Blue to Purple

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jrock89

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One of my BJJ class mates (a purple a belt) told me the other day that he was a white belt longer than a blue belt. He said he was a white belt for 1.5 years and he was a blue belt for just about a year or 1.5 years. He said he didn't do any tournaments when he was a white belt, but when he hit blue, he did 5-10 tournaments. I was just wondering is this normal to advance from blue to purple that fast? How long did it take you to get your purple belt?
 
i think the average is 2.5 yrs. but 1 yr isn'timpossible. especially if you have prior grappling experience or just catch on easily and awesome.
 
i think the average time between these type of threads being made is 1.5 weeks.

use the search function...
 
That's pretty fast, but not unheard of. If a school chooses to follow the IBJJF system, the minimum time from blue to purple is 2 years.
 
I think only the dedicated people make it to purple. Some people put so much effort into just getting a blue belt, they either get burned out or never progress past blue.
 
It takes most guys 2-3 years, but 1-1.5 is possible if you train a lot and you are naturally gifted.
 
I would think that the average time between blue and purple belt is somewhere around 2 to 4 years. Our school promotes pretty slow and we have some blue belts that are on the end of higher end of that scale. I guess it depends on a number of variables. Your instructor, how well you've fared in competition, your natural ability/prior grappling experience. It all factors in.
 
Some schools are about time, some are about skill, some competition success.

In the end, it will be directly correlated to how much you train and how talented you are. (unless there is a time requirement).

A lot of people think that BJ Penn for example is some kind of a God for getting a BB in 3 years, but he probably trained all week long for hours. In my first BJJ school, i trained in the entire week less than what i trained in a single day in college judo team.
 
I spent roughly 2 years at white and 2 years at blue. For most of that time I averaged 3 training sessions a week and 1 competition a year. In the last 6 months at blue I increased my training to 5-6 times a week and did 2 competitions, after winning the second I received my purple. In the 3 months I have had my purple I have kept up the 5-6 sessions a week and will be entering my second comp at purple this weekend (American Nationals)
 
agreed. it really has a lot to do with mat time and tournament success.

Student A training twice a day and totalling around 24 hours of training a week can get a belt much faster than Student B training twice a week and totalling around 5 hours of jiu-jitsu training per week.

After 1 year:
Student A: roughly 1250 hours mat time
Student B: roughly 260 hours mat time

After 5 years:
Student A: 6250 hours
Student B: 1300 hours

As I represent much more of the student B category, I believe that there is a lot you can do outside of your regular bjj classes to supplement your training and be able to compete with those guys who can train all day, every day.

I've been training since September 2006, blue belt in dec of 2008, purple belt in march 2010

My time @ belts:
white belt: 2 year 3 months
blue belt: 1 year 4 months
purple belt: 6 months so far. hopefully it'll be at least another two until i get brown.
 
bjjaz said:
I think only the dedicated people make it to purple. Some people put so much effort into just getting a blue belt, they either get burned out or never progress past blue.
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Yea man. Most people that are going to quit Jiu-Jitsu do so before they hit purple. That's a big landmark in skill level, indication of dedication, progress, and it also says that you're a part of the team. I've always thought if the purple as being a sign that you're in the clubhouse with whatever school/lineage you're in. At that point you really become a representative of your school/team. I don't know if there are any stats, but I would guess that most people don't even make it to blue, but the amount of work needed from blue to purple is probably going to push most people away. At least at the two places I've trained, you can't get to purple without having to make training a priority in life. You couldn't be a person that just trains rarely, casually, and carefree and get to purple.
 
im scared to death for a purple belt, Its a belt that acually holds weight. i have ben blue for 2 years and I can make simple mestakes without my instructor looking at me like i'm a dipshit. If I get caught by a whitebelt from time to time I dont care because im working new stuff. At purple I feal like the target on your back gets a whole lot bigger. I would rather be a badass blue belt then a new purple:icon_chee
 
hustles said:
I spent roughly 2 years at white and 2 years at blue. For most of that time I averaged 3 training sessions a week and 1 competition a year. In the last 6 months at blue I increased my training to 5-6 times a week and did 2 competitions, after winning the second I received my purple. In the 3 months I have had my purple I have kept up the 5-6 sessions a week and will be entering my second comp at purple this weekend (American Nationals)
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i spent 10 months at white and almost 2 years at blue and i have 2 stripes on my blue belt. im also doing the american nationals this weekend, good luck man!
 
Drew Foster said:
Yea man. Most people that are going to quit Jiu-Jitsu do so before they hit purple. That's a big landmark in skill level, indication of dedication, progress, and it also says that you're a part of the team. I've always thought if the purple as being a sign that you're in the clubhouse with whatever school/lineage you're in. At that point you really become a representative of your school/team. I don't know if there are any stats, but I would guess that most people don't even make it to blue, but the amount of work needed from blue to purple is probably going to push most people away. At least at the two places I've trained, you can't get to purple without having to make training a priority in life. You couldn't be a person that just trains rarely, casually, and carefree and get to purple.
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i agree. i saw some pictures from my gym from when i was a white belt, and some more when i was at blue. only about 5 people are still progressing with me that've been there since i was a white belt and and less than 10 since i was a blue. it's a huge dropoff.

even though i only train twice a week, training is a priority. my log on here is a testament to that. those of us who are dedicated but can only go to class 2-3 times per week typically do a lot of physical preparation on our own and spend a lot of time analyzing our time at class and even more time watching instructionals and ironing out details in our head (lloyd irvin calls these mental reps and they are, in my opinion, a large part of success in bjj)
 
All depends on the work ethic of the person in question.
 
Team Dragonfire said:
i agree. i saw some pictures from my gym from when i was a white belt, and some more when i was at blue. only about 5 people are still progressing with me that've been there since i was a white belt and and less than 10 since i was a blue. it's a huge dropoff.

even though i only train twice a week, training is a priority. my log on here is a testament to that. those of us who are dedicated but can only go to class 2-3 times per week typically do a lot of physical preparation on our own and spend a lot of time analyzing our time at class and even more time watching instructionals and ironing out details in our head (lloyd irvin calls these mental reps and they are, in my opinion, a large part of success in bjj)
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I see my schools old pictures and it is depressing to be able to pick out 1-2 guys out of 10 that still train. I can't count the number of blue belts that have been promoted at my school, but there have been only 6 purple belt promotions.

Its a long road from one belt to the next, I think the key is just consistency. It is probably more important than training time. If you can be consistent 2-3 times a week, and make improving your technique a priority during the time you are there, you are going to improve and get promoted eventually.
 
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