rolled before, if you have any injuries, and what you want to focus on. That shapes the whole session.

Then we warm up. Movement drills, positional flow, something to get your body ready to grapple.

Then technique. For no-gi, I usually focus on one or two connected concepts. If you're a beginner, that might be closed guard control and the guillotine setup from guard. If you're more experienced, it might be leg entanglement entries from a failed takedown. The technique block is specific and purposeful, not a random sample of whatever I feel like showing.

After drilling, we do positional sparring. I put us in a specific position (closed guard, leg entanglement, standing) and we work live from there. It's not full sparring. It's controlled, focused practice at realistic intensity. You get to feel what it's like to apply the technique against resistance without it turning into a battle.

If you bring a training partner, you get $50 per person instead of $100 solo. And honestly, for drilling, a partner makes things better. You both get reps.

Check pricing here or book a session directly.

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Common No-Gi Techniques Beginners Should Learn First

If you're new to no-gi, here are the positions and techniques I prioritize in early sessions. This isn't a complete list. It's a starting framework.

Closed guard. Even in no-gi, closed guard is fundamental. You wrap your legs around your opponent's waist and control their posture. From here you can attack with guillotines, triangles, armbars, and kimuras. It's also a safe position for a beginner: you're controlling the distance.

Hip escape (shrimping). The most important defensive movement in BJJ, gi or no-gi. You use your hips to create frames and recover guard when someone is passing. If you can shrimp correctly, you can survive a lot of bad positions.

Guillotine choke. One of the most effective submissions in no-gi and one of the most common. It shows up from guard, from standing, and from scrambles. Beginners should learn the arm-in and arm-out versions.

Body lock / rear body lock. The body lock is a controlling position in no-gi grappling and wrestling. Getting behind someone and locking your hands around their waist is a dominant position. Learning to get it, maintain it, and take people down from it is valuable early.

Underhook game. In no-gi, underhooks are currency. Whoever controls the underhooks in the clinch usually controls the action. Understanding how to fight for underhooks and what to do once you have them is a foundational skill.

Basic leg lock entries. You don't need to learn heel hooks on day one, but understanding the concept of leg entanglements, how to enter ashi garami (the basic leg lock position), and a straight ankle lock is worthwhile early in no-gi training.

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Story: Elena's No-Gi Journey

Elena came to me eight months ago. She had zero grappling background, 27 years old, just moved to Brooklyn from Chicago. She'd been watching UFC her whole life and always wanted to try it but felt intimidated. She asked me specifically if she could skip the gi and go straight to no-gi.

I said yes. We started with the fundamentals: closed guard, hip escape, guillotine. First session she was tense and burning energy on everything. By session four, she was moving better and starting to think instead of just react. She's been training consistently since, she rolls in group classes at the gym now, and she competes in submission wrestling events.

She never trained in a gi. She's a solid grappler. The "start with gi" rule didn't apply to her and it doesn't have to apply to you.

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Is Gi Training Useful if You Only Care About No-Gi?

Short answer: yes, but it's not required.

Here's the thing with gi training. The slower pace and the grip fighting force you to be more precise with your technique. When you can't just explode out of a position, you have to understand the position better. A lot of elite no-gi grapplers credit gi training with building their technical foundation.

But that doesn't mean you have to start there. And it doesn't mean you have to prioritize gi if your goal is no-gi competition or MMA.

The fundamentals carry over. Hip escapes, guard retention principles, submission mechanics, positional hierarchy. The concepts are the same. The specifics of grip, pace, and certain technique details are different.

If you train no-gi with me and decide you want to add gi training later, everything you've learned transfers. Same in reverse. The skills build on each other.

I teach both. If you ever want to cross-train, we can work both into your sessions. But if you come to me wanting no-gi, we're doing no-gi. I'm not going to tell you to put on a kimono before I'll work with you.

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The Research Angle: Why Specificity Matters

There's a concept in sports science called the SAID principle: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. Your body and nervous system adapt to what you train, not to adjacent activities.

If your goal is no-gi grappling, the most direct path is training no-gi grappling. Gi training has carryover, but it's not the same. If you have limited time and a specific goal, training specifically for that goal is more efficient.

This is part of why private no-gi lessons are effective. We can build a curriculum specifically around no-gi technique, no-gi positions, and the specific submissions and scrambles that matter in that format. You're not going to accidentally spend sessions drilling collar grips you'll never use.

The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation governs gi competition, while submission grappling operates under different rulesets. The techniques you need to master are genuinely different depending on your competition goals.

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How to Start Training No-Gi in Brooklyn

Here's the simple version.

Reach out, tell me you want to start no-gi, and we'll set up a first session. You show up in a rash guard and shorts. I'll take care of the rest.

If you have questions first, read more on the about page or browse the blog for more context on what training looks like.

If you're ready to go, book a session here. Sessions are $100 solo or $50 per person if you bring a training partner.

I'm at Darfight Martial Arts, 130 Brighton Beach Ave, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11235. B or Q train to Brighton Beach. Available weekends all day, Fridays all day, and early mornings Monday through Thursday.

You can also check out what I've been working on at @josh_doesbjj on Instagram.

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Story: Two Friends, One Smart Decision

A couple months ago, two guys reached out together. Marcus and his friend James, both in their late 20s. They'd watched a bunch of ADCC and wanted to learn submission grappling. They didn't want to do gi. They'd heard from someone that you "had to" start with gi BJJ first.

They came in as a pair, which cut the cost in half. We did three sessions over two weekends. By the end of the third session, they were drilling leg entanglement entries and working guillotine setups from closed guard with real competence. Not experts. But grapplers.

They didn't need to earn the right to learn no-gi. They needed good instruction from the start.

That's what private lessons do. They meet you where you are, get you where you want to go, and skip the months of fumbling around that group classes sometimes involve.

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One More Thing

No-gi lessons in Brooklyn don't have to be a big complicated decision. You want to learn to grapple. You want to train without a gi. There's an instructor here who teaches that, at a gym in Brighton Beach, with a coach who's been on the mat for 30 years.

Come train. See how it feels. If it's not for you, you'll know. But most people who walk into that first session don't regret it.

Book a no-gi session here.

Also worth reading: BJJ private lessons in Brooklyn and grappling lessons in Brooklyn: what to expect your first month.