Maybe you’ll get into an argument. Maybe you’ll have to make an arrest. Maybe you’ll need to protect someone. Or perhaps you’re ordered into battle. Maybe you’re jumped or ambushed. What will you be wearing?
I’ve written extensively on this subject, but I’ll keep it brief here: train in the clothes you expect to fight in. Reduce the abstract.
Sport outfits are for your hobby. Artsy outfits are for your art. Pursue your happiness. But for survival and mission readiness? Wear what you actually wear in life. In the field. Civilians should train in civilian clothes. Police officers should train in their uniforms. For example, it makes no sense for cops learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to wear traditional gis. That’s off-mission. Or to train half-prepared, half-dressed. Over the years, I’ve taught police forces as far away as Australia and as close as the local Texas police academy. More times than I can count, officers showed up in a t-shirt, sweatpants, sneakers, and, at best, their duty gun belt. They should be training in full uniform, just as they would wear on duty. The same goes for military combatives….all this wrestling without guns, gear and helmets (and no ground n’ pound)? And think how many civilians show up at the gun range dressed like they are going on a 3-week mission in Cambodia. I understand the need to start “loose” with the basics, but let’s get to fight training in full gear.
I know, I know! Schools-dojos pay their electric bill by selling uniforms and shirts, etc. I get it. And it’s all very tribal and “teamy.” Those are actually important social business points. But these are the differences, the sacrifices made between combatives and arts. I sacrifice.
In reality, you won’t be barefoot, wearing a gi, a rash guard super hero suit, or baggy pajamas when a crime or war unfolds. There won’t be a mat to cushion your falls. Instead, you’ll be burdened by your clothing and mandatory gear. Your wrists won’t be wrapped. You won’t have a mouthguard. Your eyeballs will be exposed. No cup.
One downside is practicing barefoot. Some old-timers claimed it was to “toughen the feet.” That may have made sense centuries ago when people were barefoot daily, but today? No. Nowadays, it’s mostly about preserving the mats. That’s fine, I get it. But maybe you don’t need mats at all, or maybe just some of the time?
My old school in Texas had a wooden floor. I understand that hard floors make repetition training and ground fighting tougher, but that’s the reality of a fight. BJJ legend Chris Haueter has a great lecture on the evolution and distortions of mats in martial history and ground fighting, that I wish everyone could see. There’s a video online if you can find it.
This sometimes ties into what I call the “Duration Principle.” Strike bare-knuckle on a bag for a while, but when amassing reps? You’ve done your naked time, put on MMA gloves and finish up. (Not boxing gloves unless you’re a boxer.) Training ground-and-pound or catch wrastlin’ on a real floor? Start without mats, but when the reps pile up? Slip on the knee and elbow pads, or pull out the mat and finish up. You’ve earned it. The Duration Principle.
In a real fight, you’ll likely be wearing shoes and fighting on tile, wood, carpet, concrete, asphalt, stairs, hillsides, the insides and outsides of rural, surburban and urban worlds. Train in the clothes and gear you’ll actually be fighting in…and on, as much as possible. If you are just training for art and hobby? Then have fun. Carry on. Just don’t be schizophrenic about it.
(Or how I learned to not wear a baseball uniform when practicing Tennis…)
(If you are happy camper doing classic martial arts in classic uniforms? Gis. Barefoot? You are just drawn to the idea? Then ignore me. What do you care what I think? This is just a personal rant.)
I was invited by some folks to a big reunion in the Philippines the other day, and I had to gracefully back out again. Because…because I just don’t go to such things. I am kind of a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit well in most places. When they asked why, one of my rambling answers was, “…yeah and you know,” this…that…“and I would have to wear a uniform, and…”
Wearing the martial arts uniform. How many times have I dodged events through the years partially because I might be, I would be expected to wear a uniform? Thinking about it, I have not worn a gi of any system in probably in some 20 or so years. Wow. I don’t have THAT uniform anymore. Nor any uniform. No black belts shoved in a corner. There are all long gone. I don’t recall throwing them away, but they are simply gone from my closets. And I’ve had many a gi since 1972. Kenpo. Karate. Kempo. Jujitsu (old school, not just wrestling). Aiki-Jitsu. Modern Arnis. Arnis de Mano. Not counting Thai shorts. All…gone.
