Throughout my 35+ years of training in martial arts, I have encountered many different teaching styles. The most common one was where the instructor stood in front of the room and talked in-depth about a technique for 5 minutes or more. They would show all the steps and exactly what to do and what not to do. Then, we were expected to go off and try all that out on a partner.
The problem is that we will get lost and frustrated with too many steps and struggle to perform the movement when first learning it. There will be no hope of pulling off that move when we spar, let alone remembering it down the line.
That is why I believe that when it comes to learning anything, studying and understanding concepts should take precedence over collecting many techniques.
Note: I have included video examples of concept-based training of a few martial arts at the end of this article for reference.
Through concepts, you will see the underlying purpose of a movement and how movements relate to each other. This way, you can learn and execute movements faster and more efficiently. When new techniques are shown to you, you can see the underlying concepts behind how they work.
It then becomes less about gathering techniques and more about finding movements that work according to your body type and style. You are no longer tied down in thinking that it must look or work the exact way your instructor or the online expert has shown you. We are all different, and just because one technique works for someone doesn’t mean that it will work the same for you.
This is why having a concept-based practice frees one from getting stuck in the never-ending cycle of collecting techniques.
Having five extremely sharp knives will benefit you more than having 100 dull ones.
In my mind, studying concepts allows you to improve faster by having to focus on less.
Thanks to the depth at which you understand a concept, you can expand upon movements in a more expansive way.
The way to do that is through exploration and experimentation.
Problem-Solving
Imagine learning a pass where you start from standing. Your partner is in a supine open guard position with one of their legs in between your legs.
The goal is for you to extract your leg from the middle position and maneuver to the outside, working to place your knee on your partner’s belly.
In this instance, you might think that’s just an X-pass.
You then feel the need to break down the entire technique in terms of where to grip, at what angle to be, how to move your feet, how to kick the leg, how to shift your partner’s leg, how to insert your foot, what to do with your lead hand and control hand, and how to place your knee on their belly.
You can simulate that technique sequence with a willing partner to drill the movement.
However, that movement can never be replicated the exact same way twice.
It is physically impossible.
The thing about techniques is that they are an answer to what happened in an exact moment of time for a particular person, having used the correct timing, sequencing, and positioning in reaction to their opponent.
During a live situation, that technique will not be the same as you drilled if you are only trying to simulate it in the same way over and over again.
By looking at a few concepts of a movement pattern, we can move beyond trying to drill a perfect rendition of the “X-pass.” We instead find different solutions to the problem presented to us at that moment in time.
It might look similar to what is known as an “X Pass.”
However, we can adapt and adjust by allowing ourselves to problem-solve rather than copy a movement pattern.
Constraint-led training, where we have a specific starting and finishing goal and let our students problem solve, is how we can train these concepts.
BJJ Mental Models explains more here on their site.
Let’s give an example using the pass I mentioned above.
Instead of saying, Let’s do the X-Pass, I give my students a goal:
Extract your leg and get your knee on your partner’s belly.
Go!
I will have them explore and experiment on their own first.
Then, after they have each spent time with it, I will either remind them or share concepts related to their actions.
In this case,
- Push and Pull
- Make a hole, fill the hole.
- Control the red zone (in this case, the space from hips to arm-pit)
Then, they go back and work on that movement pattern again with a greater focus on the concepts at play.
I see them exploring, pulling the leg out while pushing their partner’s leg to the side. This is the push and pull concept.
They focus on pushing their partner’s leg to the side to create space in which they can now insert their leg and finally place their knee on their belly.
They made a hole and filled the hole to control the red zone.
While exploring, they used those three concepts to play the game. And they figured out the solution on their own in a way that worked for them.
The thing is, they are the ones doing the exploring here rather than me showing them the exact steps and process. By letting them problem-solve how to do the movement in their own way, they are learning to do it in a manner that works for them—and done in a way that ensures that they will have mastery over it during full resistance.
This way of learning actually helps a student better retain the information since they are the ones doing the problem-solving. Compared to the traditional way of being spoon-fed the information.
You could do this in various ways, but again, our primary focus is using constraint-led games based on concepts.
In the example above, depending on how they did it and if you wanted to label it, it might have looked like a variation of headquarters to knee on belly via X-Pass. Pulling the knee up, stepping over the hip, tripoding, and walking around the leg. I think you see what I mean.
The point is there are many ways to extract the leg. It is up to them to figure out what they need to do in answer to the feedback their partner is giving them.
We start with little to no resistance, then gradually work up to complete resistance and do it in a safe manner.
As things get better, your partner’s goal becomes NOT to let you get the pass. Your partner is still restricted to keeping some form of open guard like Reverse De La Riva or at least having a hook in. However, they can now block, frame, and shift their body to keep you from getting to Knee on Belly.
The beauty of this is not only the fact that you are focused on playing YOUR own game by exploring variations of the “X pass to Knee on Belly,” but your partner also improves their guard retention game in their own manner.
In judo, this is a form of Jita-Kyoei, which can be translated as Mutual Benefit.
It is not one-sided nor passive. You both benefit through navigating the challenge of incremental resistance.
Constraint-led training using concepts allows you to explore and improve in your own way.
When you aren’t focused on gathering techniques, you aren’t tied down to how you think things should look and can instead adapt the movement to suit your body type and style.
Less indeed can mean more when it comes to training in this manner.
No matter the technique, if you don’t fully grasp the concept behind why it works or how it should work, you will have difficulty successfully using and adapting it during a live context, where it really matters.
Now, I will say that there are times when an instructor’s wisdom and experience will help refine movements. Taking the above pass example, you might remind them to keep posture by not hunching over, pushing the knee further away to allow for a larger hole, controlling the hips, etc.
But when you really think about it, a good instructor’s cues will be micro-concepts to that movement that they have learned through their training.
The “make a hole, fill the hole” concept was something I was taught during my judo while in Japan. Pulling my opponent’s arm up and/or away creates an opening to enter to establish control for a throw. The same goes for any grappling exchange, whether standing or on the ground.
I will never forget it, and I see it in everything now.
Constraint-led games were something we did a lot of in my Jiu-Jitsu group in Japan. Passing games with a clearly defined starting and ending position played a HUGE part in how we trained. We didn’t call them constraint-led or anything else. We just knew they worked.
Concept-based training with task-based goals can be done with anything you are practicing. It has served me well over the years and plays a huge part in how I teach.
Other Examples
The following are some examples of how other instructors are moving away from the more traditional style of teaching in different martial arts. I am in no way associated with any of these people.
Be forewarned that some instructors are incredibly passionate about properly labeling what and how they teach. While things might look similar, they have specific reasons for how they structure and define their teaching method. I am simply introducing other examples below as another way of learning.
Kit Dale is a BJJ player and all about task-based games.
Greg Sounders uses the Ecological Approach.
Rob Cole is another instructor who uses this style of training as well.
Rob Biernacki is concept-based and explains his use of games in this video.
Here is an example of Judo using constraints-led teaching with Cal Jones.
Combat Learning podcast speaks with Emil Fitoussey about this with Muay Thai.
The goal of this article is to showcase some ways that I like to train in the Juyukai.
It doesn’t mean that we ONLY train using games and concepts 100% of the time.
Depending on what you want out of your martial arts, there might be other training styles that suit you better. The main thing will always come back to your why and what is essential for you.
Remember, this is your game. As I’ve written about in another article, if you’re not playing your own game, you’re losing out.
Find a way of training that works for you so you can continue to step on the mat forever.
Thank you! We need more folks talking about concepts and constraint based training. Love it!
Right on, brother!