Jiu-jitsu’s Nicky Ryan recently shared his thoughts on the Ecological approach to BJJ training on The Simple Man Podcast, expressing appreciation for the methodology while maintaining that traditional drilling still has its place.
Ryan, who discussed his experiences with Greg Sauders Constraints-Led Approach (CLA), acknowledged the benefits of this training style which emphasizes positional rounds with specific constraints rather than repetitive drilling.
“I definitely like what Greg’s doing. I think that there’s a lot of uses to it,” Ryan said during the podcast. “Me personally, I would do it differently.”
Ryan explained that he appreciates the structured positional rounds and constraints that Sauders implements, noting they differ from traditional methods. He provided an example of how he’s already incorporating similar approaches with athlete Nicky Rod.
“What we’re doing with Nicky Rod right now is something along the lines of ‘you’re not allowed to level change down into a chest to chest position until you’re past your opponent’s hip line,'” Ryan explained. “This completely eliminates body lock passing from butterfly guard. We’re getting him away from those camping split squat positions and just having him do vertical standing passing, doing high stepping things to north south.”
The key difference in his approach, Ryan noted, is that while Sauders creates different games with different constraints, Ryan prefers to watch the rounds and offer specific technical suggestions.
Despite not having deeply researched CLA methodology, Ryan expressed interest in experiencing Sauders’s teaching firsthand, stating: “I’d be interested in coming out when I’m able to train and kind of experiencing how he runs the room for myself.”
When asked about Sauders’ stance against drilling as a means of skill transfer, Ryan offered a nuanced perspective: “I think people do learn in different ways. J-Rod has barely drilled since he came to B team and he’s obviously progressed a lot.”
Ryan suggested that a balanced approach might be ideal: “I think a good medium is what I’m trying to do now with Nicky Rod where I’ll sit on the side, watch him do this positional round with these constraints, and then I’ll give him suggestions on things he could improve on.”
He added that after providing feedback, “he’ll drill it a little bit…just go through the motions, get the mechanics down, how to move his body and get a feel for it.” This approach combines elements of both methodologies.
Ryan’s teammate Nicky Rod affirmed the effectiveness of this hybrid approach, stating: “It’s been like 3 days since Nicky Ryan’s been kind of hovering over my work and I’m really enjoying it.” Rod noted significant progress in his passing game, adding: “I’m just reacting as I should. Before I’d have to think consciously… But now it’s just kind of I’m able to flow into it.”
Rod also acknowledged that the constraint-based training was more effective than pure drilling would have been: “I think that the way we’re doing it now would be much more beneficial than having him just drill high steps for an hour straight every day.”
While Ryan sees tremendous value in the constraints-led approach, he maintains that some drilling still serves a purpose, particularly for establishing basic mechanics and movement patterns. His evolving methodology appears to combine the best of both training philosophies.