I did show up, non-uniform, at a few events many years ago. One time in the 90s, I taught at a big event in San Francisco alongside Wally Jay and Uncle Bill de Thouars. There was about 300 people there. ALL in gis except me and Dean Goldade. We wore t-shirts, blue jeans and shoes. We really stuck out like sore thumbs. Like disrespectful bums. I hear now that t-shirts and gi pants or sweat pants are acceptable in some big events and gatherings. Which may get me back in circulation?
Being a “60’s, redneck-hippy,” I kind of rebel against uniforms. I had to wear an Army uniform and a police uniform. And I was detective for a long time, and had to wear a suit and tie for many years, and that is kind of a uniform in a way, but a step aside a regular uniform. On special assignments we wore only the smartest, tactical of clothing for what we were doing. The ultimate goal, I think. Which is getting to my point about playing dress up…
But I am a little twisted. Decades ago, I didn’t get into the martial arts to be a “martial artist.” I just wanted to learn all the …you know…the secrets…of fighting. And, through those decades, where else could you go to learn such things? I started in Parker Kenpo in 1972 and the classes were draped and adorned in classic uniforms. I mindlessly accepted this policy as an annoyance. Terrible, huh? Then, in police training in 1973, I noticed that when attending the – what has become defensive tactics – classes, police showed up in sweat pants, athletic shoes, t-shirt and usually brought along their pistol belts. At least they wore shoes for God’s sake. At least they brought their belts, but many times they did not wear the belts unless the training switched to gun-related stuff. And what’s with the sweat pants? The clothing question remained for me since 1972. Why are we not training in the clothes that we will probably be fighting in?
I’ve always analyzed stuff through the “who, what, where, when, how and why” questions?
WHO am I to be wearing a uniform? WHO is he?
WHAT exactly am I wearing? WHAT is he wearing? What gear?
WHERE will I be fighting? In terms of smart and,or common clothing for the location?
WHEN will I be fighting? In terms of clothing? Season? Night? Day?
HOW will I fight in these clothes?
WHY am I REALLY dressing in training this way, anyway?
WHAT ARE YOU WEARING? (and why?)
In my classes, in my school I operated years ago in north Texas, there were no uniform requirements. People could wear whatever they wanted. Several of my students were cops and they would show up for class in their actual uniforms, which I encouraged. I know this is not good for school sales and the school-money-systems set up by the franchise programs today. I sold and still sell t-shirts, but they are not required. I understand the requirement though. The whole group-thing, and the martial uniform is supposed to create all kinds of group psychological “unity,” – yeah – I know, but I didn’t care about all that sales structure stuff. I mean we are not preparing a military unit where such group/unit psychologies really shine.
Through the years I have seen all kinds of “fashions.” Some random notes on the fashion subject…
The old Jeet Kune Do guys and gals were often seen in the 80s and 90s in tank tops and really short, shorty-shorts. I did that too. That changed through time. Thank goodness. I was tired of trimming my pubic hairs.
The US Army, for example, did do much of their new combatives courses in an Army uniform, sure, but…a lot of it barefoot! (The whole “save-the-mats,” forever thing.) And the real sin – mostly WITHOUT standard gear like helmets, belts and backpacks, etc.
The newer looks of Krav Maga dodge the classic uniforms, but many if not most, require you to wear their sweat pants with stripes and THEIR t-shirt. The whole sales/branding thing of businesses. (I get it! I understand the process. Do you as a student understand the process?)
Some of the BJJ gis look to me like walking, color billboards. Huge swaths of colors. How about those checker pattern ones from Korea? Warning! Watching them in motion might cause seizures! (As an aside, as a clothing anecdote, I noticed that there are a number of BJJ guys who slip on blue jeans and have instantly/suddenly become hand, stick, knife, gun masters. The martial, underground call these people, “BJJ in Blue Jeans.”)
