Need
Here's the essential gear you need to do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:

• A good gi (uniform)
• A team patch
• A good belt

When it comes to your basic gear, the rule is to buy the best gear you can afford. Cutting corners on other stuff is okay if you have to, but don't do it on the essentials.

Uniform
Start off with a good gi. Always get the best gi you can afford. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will put wear and tear on you like nothing else. A cheap uniform will save you $20.00 in the short run but you'll go through them twice as fast. Pay the price up front and save the long dollar instead.

Most everyone in our gym wears Gameness or Koral brand uniforms. The price is slightly higher than other brands, but the fit, finish and durability are worth it. If you really need a double weave (extra heavy) gi you can check out Atama instead. Be warned though, the Atama gi are not pre-shrunk.

Gi come in a variety of colors. Get white or blue. Those are the traditional jiu-jitsu colors and are often the only ones allowed in competition. I personally prefer the white ones because blood shows up better.

You can expect to pay somewhere around $120.00 (US) for a good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gi.

Note: A Judo gi is not the same as a jiu-jitsu gi. You can use a Judo uniform for training but they don't comply with competition standards so it's only a matter of time before you'll have to get a good jiu-jitsu uniform anyway. Don't even think about wearing a karate, tae kwon doo, or kung-fu uniform.

A Team Patch
It's your responsibility to represent your team so always get a team patch right when you get a new gi. Patches generally cost from $10.00 to $25.00 depending on the size. The team patch is used to identify you in competition. Since most teams have a number of different affiliates, your patch will help you find fellow team members from other gyms.

A Good Belt

Like the gi, jiu-jistu belts are not the same as belts from other martial arts. A jiu-jitsu belt will have a short black sleeve on one end to put your promotion stripes. Again, Gameness, Koral and Atama are the top sellers. You can expect to pay $15.00 or so.

Some Good Safety Gear
Men must have groin protectors. Women may or may not want groin protection and/or chest protection.

Men have it relatively easy. Just about any athletic supporter will do for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. If you want to protect what mother nature gave you with the very best however, try some cold hard steel. Check out Ringside.com. Look for the traditional Muay-Thai kickboxing cups. They are excellent and only run about $25.00 (US).

If you're looking for women's protectors, you're going to find that females have largely been ignored by sporting goods suppliers. Things are gradually changing, but it's slow going. For groin protection, about all you'll find that's half-way decent is Kwon's Lady Groin Guard. ($10.00). I've never heard anyone say it was actually comfortable, but apparently it doesn't suck as royally as the few other brands available. Most women just skip groin protection anyway, so you probably won't need it. I only mention it here for the sake of NOT ignoring women.

As far as chest protection goes, again, some women use it and some don't. If you're going to do BJJ you've got to accept that you're going to take a lot of rough chest contact-grabbing, pushing, crushing and all that sort of thing. If it bothers you, look into getting a Turtle Shells brand chest protector. Turtle Shells have a good reputation, aren't bulky and are actually used by boxers-who take a lot worse abuse than you ever will in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. You can find the bras and cup inserts at Ringside.com under protective equipment. The Turtle Shells Sports Bra is about $30.00 and the protective cups are $10.00.

Want
Here's the gear you'll end up wanting after you've been doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a little while:

• Rash guards
• Mouth guards
• Ear guards
• Knee pads
• Rash Guards
• A rash guard is a tight fitting shirt with a high collar worn to help prevent skin abrasions

Even if you don't need one for protection, you might want one anyway, since they help prolong the life of your gi by dissipating sweat. There are many different styles and the cost will vary from brand to brand. Gameness's short sleeve rash guards sell for$30.00 to $35.00 for example.

Mouth Guards
Once you've been around for a while you'll start to up the intensity of your game and your face will start to take some abuse. A good mouth guard will protect your teeth from chipping and your jaw from dislocation.

For Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu you'll probably want a single sided, form fitting, mouth guard. A single sided protector is one that only covers your top teeth. Most people don't use double sided ones because they interfere with your breathing too much.

Form fitting guards are the kind you boil to make soft and then pop in your mouth and bite down on to shape. These are so much more comfortable that rigid mouth guards there's just no comparison.

The Shock Doctor brand is one of the most popular mouth guards and a good place to start. They generally run about $20.00. Be sure to get the kind without a strap. Those are made for football players.

Ear Guards
Head gear helps protect against cauliflower ear-grotesque and painful deformation caused by hard contact.

There are many brands available including Cliff Keen, Brute, and Asics. You can expect to pay around $30.00. The Quantum Ear Guard pictured above is from Asics and offers interchangeable straps, pads and shells which not only allows you to arrange your own color scheme (big deal) but to replace parts as they wear out.

Knee Pads
You'll spend a lot of time moving around on your knees in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and it can cause serious problems in the long run. Most people do well with an inexpensive pair of volleyball style knee pads. They generally cost $15.00 a pair.

Some people have particular problems with patellar injuries. Knee pads like Mueller's Patella Stabilizer Knee Brace have a padded hole that surrounds the patella to stabilize and protect it. It also has adjustable straps both above and below the joint to keep the pad from sliding down. You can expect to pay about $40.00 for a knee brace like the one from Mueller. So that's $80.00 to cover both your knees. It's not cheap, but neither is surgery.

Some Friendly Advice
Here's some matter-of-fact advice from a fellow student, advice you may not get from anyone else:

Don't be cheap, buy from your team!

If your gym sells gear, buy it from them. When you buy gear from an outside vendor the money just disappears, but when you buy from your own team the money goes back into the team. Get it?

Don't be tempted to buy from somewhere else just to save a few bucks.
If you don't support your team, don't expect it to support you.

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Grand Rapids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy