Greg Souders believes AOJ’s success does not mean the academy is using ecological Brazilian jiu-jitsu, even though some of its training practices may resemble principles associated with the constraints-led approach.
During an episode of the Weslee Weighs In Podcast, Souders was asked about AOJ and Gui Mendes, including the academy’s reputation for producing world champions.
The question focused on whether AOJ’s training could be considered ecological in practice, adjacent to ecological coaching, or simply an example of coaches using similar methods without the same theoretical framework.
Souders’ answer was direct: “The latter.”
He explained that coaches have always manipulated interactions within training environments. Since a coach can only influence the person, the task, and the environment, many traditional coaches naturally create constraints, even if they do not use ecological terminology or understand the research behind it.
“Constraints the only thing a coach can manipulate,” Souders said.
However, he drew a distinction between using constraints intuitively and understanding the constraints-led approach as a theory of learning and human behavior.
In his view, AOJ coaches are highly skilled grapplers who have created an effective environment through experience, motivation, shared goals, and constant engagement with the sport. Their results are genuine, but those results do not automatically make their coaching ecological.
“AOJ in no way, shape, or form was aware of that,” Souders said. “You can tell by listening to them talk. You can tell by watching their classes.”
Souders added that he had trained with the Mendes brothers before they spoke English and said they had no clear concept of what the constraints-led approach was or why it worked.
That does not diminish their coaching. It simply means their methods were developed through grappling expertise rather than through ecological dynamics.
“They are grapplers who grapple,” he said.
According to Souders, AOJ attracts highly motivated athletes and provides a culture that supports improvement. The academy’s environment gives students frequent opportunities to engage with the behaviors required for high-level performance.
Those factors can produce strong outcomes without the coaches being able to explain concepts such as representative design, variation, novelty, or the relationship between constraints and affordances.
Souders’ point is that successful practice alone is not proof of a particular coaching framework. A coach may use effective training conditions without understanding the principles that explain why those conditions work.
For him, ecological coaching requires more than live training or situational exercises. It requires a deliberate understanding of how people perceive information, adapt to problems, and organize movement within changing environments.
