Gianni Grippo is one of the most high-profile Jiu-Jitsu competitors to openly make the switch to ecological training and he’s recently explained why. It’s one of the most contentious discussions in the sport right now, and some of the biggest names are debating the topic regularly. The core principle behind the ecological approach is to learn by doing rather than by direct instruction, and that’s facilitated through the use of live games instead of drilling movements. This represents a pretty big move away from the traditional way that Jiu-Jitsu has been taught and that’s a big part of why it’s faced so much resistance.
Of those who have embraced ecological training methods and left drilling behind, Gianni Grippo is probably the most successful example alongside Deandre Corbe. In a recent interview with FloGrappling, Grippo explained what he thinks is one of the key benefits of the approach:
“I definitely took a complete 180 but also it just came with like getting older, having more responsibilities, not wanting to spend eight hours a day on the mat. I do feel like, first of all, just from a time-perspective ecological approach is better because you’re more efficient with your time. Also like, after a while, you just need to find different ways to learn.”
He also took a slightly softer stance compared to some of the more outspoken advocates of the approach like Greg Souders or Kit Dale:
“I’m not gonna be that eco guy that’s gonna bash drilling, because I did it for so long and I think I was able to make it work for myself. But being introduced to eco and CLA, I do find myself learning in different ways and being just as productive. Or actually let me just say that right, being more productive with my time.”
Grippo then shared a specific example of how the ecological approach helped to improve his own game:
“My standup has always been kinda mid throughout my career and I remember I was going to my buddy Kyvann (Gonzalez)’s gym at Bodega and we were working on like a game just starting from an underhook, starting from an underhook on the feet. The goal was to only find ways to get their hands or hips to the mat any way that you can, and I had zero idea how to do that. But just working from that position for 10 minutes against live resistance, in that 10 minutes I was able to find three, four, five ways to get their hands or hips to the mat.”
Although he felt the benefit in that area immediately, he also explained why that benefit compounds over time:
“That became a strength of mine because I would keep working it against resisting opponents. Whereas I feel like drilling when you’re doing it against someone that’s not really fighting back or there’s no resistance, I don’t know if you really get the proper reactions.”
The full interview with Gianni Grippo where he explains why he made the switch to ecological training was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of FloGrappling:
