Martial Arts Uniforms and Their Differences

As a beginner in martial arts or if you just enjoy watching martial arts you will notice that the basic kimono that martial artists are famous for wearing is very subjective.

In some cases, you will see them wearing that while in other cases it will be replaced by the shirt. Similarly, in some martial arts styles, there is no upper body coverage so they will be fighting naked while in others the dress up will stay the same but the way colours will be different.

In most cases when people train they hardly take care of the dress up because it’s all about the technical training however, in other areas especially when the workout is very specific you cannot miss out on the details so practising while wearing the uniform is very important.

In the case of BJJ ( Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), the gripping methods are pretty common. It is the only martial art where you have to grapple the opponent by using the uniform, hand, colour, and GI so the way you are dressed is very important. On the contrary, there are fast-paced martial arts like MMA where there is no GI involved so people keep going with a shirt and shorts.

Similarly, in boxing, most people choose not to wear shirts. With such diverse uniforms, it gets very challenging to keep track of what is happening and why it is happening. This is why you need to know the process that goes on behind choosing a martial arts uniform.

With the help of this article, we will mainly highlight how people dress up for martial arts and why it is considered very important to stay mindful of the dressing sense.

We will also know why colours within the martial arts community play an important role and if colours can directly impact the way we interact with each other in martial arts or if they are a status symbol.

Why Are There Colours in The Uniform?

If you are into martial arts, you might have noticed that most people choose white uniforms while others use black or blue. However, other uniform colours are either simply dyed for the sake of standing out or for customization.

However, the basic idea behind the colours is new, so it is more or less done for the sake of representation. You will notice that some people choose to wear bright colours, others are dictated by the trainers and the school you are in while in the case of GI colours, it is all about the hierarchy.

In some cases, the instructor will tell you to use the white uniform while in others you have a full range of choices. For the most part, the idea is that the instructor gets to swear the black and as the student progresses, he is offered a new color based on the progress.

What Is the Idea Behind GI Colours?

GI colours are quite common but each color has its precise representations. Although these connotations vary from person to person mostly they are seen as a universal idea while some perceptions are derived from different reasoning styles.

To start we have the very basic while GI which represents humbleness and purity. This means that the student is still young and has started from humble beginnings and he has a long way to go. It is a classic GI and it is normally used even by professionals.

Then comes the blue GI, another classic. Blue GI doesn’t have any specific connotation. Most people wear it for the sake of aesthetics while other instructors use blue and white interchangeably. So they will start with basic GI for the training and then switch to the blue one for the sake of competition.

Red GI is also pretty common but it only responds to the idea of competition experts believe that red can be traced back to Russian style but there is no solid evidence that it is a color specifically for the Russians most competitors just use the red GI for the sake of aesthetic and standing out of the crowd.

Finally, you will see people with black GI. The black GI represents your Martial arts journey. It means that you started from something basic and you have progressed over time by learning different skills. The black GI means that your journey from the white has in-depth learning.

It all comes down to the martial arts style you choose. The uniform used in martial arts has been curated and created after very careful assessment so the way you move has a lot to do with the way you dress up.

Apart from the style of clothing, the colour of the clothing also plays a very important role. The colour coding within the styling represents the hierarchy of the player. Although this doesn’t offer them any specific privileges in general, a few of the fighting techniques are only used by the people who reach a certain status of professionalism.

You also need to make sure that your fighting is not hindered when there is a uniform involved. This is a very common issue as laying up too much can make you feel chunky and disturb your overall movement.