Ecological training methods is one of the hottest topics in Jiu-Jitsu right now, and the legendary Mendes brothers have just weighed in with their take on it. It’s been a pretty controversial topic in recent years, as some coaches have hailed it as a key element of learning the sport that has been missing. In response to that drive, other coaches are either doubtful that Ecological training methods would actually make a measurable difference or some even say that it’s just a new phrase to describe the same approach that they actually have been using for quite a long time.
It seems like the Mendes brothers fall in the latter camp of coaches who believe that the approach is nothing they haven’t seen and done before. They recently did a Q & A session on their Instagram account and one of the questions asked for their thoughts on the topic, and their response really couldn’t have been clearer:
“You guys and these crazy names. Just say drilling with reaction. We use this training style since the days we were living in Brazil.”
Both Rafael Mendes and Guilherme Mendes were years ahead of the game as competitors and they had a huge amount of success at the highest level before retiring right in the middle of their athletic prime. They’ve since had incredible success as coaches too, dedicating years of their time to training the next generation of elite grapplers at Art of Jiu-Jitsu. They have pretty much spent their entire lives honing their craft from all angles so it wouldn’t be surprising to hear that they’ve been using more modernised approaches to training since they were training under Leonardo Santos and Ramon Lemos as teenagers.
The Mendes brothers shared their take on Ecological training methods in BJJ in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
