The Ultimate Guide to Rank Up Your BJJ Belt: Purple to Brown

Purple belt is the third rank in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Many practitioners consider the purple belt to be the transition stage between  a beginner and an expert.

Earning a purple belt is considered to be the midway point of a martial arts student's career and signifies that the student takes Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seriously, having  dedicated a considerable portion of one’s adult life to it.

Being promoted to purple belt, students feel a sense of relief as they have reached the halfway point towards becoming a black belt.

An advanced purple belt should be able to perform nearly all basic  techniques at the beginning of the course and move on to more advanced techniques.

A student’s time as a purple belt is when they begin training in  an advanced style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that best matches their needs, whether they want to perfect the finer nuances of the X-guard or to improve their knee-on-belly techniques.

The transition from blue belt to purple belt is typically the point in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu career when the martial art begins to make sense and they are able to concentrate on the minute details that distinguish professionals from amateurs .

Additionally, purple belts should feel confident enough in the fundamental techniques that they are able to teach students basic lessons with the authority and effectiveness of white belts.

Purple belts must know how to:

• Play a dangerous guard game
• Can carry out a number of different combination attacks
• Use advanced guard pass variants (spider, deep-half, de la riva, etc.)
• Execute multiple submissions from any mounting position
• Introduction of leg lock

The IBJJF requires a practitioner to hold a purple belt for a minimum of 18 months before achieving a brown belt.

To be eligible for a purple belt, the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) requires students to be at least 16 years old and must  have spent a minimum of two years ranked as a blue belt.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu requires a purple belt to take down the opponent in three different ways.

The key component of a purple belt is momentum and movement. At this point, purple belts are seen around with a lot of on top shrimping and spinning while in a guard.

• The fundamentals to rank up from Purple to Brown require knowing how to sweep, mount, control, knee on belly, and guard pass.

To promote to the next belt, practitioners must have an experience of five  to six  years in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 

On average, five years of training with a minimum of 360 classes plus the test is mandatory to promote  to the next belt (Brown).

It is always up to the instructor to promote you to the next belt. To maintain a good position your attendance should be above average, have a good moral attitude in and outside the school, and consistently enthusiastic hard work is required.

Throws and Takedowns

• One leg throw
• Four hip throws
• Two double legs
• Two single legs

Escapes

• Two ways to escape the mount
• Two way to escape the side-mount
• Two way to escape the rear-mount
• Two way to escape the knee-on-belly

Guard Pass

• Five different ways to pass the guard and get side control

Half Guard

• Two Sweeps from Half Guard
• Two Half Guard Passes

Sweeps from the guard

• Three different ways to sweep your opponent

Submissions

• Three from the mount
• One double attack
• Three from the side-mount
• Four from side control
• Three from the back
• Two from the knee in the belly
• Three from the guard

Self Defense

• Two ways to defend the guillotine standing up
• Two ways to defend the headlock standing
• One way to defend the headlock on the ground
• One way to defend the guillotine on the ground

• Roll with greater smoothness: Experiment with techniques and keep learning new knowledge about  difficult positions and guards.
• Manipulate your opponent: Learn to manipulate your opponent’s weight to your advantage.
• Focus on the right techniques: Eliminate superfluous actions and reduce wasted movements.
• Get committed to your timings: Work on your defense and spend time covering  your weaknesses.
• Patience: You may have to spend a majority of your time perfecting the techniques you are not good at and it is totally normal. All the elite fighters once had to go through these struggles.
• Movement and momentum: Gain high efficiency and a stronger understanding of momentum and weight.
• Importance of Guard in Purple Belt: Be familiar with every guard form and specialize in executing two perfectly.

A BJJ practitioner joins the purple belt training sessions with basic jiu-jitsu knowledge acquired at the blue belt phase. The practitioner trains at this level for a minimum of two years and during this time he/she gets to perfect the BJJ skillset. Most BJJ practitioners develop their unique BJJ strategy as a purple belt and set a trajectory for their brown belt training phase. In other words, the purple belt training decides ones future in BJJ and for this reason it is a critical phase in every BJJ enhusiast’s life.

Photo credit: @dcdeangelis