The Best Karate Gi (Suit)

When it comes to karate training, the type of Gi (training suit) can have a significant impact on your training. With lots of different types available in today’s market, and so many types of manufacturers, it can be very hard to pick one that is suitable for YOU.
Basically, there are three main weights of karate gi,
Lightweight
Middleweight
Heavyweight

Depending on your style of training, one gi may be better than the other. For instance, Kyokushinkai students practice constant conditioning and full contact sparring so maybe a middleweight or heavyweight gi would suit them. Fighters who concentrate on point fighting, where the fighters tend to move around much more than full contact fighters, may decide that lightweight suits benefit there style. Then there are some students who practice throws and grappling in there training, like Wado Ryu students, and because of all the pulling and tugging on the gi that comes with this type of training, they may feel that a stronger suit is more ideal.

Then there is the fact of sweating. If you are training hard, then probably you shall be sweating hard. This sweat will then be absorbed by your suit, so if it’s a heavy weight you have, it shall feel extra heavy, and for this reason a light weight suit may be better. But then again, some like the extra weight, and see it as more resistance, which helps in losing weight, and building stronger bodies.

Hopefully you are starting to see that it all depends on your type of training and personal needs, when deciding on what suit weight to buy. Personally I think a middleweight suit is ideal for karate. As long as it’s a good make, it should be strong enough to take grappling without ripping, should not be too heavy when soaked in sweat and should take impact training on the bags and through sparring very well. Quality manufacturers include Meijin, Kamikaze, Shureido and Tokaido, and can be found through searching the Internet or from many martial art magazines throughout the world.

Marks