On a recent episode of the Overdogs BJJ podcast, Matt Serra and Mikey Musumeci pushed back on ecological BJJ, arguing the increasingly popular teaching method adds unnecessary complexity to something that doesn’t need it.

Serra made clear he isn’t against progress in general, but remains committed to traditional instruction:

Oh, drilling is crucial. I know things. Everybody wants to just reinvent the wheel. I’m not against any kind of progress.
And if something works for you with teaching, cool. Do it. But, I’m old school.

For Serra, the formula doesn’t need reinventing: teach a technique, drill it repeatedly, then test it live.
If a student can pull it off against a resisting opponent, that’s proof the technique has been learned:

When I teach something and I taught them from that position and they pull it off versus an unwilling partner, obviously, that’s what you should do…
I showed you that. You got the technique down. You’re repping it. You need to drill it.

Musumeci echoed the sentiment, questioning how some of these newer systems get marketed as groundbreaking:

How people keep making like this fancy stuff… Like: “Oh, look at us. We’re doing this new method.”
It’s not reinventing the wheel.

Serra said he has no issue with instructors experimenting, but takes issue with the implication that older methods are outdated:

It’s fine if they want to do it… But I don’t like when they have that smug: “Oh, well, that might have been the way you used to do things. But in sports science over the last 30 years…”
Hey, dude, what? Look at the guys I’m producing. The proof is in the pudding.

For Musumeci, solving specific technical problems is what makes Jiu-Jitsu enjoyable for him in the first place:

The only thing I don’t like about this ecological mindset that people have now is my favorite part of Jiu-Jitsu is solving puzzles… It’s like a math problem.

That mentality that they have that: “Oh, there are no moves. There’s only ideas.”
No, there are moves at the end of the puzzle… When you solve something, there is a move at the end.

Serra agreed, arguing instruction should stay accessible rather than becoming overly academic:

Don’t make jiu-jitsu only for the intellectuals. It shouldn’t feel like you’re going through like a science class.

Other guys that try to do that just sound like a guy that tries to be smart, man…
You don’t like the smartest guy in the room. You don’t like that guy. He’s smug.

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