If _________, you might be a judoka.

• You think “Single-weave or double-weave?” is a significant question deserving serious thought and debate
• You use more Fabreze than mayonnaise
• You think a girl who can lock in a triangle choke is cool
• You think a guy who can lock in a triangle choke is cool
• At an office meeting, you look at some guy’s blazer and think, “Yeah, kata juji jime would work”
• At an office meeting, you are thinking about judo instead of the office meeting
• You are responsible for 42 of the 2,867,982 hits on a Toshihiko Koga YouTube video
• You can make that 200-pound guy at the dojo sweat and grunt
• You sometimes throw well enough that the brown belts don't grimace when they get off the mat
• You are constantly amazed at what the human body can do
• You are constantly amazed at how stupid your body is, how very much it still has to learn
• You have rehabbed an injury or two and have a whole new appreciation for what pro athletes go through every day
• You go at ne waza so hard you want to throw up and can barely re-tie your obe
• Someone taps because they can’t get out of your kesa gatame
• You think regular pushups are just a warm up for other kinds of pushups
• The idea of competing does not seem as far-fetched as it once did

Finding The Perfect Skinny-Guy Judogi

No good deed goes unpunished. You take up judo in middle age to stay lean and thin, and then you swim around in standard gis because they're build for stocky, muscular guys.  You roll around in ne waza and get a little irritated to have your gi yanked over your head.  Or so it has seemed for me.  I'm 5'11", around 160 lbs, 42 chest, 32 waist, 32 inseam. It turns out to be darn hard to find a judogi that fits a slim guy well--a gi that feels good on slim frame, yet can still pass a Sokuteiki check, the device used to see if a gi is legal for competition.

I looked around on the Web and found some good customer recommendations about Piranha Gear out in California (Website here).  They have a heavy jiu jitsu and MMA focus, but they also sell some gear for judo.

They sell a "tall and slim" jiu jitsu gi that seemed promising.  Got one for me and one for my son (who's even thinner than me).  Sort of a disaster for me.  This very light single-weave gi was far too delicate for judo, at least for a grownup.  Part of the sleeve seam opened up after one ne waza practice.  The good news is that Piranha Gear's customer support is amazing: they took back the gi.  I decided to keep the one for my son.  He's only 80 lbs and a lightweight gi works for him. It's holding up well enough and he likes the elastic waistband on the pants.  He finally has a pair of judo pants that stay up on his small hips.

For me, though, I decided it was time to try a double weave, which Piranah Gear also sells--and they have a double weave gi they advertise for Judo use.  I ordered a size 4 following their fitting guide.  What arrived is a really nice grappling uniform, well made and reinforced.  Love the pants, which run slimmer than most judo uniforms are amazingly sturdy.  But the top is a problem.  Its skirt is cut very short--a jiu jitsu cut--and the sleeves taper to narrow openings, probably too narrow to pass the Sokuteiki.  I also found the uniform to shrink more than advertised, especially the top.  My gi never saw a dryer, and it's now too short in both the sleeves and skirt.  So that gi is in the closet waiting for my son to grow into it.

Okay, back to square one.  Back to looking for judogi that fits a slim guy well, this time also looking for a double-weave.

Round 2 (3?) was a size 5 Danrho Gold Medal gi that I ordered from Expert Martial Arts and Fitness.  So far, so good.  I think Danrho is more popular as a brand in Europe, but what caught my eye was that the gis came in "slim" versions, and the price was about $115.   Ordered one, and the top is outstanding.  Really amazing construction.  The sleeves are a little larger in diameter than I'd like, but I guess they're trying to stay compliant for the Sokuteiki to slide all the way in unobstructed.  But the fit around my trunk is good, the skirt plenty long.  I have long arms for someone my size, and the length is just right for me.  Shoulders and upper body seem a little loose, but suspect those just need breaking in.  My only gripe is the pants.  They're size 5 pants alright, which means the waist is way to big for my 32-inch waist and the the legs too long for my 32-inch inseam.  Very baggy around the hips and crotch.  Well, it's hard to find perfection.  Have shrunk the pants in the dryer and they work okay, but still feel too big.  I'm mostly wearing the Piranah gi bottoms.  Those size 4 pants are just a tad short on me, but they have good construction and fit well.  Going for a good fit over a matched set.  And Piranha Gear does sell those  "heavy" pants as a separate item for those who are interested.  Link is here.

Expert Martial Arts and Fitness sells a blue version of the Danrho at a very reasonable, though slightly higher, price.   I think the only turnoff here would be that these gis are a cotton-poly blend.  Some traditionalists might not like anything but 100% cotton.  But I don't mind it and Danrho has "fleeced" the inside somehow, making that interior quite soft.

Other judokas have had luck with more expensive Mizuno gis, but I found the $115 or so for the Danrho pretty hard to beat.

I think I've found a good gi for the next year ... but welcome suggestions that have worked well for others.