To Drill or Not to Drill?

Let's talk about the "ecological approach" in a way that makes sense.

Photo via Rachel Lamb — Maybe more drilling would have helped me finish this back attack :(

I came to Jiu-Jitsu from a wrestling background.

Although I wasn’t a high-level wrestler, I was extremely devoted to improving at wrestling for the last 12 months of my high school career.

When I practiced wrestling, we trained at pretty much 3 intensities:

• drilling speed

• live drilling

• live wrestling

When I came to Jiu-Jitsu, I discovered a new speed of training that’s very common:

• Practicing a technique on a static person who is offering little to no resistance

I train at all intensities, but I’ve come to learn that some intensities are better than others. Furthermore, some training intensities are better for different people at different times.

Recently, in the BJJ community, there’s been a lot of debate on ecological training versus “traditional” training.

Here are my honest thoughts from a decade of training on how to get better faster: