Beating A Purple Belt When I Was A White Belt (Accept Losing) 

so in an alternate universe, Eliot hulse became a black belt in BJJ

Wise words! My old muay thai coach (2 times world champion) always told me, you learn more while losing than winning. Cauz if you win, you just get the idea of "i did good/great, i'm amazing or whatever", but if you lose, you really start thinking about what to improve/change...And after some time, you'll start focusing about improvment itself, then you reach a new state of mind

I respect all the BJJ guys. I started training BJJ after wrestling every day of my life since the 6th grade. This is not a knock but a lot of these martial arts guys train 2 or 3 times a week. As a wrestler I did it every single day for years and years. You can’t beat that kind of mat time or experience.

People give too much importance to winning or losing. Jiu Jitsu and martial arts are beyond losing or wining. We're all going to die no matter if we were 10 times world champion or not. If you help others, make friends, improve the life of others with martial arts that is a good thing to remember. Medals will gain dust and thats it.

brilliant vid bro. i can really relate to that pressure to win and it backfiring.

Thanks for the sharing and advice. in the end its more mental than physical..glad to have found your channel!

Competing in a month. Thanks for this, exactly what I needed.

Great stuff as always brother ! I will remember this and use it when I compete next month !

I'm a white belt and I beat 9 blackbelts ... And then I woke up

I am very much appreciating your words of truth. Talking about your experiences and how you felt really show your strengths. Keep it up and we will be following you! Mike from Sweden

Another quality vlog mate. A great analogy for life.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Just starting my journey, and watching your videos is a great help

This helped me look at things differently. Thanks! 🙏

Thanks, I needed to hear this!

Thanks for the great content chewie

thank you for this video, all the way from Singapore!

Great stuff, as usual!

I needed to hear that.

I agree with your post. I have learned that this is only a journey for perfecting skills.

Love your work Nick !

Just this one video makes me glad I subscribed. Thanks for the honesty!

Thank you for this video!

this awesome, i watch a kinds of motivational video to honest this is one of best

very honest and very wise vlog. thanks for your effort and care 👍

Can't get the image of Nick in a singlet out of my head LMAO! 🤣 Great video!

Great advice. 6 month white belt here. I don't want to let my coaches down by competing and losing but will use ur advice. Thanks

This is awesome motivation. I'm a purple belt now and haven't had the chance to compete at this level but as a blue belt some of my most fun matches were the ones that I lost.

Excellent, I got a really good message and lesson from these stories.

Wise words brutha!

Love you Chew

Once upon a time I won an in house blue and purple belt tourney at Derby City. Good memories. Keep up the great videos. Good to see you healthy

great video Chewy..I can really relate to "the perfect mental state" you referenced. My top 3 best tournies (2013 Pans, 2013 Chicago Open, 2016 Masters Worlds) - I just went to compete with no expectations and had my best performances. I remember in 2014, I went to the Pans expecting to win gold (not wanting to, expecting to) and ended up loosing on advantages first round because I was too focused on winning verses executing techniques. Thanks for this video, good stuff.

100%! It's just like other technical sports/activities like tennis or car racing. I've found in both being technique focused rather than result focused always yields better results--but it's definitely easier said than done! Psychology and mind set is so huge.

wow. super timely. taking part in my first competition next week. been training my butt off but was still super worried. thanks chewjitsu!

I really agree your opinion on this topic. I think that Color of belt is absolutely not a one`s ability. In this sports, Winning or Losing form different color belt is not important.

Subscribed...Informative...Thanks.

Good stuff

I remember my first day in the gym I hadn't even signed the paperwork to start the class I caught the lead instructor in a rear naked choke and turned his lights off. Then I submitted three purples two browns and Royce Gracie who was there just visiting. You should have seen Royces face when I heel stomped his foot about 27 times before I put him in a cross face chicken wing. Oh yeah I was only 12 and weighed 102 lbs. I don't care if you believe me. I make stuff up on the internet to sound awesome and bolster my confidence.

Sick micro adjustments! and a sneaky back take too?!

that is excellent advise. winning isn't everything. learning is and most people learn more from losing than winning. if you ever make it further north so in at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy Kroyler Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Elkhart Indiana.

Words from a "master", that's teaching

I identify with him. When I look to win, it never goes well. I fight better with not much to lose. My mind clears I accept the worst and always have good rolls. When I over think it, my level drops drastically

I boxed for 11 years and transferred to jits. An it did help me as well. Just using hips and following the body movement. Took silver for grapples in May 2017 for heavy weight

I competed after 6 months or so and was a 1 stripe white and in the open weight class (took third in my weight class) i went against a guy who was about 20lbs heavier than me and who was a 4 stripe white. I knew I couldn't win but I did survive an onslaught of attacks and lasted longer than I thought I would. I was congratulated for showing heart. Cannot wait to compete again this year and everything you say in this video is spot on.

Theres definately a psychological thing about the first story you were talking about. sometimes people tend to perform/play on the level of thier competition and not bring thier A game because they think they are so much more superior that it doesnt matter and end up losing.

This is a good advice for life itself lol! 😀

KIds, this is why you should always wear a mouth guard when rolling.

glad I found your channel, thanks sir

I have a broken L3 so I can't practice Jiu-jitsu but I love listening to your vlogs because it transfers to life. Thank you!

Failure is a wonderful teacher.

I'm here for the tooth

I remember loving martial arts as a teenager but couldn't afford lessons.determined to learn I picked the brains of friends who were attending class became their training partners a d did lots of hard full contact bare knuckle sparring. During this time I also read a lot of books mimicked what I saw and practiced. I also stretched a lot and was able to do the side and front splits with relative ease. To round out my training I also did weights hard calestenics and ran up to 30 miles a week. Finally I got the opportunity to train at a real karate school and in a single sparring session plowed through the white yellow and green belts with ease. At one point I was sparring with the purple a d brown belts with a little difficulty but still holding my own Finally the instructor stopped the session and asked me where I had learned and laughed when I told him from books! I'll never forget him saying to the whole class how motivated I was to learn on my own and how I came to the school kicking like a black belt! Over the next few years I developed a great relationship with that instructor and I always remembered his nothing beat the personal training you were willing to put in

It sounds like you weren't as worried about winning, as you were worried about not losing. I had the same problem back when I was a wrestler. I was so petrified of losing that I didn't focus on winning. I just didn't want to let people down and lose. Now I find that focusing on winning, punishing my opponent, and being at the top of my game makes me perform best. Being focused on the positive seems to help me the most. BUT some people are more motivated by the negative thought, so I guess everyone needs to step outside of themselves and figure out their needed mindset.

Best bjj person I've seen besides the gracies

I was passed for blue a couple times. Not sure why but stopped caring. But I go to another gym when I moved out of state and was tapping purples and blues. It hurts but satisfying

newb here but I can see what your saying easier to loose to your game (growth) then it is to loose to another person's game.

I'm a purple belt,I never wrestled before Jiu jitsu ,guys with wrestling background progress fast,but sometimes it's hard for them to the more laid-back Jiu jitsu pace if a roll

Hey Chew. As a student who talks to others students cus maybe u forgot what it was like to be a student. Just know we'll never lookit u with disappointments as well as any of our other instructors. Ur students roll with u daily, they know what ur made of and u competing, it just let's em' know u got bravery most other people don't have. And we usually look at ourselves hoping to be able to even remotely get to ur level someday if we're lucky.

Bro I have a question! Every time I go to a grappling tournament, I get taken down and mounted. I guess its my weakness, and it happens all the time. The problem is, in the gym where I train, there is no one that can outwrestle me. I'm the best wrestler in my gym and I feel like its too easy for me to avoid takedowns there, but in competitions I always gets taken down and my body is not used to struggling with it, so my sprawling is too slow. How can I improve my takedown defense without any sparring partners that can help?

I would like to see Kurt Osiander roll with him, I think they are both great. Anyone know if they ever have?

i just started luta livre, and i never did any grappling before and trainers and traningpartners always ask if i have a wrestler background for the way i move, and my trainer told me i have an excellent guard.

Can you do example of stretching and rotations?

so true!!! i say even if I lose,fuck it at least i got some good technique in there.

bjj needs more of this kind of mentoring. Did judo for most of my life and just started bjj because I am in my 40s and getting slamed is getting to be way less fun then when I was 20. But in judo you get this kind of talk about not focusing on winning and to just enjoying the sport that I don't see as much in bjj. Your told companion is just there as a way to see what you need more practice on and in fact if your winning to much its thought your not really trying to expand your training and get yourself to the level.

Sirens go off in all your videos no matter where you are hahaha

I had opposite experience my 1st match. I only and all the moves I practice in class

I got four hours of training and challenged a friend who trained for 3 years who also weighed 30lbs lighter than me (I weigh 160). I somehow was able to win in front of our mutual friends and he was emotionally hurt so bad that he had go back home only after 20minutes in the gym...

wonderful vlog mate! what happened to you is probabilly due to the level of "activation" you had. It follows a reversed U pattern, so too low will kill your permormance (lack of motivation, reactivity, energy), too high does the same (too much muscle and mental tension, anxiety, lack of coordination etc). The best permormance is with a middle level of activation, where you want all knowing it is not always possible to get it, so you just focus on technique and in doinh your best.

So this isn't expressly BJJ related, but I could really use some advice in this. I started doing taekwondo when I was seven, and started competing at nine. I competed every weekend until I was 14 and then stopped because it conflicted with lacrosse. I'm turning 16 in about two months, and I was wondering if it would be at all worth it to switch to a different discipline. I miss fighting a lot, but if I start again and switch I want some crossover, just because I hate going into situations like that feeling hopeless. Any suggestions?

"To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead" - Miyamoto Musashi

got a question for you If I was to take bjj and make it to purple belt would I be prepared for most situatuions that could occur while outside my home ? thoughts please thank you!

How long did you wrestle for?

There is a psychological component to a purple belt losing to a white belt. As you said, you went into it knowing you were going to lose. You already knew the outcome, so you just decided to see how far you could get before he beat you. He probably went in knowing he was going to win. So in this situation, there is zero pressure on you to perform. If you score something even as simple as a takedown or a guard pass, that is further along than you or anyone else expected. But this also applies to the inverse, there is immense pressure on the purple belt, if you score something as simple as a takedown or guard pass on him, he is getting embarassed. Unless he just goes in there and stomps you, even if he was to win, in his mind he would've still done worse than he should have. So basically that pressure keeps building up in his head until he's even more nervous than he would be to fight a black belt. TLDR: As the white belt, you had everything to gain and nothing to lose, and the purple belt had nothing to gain and everything to lose, and that made him choke. Like you said, if he would've just done his thing and treated you like any other opponent, he probably could've beat you.

Arnold Classic!!!

I hate how BJJ and traditional martial arts put so much emphasis on the belt. It's why I love boxing and traditional wrestling where you work to develop skill and don't need to achieve a belt color or protect that belt color for the sake of reputation.

where's your gym @Chewjitsu?

after 5 years training ive never seen a white belt beat a purple

I did that when i came off a long lay off was 23 and this purple belt asked me if i ever rolled and i told him yes i caught him with a foot lock after that he came hard after me guess he didn't like the element of surprise

Great advice man. It's like when poker players on TV lose millions of dollars because they get unlucky, they dont throw a fit. They would just mutter "it's just a game, man". Same with BJJ, it's a big game, which is why it doesn't matter who wins or loses :)

Don’t remember that? What tournament?

Why don’t I feel this overwhelming desire to win? Am I broken? :P it honestly makes me wonder

Hey Chewy, where do you train? I was gonna say your woods look like New england to me. I train in Massachusetts

First time I tapped a blue as a white was a good experience because I realized that higher ranks are human too and not actually unbeatable.

Wait, so are we talking about Jiu-Jitsu anymore?

I disagree with this a bit. While I definitely agree that you ought to overcome the fear of loss, I think its important to be constantly evaluating the risks of various techniques relative to the match situation (i.e. the time, the score, and maybe even your position on the mat). For example, if you're down by several points with only 20 seconds to go, why not go for a risky submission? You need it to win. If you're tied up with one advantage over your opponent with only 15 seconds to go, why should you bother trying to open your gaurd and sweep? I realize that you're not technically saying that you should throw these thoughts out the window, I just want to be clear that there's a difference between overcoming your fear of loss that is paralyzing versus throwing caution to the wind and just doing whatever without consideration to the match situation.

Sir, where do you teach. I would like to travel and train with at your gym

Wrestling > BJJ. Period. Always has.

i heel hooked a purple belt 7kg heavier than med when i had 5 month of ttaining. i got tappet alot more though

Dan Bilzerian without a tooth

I would love for a white belt to be willing to go 100% with me, just warm up the ambulance and get a room at the hospital ready

hilarious. a story of humility, told from the winners perspective. haha...

seriously if this guy got his teeth fixed he`d be taking dude`s girls left n right

you have a bump above your left eye...is that from bjj? is it permanent?

I remember 2 months into training jiu jitsu I tapped this 2nd degree blue belt via guillotine lol that guy was so embarrassed

belts are only good for holding your pants up

Lol My 3rd tap as a white belt (my main instructor won't let people spar until they get their 1st stripe) was on a purple belt. That being said, I was only able to go to the sparring classes for all my 1 stripe + "classes" because of school constraints. I'll admit he underestimated me base on my rank and he didn't let it happen again that night but I totally took his back using my natural speed (I'm small and athletic) and took his back then tapped him via a Mata leao. I looked around hoping people saw it xD which I wouldn't do now but I was excited. A month later I caught a black belt in an arm bar from mount and he got crazy serious once I shifted over, isolated his arm and shot my hand in to pull his arm out of the safe position pre sitting backwards. I got exhausted trying to break his hand on hand grip (idk a technical name for it but anyone who has rolled would know what I mean if they saw it) and gave up but one of my instructors said in a fundamentals class earlier in the week that if you get someone in that situation on the street then you pretty much have them because you can punch/hammer fist them in the face until they go unconscious or they cover up in which case they give up their arm. The black belt was cool about it and even acknowledged I almost had him and that it would have been dope if I had finished it. I count it as a small victory either way because of the experience gap. His expression was priceless when I went to take his arm. xD He went from 0% - 100% real quick. haha

Yes but if you lose you wasted alot of money right?

6 years of training and only a purple belt?

Lol. "He thought I was a wrestler." You were a wrestler.

I lose to white belts all the time. lol sigh...