My approach to teaching Brazilian jiu-jitsu by using the ecological approach and constraint-led approach
By Leonardo Correa
Apr 15, 2024 - (6 min read)
Ecological approach and constraint-led approach (CLA) are not new to sports. In soccer, I am glad I lived long enough to see the old obsolete ways of training and survived to enjoy more effective ways to train. However, Ecological or CLA is new to BJJ. In BJJ, imperative and non-transferable warm-ups and drills had been the only way we were "forced" to train. A common misconception is that CLA is hands-off and less work for the coach. I'll show you it's the opposite. It takes a lot more effort to plan and coach in this new style.
Here is an example of how I facilitate (not teach) two different classes on different days so you have an idea of my approach using constraints, narrowing solution search space, and allowing plenty of exploration.
Class 1 - Learn ways to open closed guard in NOGI
Before getting into the main goal of the class, I start with a quick game to warm up:
Warm-up game: Guard retention. The guard player can't grab. Can only frame and pummel the legs to recover guard. The top player tries to pass. A top player can't use a pressure pass.
Intention for the bottom player: keep the top player in sight in front of you between your legs and use your legs and arms to prevent the top player from reaching side-control.
Intention for the top player: Try to pass the legs and reach the chest-to-chest position or create an elbow-knee disconnection (I know this last item is an outcome of passing the guard but I sometimes provide it as a cue).
The game is continuous for both players, and there is no way to win.
My intentions and expected behavior with the warm-up game (not verbally mentioned):
- Warm up the neck, hips, and core for the bottom player
- Bring cardio up for both players
- Constraints are there to encourage the top player to use passing methods that require lots of mobility, such as outside-the-leg passing.
Game 1: Open NOGI closed guard
The bottom player starts with the guard closed. The top player starts with one arm grip and a vertical posture. I do warn about the possibility of lower back injuries if they try to lift the bottom player and leave their knees outside of the bottom player's hips. I verbalize it and keep watching out all the time.
Intention for the bottom player: Off-balance, sweep. Conditioned situation: The bottom player is winning by two points and there is one minute left in the match. This encourages the bottom player to keep closed guard.
Intention for the top player: explore ways to open the bottom player's legs, don't get caught up on submissions or sweeps
My observations
- Top players make mistakes such as standing with both feet near the bottom player's hips. Usually, the bottom player grabs both feet and gets a sweep.
- Top players "forget" good posture and get stuck inside a triangle
- Top players "forget" to frame allowing the bottom player to do a sit-up and reach double under like a Koala bear. Then the bottom player releases the legs and switches to a double-leg takedown
The class lasts for 75 minutes. We do free sparing for the last 25 minutes.
Class 2 - Pass the guard from the chest-to-chest half-guard position (Another class, another day...)
Warm-up game: Manage distance from the guard and keep the head safe. The bottom player needs to use their legs to keep the distance and prevent the top player from touching or smack your head.
Intention for the bottom player: Manage distance and keep your head safe from punches.
Intention for the top player: Try to close the distance to smack the head.
Game 1: Try to pass the half-guard with head and top shoulder control
Intention for the bottom player: Recover full guard and reclaim inside hands and leg positions.
Intention for the top player: Use the starting grip to pass the guard to side-control, mount, or take the back.
I've run these games multiple times. I really wanted them to work on the high tripod passing style. So I added a new constraint: It can only pass straight to mount. I intended to encourage or limit their possibilities where the only viable solution within this constraint is to use a Tripod passing style. Then during their exploration, they will learn that they must elevate their hips and use the secondary leg to increase the chances of passing straight to mount as well as keeping a really good pin on the upper body. This is just one example where I manipulate the constraints in order to achieve or extract a desired behavior from the players.
Game 2: the same as game one but with double-under
Sometimes I start with the double-under so they know that's a good grip they should search for.
My style:
- I usually give a good starting position or a good starting grip.
- I like giving one person a full round to continuously explore the position instead of changing the top/bottom. So I like one person performing or exploring for the whole round. Then we switch.
- I allow lots of explorations but my games start from a more specific or narrow position.
- I am still learning. I am continuously updating my methods based on what I learn or the class feedback. Now I finally understand what Greg Sounders means when he mentions that his games are relative to his training room. In our gym, people want to do at least 25 minutes of free sparring. They also don't like too short games. I felt like I had to adapt games from 2 minutes to 5. So we have fewer games but with longer and continuous focus.
Common misconception about the ecological approach
A common misconception about the ecological approach is that coaches let the students figure out everything. In this case, a mistake is to think I would say: "OK, get into a closed guard on your knees. Now go ahead and figure out how to open this guard.".
Another common misconception is that if we let them figure it out on their own, their solution may not be scalable. Yes, we need to be careful with them building bad habits. As a coach, we still know and understand what good and scalable ways to open guard are. The way I learned to open guard is by using methods that we stand up. This is also seen in high-level competition.
Remember the initial position I gave the top player? I created a situation where I narrowed down the solution search to stand-up methods without telling them to stand up or any imperative instruction. At the same time, I give plenty of exploration time and allow mistakes to happen and be corrected.
Before we go ...
I am not the only coach in the gym. Other coaches use a prescriptive approach. Every second or third class I show a technique just like the traditional way.
Yes, it is possible to have enjoyable and live resistance activities for the whole class. Thanks for reading.
Tweet to @LeonardoBrAu