The debate in our Art is always there; and with limiting factors like time and body mileage constantly working to force decisions, there is never a shortage of opinion on which one to train or focus on. Now, personal preference will be one aspect of the decision – your background can definitely sway which one you feel more comfortable in. Maybe you hail from the traditional martial arts, where a uniform is par for the course prior to doing battle. Then again, what if a wrestling mat was your home before the jiu jitsu tatami? You would not be faulted for sticking with what you know, at least initially, but one of the beauties of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is how much it can force you to grow by putting you solidly outside of your comfort zone. You can go on a gi or no-gi jag for a while during training, lessening or even omitting one for the other…and coming back to the neglected side of the coin always feels like a fresh rediscovery of all the neat nuances you admired when you first started the whole thing!
On the gi front, you have a game that is usually a little slower, a bit more technical, and the grips come into play much more often and in much sharper scope than without the gi. Slipping out of an armbar due to sweat is not as apt to happen with the jacket on, which then forces you to do a bit more work on each end of the equation: Your submission setups need to be a tad more hidden (as alarm bells will be sounding when you get two firm handfuls of sleeve!), but then again your defense has to be much more on point and predictive rather than reactive if staying out of danger is your goal (I mean, you could be drilling deep bad spots for a reason, but for the most part, you need to pull the ripcord a bit sooner with the gi on). A note on the grips: Extensive gi work will, invariably, inflict bloody murder upon your fingers and wrists. If you are one of those lucky few than genetically have titanium coated bones south of your elbows, then bully for you! But for the rest of us, playing with the gi will eventually necessitate some pre-taping and constant refinement of gripping technique (both of which we will detail in future posts). Just be aware, and take the same philosophy with gi-grip dilemmas as I hope you do with your whole jiu-jitsu approach: Push to a certain extent, but tap before it breaks or injures, and keep healthy to ultimately keep rolling!
As for no-gi, there are also pros and cons to consider. This sector of the playground tends to lend itself to a faster work rate, sometimes if only for the fact that there is not any extra cloth to grab and slow the game down with. This can bring with it some bad habits, particularly for beginners, as all past instructors have always encouraged new converts to slow down and let technique do the work. Consequently, submission defense and application might suffer, as slipping out of subs becomes much more of an issue in no-gi. Grip work can still bring with it the threat of joint injury, but you just do not have as many opportunities to get a finger or toe caught in an unforgiving hem, collar, or crease as you do otherwise.
A word on which one is “better”: Neither. Countless times, the best grapplers in the world have all concurred (and they do not do this on much, so I pay attention when they do) that training in both is the key to building a well-rounded training methodology. The quicker pace that no gi encourages might be a nice testing ground for some of your go-to moves, while the more deliberate speed in gi will begin to foster a level of technique, of thinking two to four moves ahead that will definitely translate to better taps every time you roll. As a final disclaimer/bit of advice, this is not to say that there cannot be amazingly brazen scrambles in a gi or that a nuanced grip change in no-gi is somehow bereft of the import it would have with a uniform on, but consider this: Across the board, at the recent ADCC Submission Fighting Championships, the podiums were filled predominantly with competitors who train consistently in both gi and no-gi.
-Hope this helped, see you on the mat!