Then there is the “no-gi” “BJJ-ish” crowd. Sounds smart, I mean who wears all those pajamas “in the street” when they wrestle? Yet, they seem to be tossing aside the classic uniforms for modernity, but have instead switched over to like…rubber, skin-tight, Spiderman suits (what colors and designs!) and they are still…barefoot. It’s like they said, “Hey, let’s trade in that silly old, gi, bulky, uniform idea,” (for yet another silly, skin tight, but yet rubberized one.) You end up with the same abstract problem for “the street.”
One of my friends is an ex-ninjitsu player, with many trips to Japan under his belt. He told me that the Japanese people are mystified as to why Americans (or anyone) still dresses up like a ninja. He said they feel the same way as most Americans feel in general about people dressing up in Civil War clothes. Then imagine if Japanese people came to the USA and dressed up in Civil War clothes. (I personally don’t care about this at all, I just find this observation amusing.)
Some Sambo uniforms are interesting, with the typical gi top and tight shorts underneath. I think Sambo is great but at first glance, don’t you look and think they forgot their pants? Then after a bit, you get use to the idea.
How about those extremely, cumbersome Aikido outfits? Kilts gone wild.
In the 1980s, I once attended a “Plain-Clothes” Shooting course, for detectives, put on by retired FBI agents. We wore what we wore, which at the time for most of us was suits and ties. It was actually very informative, full of great “cop” tips” and very much to the point.
The group pictures where everyone is dressed the same sure look nice.
If you are training to fight in a Thai boxing match, and you train in Thai shorts? BINGO! If you are training to fight in a Judo meet, and you train in a Judo gi? Bingo! And so on down the list. But what if you take, say… like, Kung Fu to learn to fight an urban rapist or an urban attacker? (What about “rural” attackers?) It’s still abstract dressing and I think some bingo numbers are missing off your board.
In seminars, I ask attendees to wear street clothes and shoes. We need pockets and belts. Even if they wear “street short pants” they still have pockets and a belt. A shirt over your gun is important, as is a holster. Don’t just show up with a rubber gun and no holster (and belt.) If you have a fixed-blade training knife, you need a sheath to draw it from, else you probably would not have a fixed blade knife with you, walking around the farm or downtown. (This is a BIG disconnect in training schools. A zillion, rubber, fixed-blade knives and no sheaths.)
And, no need to overdress in my seminars as though one is being dropped into Cambodia for two weeks (unless, of course, you are actually being dropped into Cambodia for two weeks). I always wear mat shoes, as I hope every attendee will too, because we often don’t know where I will be teaching and if there is a “no-shoes-mat-rule? We respect that. I, at least will then wear socks because I must hide my horrible Amazonian Jungle, Toe Fungus. Believe me I know CDC is happy that I am not passing this strain around on your mats, around the world. (I know of a system that actually sells socks with their logo on it.)
As a so-called, “self defense instructor,” or whatever it is exactly that I am, I have made a rule for myself I always hope I can remember and consider when drawing up outlines, books and teaching – “reduce the abstract.” This is not easy challenge, given the circumstances of your school or your training grounds. I have fallen short of this self-imposed standard many times, but I try. But please consider the phrase, reduce the abstract. And one way of reduction, is to dress right for the who, what, where, when, how and why of your perceived fight. Now, we cannot create 10 or 12 movie sets with a group of improv actors to make everything seem ever-so-real to a student, but we can at least… at very least… dress appropriately.
You don’t find tennis players in practice wearing baseball uniforms. Baseball players are not practicing in football uniforms. Army soldiers do not practice in scuba suits. Know your goal, your mission and dress accordingly. I know people love to belong, love immersing themselves into groups. They love clubs. Tribes. Teams. And showing their pride. This usually means outfits and outfitting the outfits. I get it! I really do. Again, If you are happy camper doing classic martial arts barefoot, in classic uniforms? You are just drawn to the idea? And you understand the questions I am asking? Then ignore me. Ignore this. This is just a personal rant. Who cares what I think anyway? Doing any of the aforementioned things is better than sitting on the couch. I only ask that you at least kick around this idea, understand it and can articulate your opinion on these types of fashion choices.
