Kit Dale is one of the first proponents of ecological training methods, or what he calls task-based games, and he recently shared his thoughts on the more traditional style of drilling in Jiu-Jitsu. It’s certainly a controversial take to say the least, but the idea of learning Jiu-Jitsu through playing in narrow scenarios is gaining much more ground in recent years. Greg Souders is the major figure pushing the idea of ecological training, but many other coaches are starting to adopt a similar style of indirect instruction. It’s receiving plenty of pushback from top competitors and coaches though, so it’s still a pretty hot topic in the sport right now.
For Dale, the answer has been clear for many years now. He began training through the use of task-based games on his own and he formed a clear opinion of drilling:
“It’s not even that you don’t need to drill techniques, it’s actually worse for you to drill techniques.”
Kit Dale also explained exactly why he thinks drilling is worse for you than training in task-based games, and what he thinks it does to you as a competitor:
“It makes you more you more rigid and predictable, and it’s just a waste of time as well. Time that could be way better spent. A lot of people just don’t see it and they get away with it because they’re training like four or five hours a day… Let’s say an hour of that training is drilling and they’re going backwards in that time, the rest of it is pushing them exponentially further forward. So it’s very hard for them to see it and break that down.”
It isn’t just about the way you train according to Dale, it’s more about looking at what skills you’re actually attempting to develop:
”You just wanna look at Jiu-Jitsu as a problem-solving game and become much better at problem solving live in the moment. Any time you’re trying to pre-shape and rehearse it you’re not problem-solving, you’re trying to create a theatre-piece out of Jiu-Jitsu.”
The full interview with Kit Dale where he talks about drilling in Jiu-Jitsu was uploaded to our official YouTube channel, click here to subscribe for more or check out the interview below:
