5 Ways to Start Eco/CLA if You Don't Train at an Eco Gym

Practical suggestions to get you playing with eco fast.

Interested in eco/CLA but stuck in a traditional school?

Or maybe you’re frustrated with your progress, want to try something new, but are stuck inside a learning environment you don’t control.

Either way, you still have some options. Of course, it’s optimal to run your own club or gym, but you can take ownership of your own learning journey and get started with CLA even if you don’t.

Here’s the 5 best options I know.

1. Self-Constrain During Sparring Time at the End of Class

If you get a few rounds of sparring or free rolls at the end of class, engage in self-constraints to help you focus on areas of the game you think you need to focus on. Many striking schools have sparring-only classes.

It’s fairly common for upper belts to do this, and many will ask you what you want to work on. Advocate for yourself, have some tasks in mind before you should up to class, and ask. You never know if you don’t ask.

If a person declines the task, you can still constrain yourself. Nobody can stop you. The only thing that holds you back is your ability to dictate the spar.

2. Make Maximal Use of Open Mat Time

The principles of #1 apply here, but you often have more leeway in an open mat. I’ve been in several jiu jitsu programs and it seems commonplace for both upper and lower belts to negotiate between very limited positional sparring and all out free sparring.

Engaging in CLA in an open mat environment shouldn’t be hard. The hard part is owning your own learning journey and making intelligent decisions about the tasks you suggest during self-directed training time.

This is a bit different with striking sports because the mouthguards are hard to take out and in since the gloves are hard to take on and off…

You might can get away with it to talk to your partners about what you want to do, but it might be even better to catch them before open mat starts to explain a few things before you get there instead.

It’s even better if you can get a couple consistent training partners on board ahead of time so there’s less to explain and less to negotiate on during open mat time.

3. Start a Study Group

Years ago when I first dabbled in jiu jitsu, a friend and classmate bought some mats to keep at his house. He then invited several of us classmates to come get more rolls during the week, since our gym only had 3 evening classes per week at the time.

I’ve also recently heard of students gaining mat time to use for CLA study groups inside their current gyms. This will vary from coach to coach, so manage your expectations accordingly. You know your head instructor better than I.

But again, you never know until you ask.

As the organizer, you can take control of your own training and apply CLA coaching principles to help others do the same. Of all the options, this has the best balance of quick(ish) time-to-start and training freedom.

A word of advice if you succeed in starting a study group inside your current gym:

Just be careful not to become a threat to your host. Be humble and open about what you do and why.

Eventually, you might just…

4. Influence Your Instructor

Some of you are close to your instructors, either as students or as staff members. The most complete way to get into eco training is to gradually influence your home gym into an “eco gym.”

This takes time, patience, and care. I encourage you not to try and get them to read fat books immediately (unless they ask).

Engage in conversation first, explain as much as you can, then recommend lighter reading and listening on the subject, like—ahem—Combat Learning.

If you succeed in this, you can get your school listed on the Ecological Dynamics for Submission Grappling global directory of eco schools. In fact, you can even get your study group listed, too!

If you’re primarily a striking school, join my CLA for Striking Discord. We’re going to put together a directory over there eventually, too.

5. Influence Your Classmates

Influencing your classmates is often much easier than influencing your instructor—but eventually, this will influence your instructor, too.

If you’re already engaging in tip #3, engaging in #5 is simply a matter of continually growing your study group and pointing avid attenders to ecological resources like Combat Learning and Primal MMA Coaching.

Can I ask a huge favor? Please share Combat Learning with all your classmates who are serious about improving the way they train.

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- Josh P.