So you got your blue belt, which may have been easier than many years ago. So you decide to raise that bar and really expand your BJJ knowledge. Your goal is to become a really good blue belt, and even transcend your knowledge into what it means to be a real purple belt, at that point, then you’re ready for Purple. So what are the requirements since there is no universal curriculum.
1. Attend class three times a week to hit a 2 year mark from blue to purple.
2. Flow through the entire positional hierarchy
3. Maintain a position or transition before the reversal.
4. Movement: Granby roll, gumby roll, imanari roll, inversion, back step, sitouts, learned at blue, used at purple
5. A couple of closed guard variations: Williams Guard, High Guard, Rubber Guard
6. Three open guard variations: Spider Guard, De La Riva Guards, X Guards (Single X and Full X)
7. Open Guard Attacks: Sweeps on both sides from all open guard variations.
8. Half Guard Focus: it is a checkpoint to escapes
9. Half Guard Variations: Z Guard has highest percentage attacks and easy retention, works in gi and no gi
10. 2 Half Guard Sweeps and 2 half guard submissions ( Loop Choke and Kimura)
11. Closed Guard Retention against: Standing, Kneeling, Sao Paolo
12. Chain Attacks: Submissions like triangle to armbar, and sweeps like the flower sweep. Another is kimura and bump sweep and guillotine.
13. Passing, Top Positions Maintenance, moving between all major top positions
14. 3 control variations from all variations of control: Side Mount, Knee, Full, and Back as well as be able to move between them all. Transition Focused
15. Side Mount: Twister Side Control, Judo Side, North-South
16. Mount: Low Mount, High Mount, S-Mount
17. Back Mount: Body Triangles, Hooks, and Harness Grips, Switching Sides
18. Knee on Belly: Knee on Belly as a control and pressure position, and a transitionary position to advance into better position. Pressure and Switching Sides
19. Breaking down the turtle with attacks that lead somewhere: Rolling Back Attacks, Front Headlock, Nelsons and Breakdowns
20. Guard Passing: 4 Options: Under the Legs, Around the Legs, Through the Legs, and Over the Legs.
21. Pressure Passing and Loose Passing: Sao-Paulo Pass, Folding Pass, Stack Pass, Leg Drag Pass, Over Under Pass, Knee Slice Pass
22. Standing: Throws and Takedowns from all directions. Upper Body and Lower Body Takedowns. Gi and No Gi. Guard Pulls to open and half guard
23. Double Leg, Single Leg, Sumi Gaeshi, Tomoe Nage, Front Headlock, Kata Gurua, Hiza Guruma
24. Specialist of Choke, Leg Lock and One Arm Lock
25. Triangles, Armlocks, Ezekiel, Loop Choke, Arm Triangle, Toe Hold, Knee Bar, Bow and Arrow, Wristlocks, Darce
26. Escapes, and Submission Escapes:
27. Side Mount: Ghose, half guard, rollover. Mount, bump escape, into Ashi Garami, Alcatraz escapes
28. Back Control Bottom: Body Triangle Escape, Grip Fighting, Escape to Turtle
29. Turtle Bottom: Rolling Out, Getting to Half Guard, Frame Escapes
30. Knee on Belly: Escape to Leg Locks, Escape to Half Guard
31. Mindset: Tame your ego dude..
32. Don’t become passive: Train all your areas and don’t get settled in sweet spots.
33. Strike Defense: Strike evasion, quick takedowns, standing and ground control
34. Slow Rolling to create smooth catlike transitions
35. Specific Sparring: Set Up Drill Scenarios such as positional sparring
36. Ability to roll with those that are new, old, injured, etc
37. Teaching Rolls: won’t be a challenge, but extremely valuable to them.
38. Set an example, dedication to the sport, give back to the art
39. Cardio, Huge Gas tank, Competition
40. Gameplan for every position, factor in scrambles and transitions
41. 6 systems of Power: Leg Lock, Back Attack, Front headlock, triangles, Kimuras, Armbars
