On March 30th 2026, I received my brown belt after 2 years, 1 month, and 6 days as a purple belt.
I’ve now been training BJJ for a total of 6 years, 8 months, and 13 days.
Getting promoted made me reflect on the journey thus far. Here are 6 lessons I learned as a purple belt.
If you’re a white belt, blue belt, or new purple belt, this is for you.
Me and my coach Ritchie Yip, head coach at InFighting Training Centers in Burnaby
1. The More Skilled You Are, the Less Likely You Are to Get Injured
As a white belt, I broke my leg. As a blue belt, I tore my meniscus.
As a purple belt? Zero injuries.
I trained smarter. I tapped faster. I listened to my body. And I helped create a culture of safety-first at my gym.
I was able to train 3x per week for 2 straight years in my 30s without a single injury.
Accidents still happen in BJJ. It’s a contact sport.
But the more skilled you become, the better you become at protecting yourself and your training partners.
If you’re injured right now or scared of getting hurt, understand this: the risk of getting injured goes down the longer you train. And if you do get injured — even disastrously — you can come back from it. I’m living proof.
Skill is the best injury prevention there is.
2. To Improve, Train Specifically
As a white and blue belt, I stuck to a simple game: attacking submissions from the guard.
At purple belt, I modeled my game after Roger Gracie and completely overhauled my game.
I started in the guard, looked to sweep, get into mount, and finish from the top.
At white and blue belt, you’re discovering your “A” game.
At purple belt, you get to experiment and become more well-rounded. But that experimentation needs structure.
Pick a move. Try to hit it in every roll.
After class, write down what you did well, what you could improve, and one note for next class. Rinse and repeat.
This is how I approach BJJ journaling: a system for tracking your progress and making consistent, specific improvements to your game.
It becomes even easier if you study someone whose game you admire. Watching them will give you ideas for techniques to test and integrate into your own game.
Take your learning into your own hands. Your coach is there to guide you. But your progress is ultimately up to you.
3. You Finally Get to Play Offense
Joe Rogan said it best: the best way to get better at jiu-jitsu is to submit blue belts.
As a white or blue belt, most people at your gym are likely around your skill level.
But once you reach purple belt, you have a buffet of lower belts to train with.
And because you’re now an advanced belt — and are now more confident in your defense — you can now start experimenting with your offensive game.
My offense improved dramatically at purple belt because I was training against people who knew enough defense to make things interesting, but not enough to shut me down completely.
That’s where real offensive skill development happens.
If you’re a white or blue belt reading this: your time is coming. Keep showing up.
4. Helping Others Develop Is the Most Rewarding Part
As a blue belt, I started teaching one-on-one intro classes.
At purple belt, I started teaching my own full classes.
Paradoxically, teaching others is one of the best ways to improve your own game.
It forces you to make the unconscious conscious — to articulate knowledge that lives in your body, but not your head.
There was a moment when I was teaching the kipping escape to a blue belt. A few classes later, he hit it on me to escape my mount.
I wasn’t frustrated. I was thrilled about it.
It was more gratifying to see him pull off that move than it was to hit it myself.
At the higher levels, BJJ stops being just about your own development.
It becomes about using your skills to help develop your training partners.
5. It’s All About the People
Through BJJ, I’ve made lifelong friends and mentors.
Almost 7 years in and I’m still genuinely excited about going to training 3x per week.
Even when life gets too busy to focus deeply on my own skill development, I still get to do a fun, physical activity with my friends three times a week.
How many adults can say that?
I’m a hobbyist with a career and a life outside of BJJ.
But it will always be a core part of my life.
There’s something beautiful about wanting to be good at something.
Not because you want to be a world champion, but simply because you enjoy it and have fun doing it.
And a big part of that fun is grinding through tough training sessions with your friends.
6. The Learning Never Ends
When I was a white belt, purple and brown belts were mythical creatures.
Now I know they’re not. They’ve just been training longer.
As a brown belt, I know the limitations of my game. I have an understanding of how vast jiu-jitsu really is.
A black belt training partner of mine — who’s had his black belt for 10 years — told me this after a roll:
“I still feel like I have so much more to learn.”
In BJJ, the learning never ends.
One thing I want to carry forward with me is the white belt mentality.
It doesn’t matter if we’re learning the triangle choke for the hundredth time. I’m going to come into class with the mentality that I can learn something new.
If you’re a white or blue belt: know that us higher belts aren’t mythical.
We’ve just been showing up and training longer than you.
And there’s no reason you can’t eventually reach this level.
Final Thoughts
It’s still surreal to say “I’m a brown belt.”
The shark tank was tough. The ceremony was rewarding. I was promoted along with other blue belts who received their purple belts. We all took pictures and congratulated each other at the end of class.
InFighting jiu-jitu Burnaby belt promotion day
The following class was just like every other class. Drilling, positional sparring, rolling.
Receiving a new belt is an important ritual. The belt itself a symbol of your consistency, competency, and knowledge.
Think about this: you only get 4 belt promotions throughout your entire BJJ story.
At nearly 7 years in, I’ve finished over 1000 classes and rolling sessions. I’ve had 3 promotions. 0.3%. Promotions are a tiny fraction of your overall time on the mat.
In a real sense, something changed when I got my brown belt. The fabric above my waist that holds my gi together is a new, darker color.
But on the mats? Nothing’s changed.
Back to work.
Happy rolling. 🤙
Tsavo Neal
Tsavo is the founder of BJJ Equipment, author of BJJ For Beginners, creator of the BJJ Missions app, and a brown belt instructor at InFighting. He launched BJJ Equipment to help grapplers at every belt level train smarter, make faster progress, and find the best gear for their game.