When looking at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there is often an emphasis on white belts and black belts due to both being on extreme ends of the spectrum. Arguably the more involved in BJJ you become, you also hear a lot of talk surrounding the blue belt. Typically, newcomers ponder over the goals, requirements and skill level of a blue belt.
This is because it’s somewhat easy to obtain compared to the other belts and the gap in skill between a blue and white belt is quite noticeable. However, less is talked about when it comes to the purple belt and what it means. In terms of skills, techniques and goals – the purple belt represents more than the blue, but what is it exactly?
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Feeling rather than thinking
Perhaps the biggest leap from blue to purple is being able to feel movements and start thinking about BJJ in terms of fluidity. Often newcomers think of BJJ in fragmented moves which are often isolated. However, with the purple belt this is different and is the start of where your BJJ begins to mature.
Instead of the previous two belts, a purple is meant to be able to chain moves together almost subconsciously. As Bruce Lee put it, ‘Don’t think, feel’. What he meant by this is that in martial arts, it’s better to let your body take over and start hitting moves without over-analyzing things.
Sometimes, white belts will actually try to do this. They will dive into moves with speed but lack the technique or knowledge to do things properly. A good example is diving your head in wrongly and getting caught with a guillotine. By blue belt, most practitioners have started to slow down to try and think about what they are doing in sparring and why. This is a good strategy whilst training but it will also hold you back as you advance.
Whilst it’s better to be methodical and not rush things, your mentality should have shifted again by purple belt.
As a purple belt, you should be able to do things quicker than blue belts with less thinking. This doesn’t mean a return to behaving like a white belt, as you should now have the techniques and knowledge to back your speed.
Another example of this is as a blue belt. You may see a move but by then, the opponent has changed their position and so the attack is lost. There may have been a sweep available, but the opponent may have started to pass by then.
As a purple, you should be quicker and sharper in these situations – meaning you’re ready to pounce on opportunities that come your way. With this said, you should also start to put moves together such as passing. If the opponent defends a knee slice, you should naturally chain it with a back step or folding pass and keep trying to get through via various methods.
Proactive Jiu Jitsu instead of reactive Jiu Jitsu
At the lower belts, your BJJ may be more reactive. Whilst this is expected, it is always better to set the pace when sparring and be the aggressor. As BJJ is about self defense, it’s important to reject passiveness and to take the initiative. For instance, if an opponent insists on stalling in your closed guard as a blue belt you may try to open them up and carve out attacks.
However, as a purple belt you should be taking this to the extreme. If one attack doesn’t work, then don’t try spamming it and instead move on to the next attack until something works. Alternatively, you could even change the position to push the pace even more.
This is called proactive Jiu Jitsu and is a key part of becoming a purple belt. Instead of being satisfied with the odd tap during a roll, you should be after as much positional dominance as possible regardless of the position. Of course, it’s important to roll light at times and play in bad positions to enhance your defense. However, the idea in general is to be able to really punish your opponents by creating your own attacks instead of relying on their mistakes.
At purple belt, you start to develop a game
If the idea of being a white belt is survival and learning fundamental moves, then the idea of being a blue belt is to expand your game and have fun with new positions and moves. By purple belt, you should have improved your technique in all areas and have a fairly broad knowledge of the moves in BJJ.
Whilst you aren’t expected to have the same depth or timing as a black belt, you should still be well educated compared to the lower belts. With this said, purple belt is where most people begin to develop their game. By now, you should have a few positions that you’re comfortable with. It’s good to improve these positions and become more expert in them.
For example, as a blue belt you may know one or two good sweeps from half guard with a number of other sweeps you’re comfortable with. However, at purple belt you should not only improve these one or two sweeps but upgrade the other two from the position. It’s simple maths, but if you’re quite good at two sweeps, but then get really good at them and equally good at two other sweeps from the same position; your guard will improve massively.
Sometimes, practitioner’s mistakes aren’t punished if they make a bad move and their opponent lacks the knowledge or technique to capitalize. With your main position at purple belt, you should be punishing sloppy opponents most of the time if they make errors.
Some people argue that a good purple belt is as good as a black belt in the best position of the purple. In other words, this is why purple belts can catch black belts with submissions. If they trap the black belt in their favorite attacks, then the purple belt is as good as anyone at finishing due to being skilled in their main position. This doesn’t really happen with lower belts who may be competent at their best positions but lack the finer details and experience to be as cut-throat when submitting opponents.
So what is the difference between a purple and a brown or black belt?
Whilst this article has been complimentary about the skills of purple belts, it’s also good to be realistic. The purple belt may symbolize change and growth from the previous two belts, but it’s still the middle child. As mentioned earlier, it’s the beginning of maturity with your BJJ but that doesn’t mean you are fully mature.
Unlike the two higher belts, purple belts still lack knowledge in a broad, brutal sense. Simply put, someone training for 10 years will know more moves than someone who has trained for 5 years. This means the black belt will often beat the purple belt in a pure knowledge battle.
Not only this, but the moves of the higher belts are quicker and sharper. As said, compared to blue belts and below – your own moves will have improved with timing and your decision-making under pressure will have improved drastically. However, you still have to look at the raw numbers. Generally speaking, a person who has trained consistently for 10 years will still have better timing and decisions when compared to someone training for 5 years.
As said previously, a good purple belt may be able to match a black belt in their best position. However, a black belt maybe like this in various positions with far fewer weaknesses. Whilst you may improve one aspect of your game, the black belt can return to the blue belt mentality and begin to branch out yet again after mastering certain positions. In brief, a purple belt is a very competent rank and is no longer considered a newbie. However, it still lacks years of experience, technique and knowledge compared to the higher belts.
Most purple belts will make it to getting the black belt
Statistics show that most people who start BJJ will quit at some point and roughly 1% of starters make it through to black belt. Of those who stick around a few months, they may make it to blue belt but even at that rank, the dropout rate is high. However, if you do manage to get to purple, the chances are you will get to black. Moreover, the reasons for quitting at purple are different compared to the previous two belts. Most quit at purple due to injuries rather than falling out of love with BJJ.
Because of this, the purple belt has an element of respect when compared to the other belts. In achieving the faixa roxa, you may be held in higher esteem due to taking BJJ seriously and showing toughness in sticking with the sport.
Summary
The purple belt often means a shift in mentality which translates to improved rolling and more efficient movements whilst sparring. In brief, your moves begin to flow more and everything becomes more natural. At the same time, you are still not fully accomplished at BJJ and still have a lot to learn compared to the higher belts.
Because of this, some people argue that it is the most fun belt as you have a lot of knowledge and skills, but lack the pressure expected whilst rolling as a higher belt. Overall, the purple belt will know a lot about BJJ, but at the same time lack the knowledge of higher ranks.
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