It’s purple IMO. Once you cross into blue, you feel invincible against the casual non grappler yet still feel puny and miserable against other blues and higher belts. Crossing from blue to purple was the worst grind imaginable for me. It essentially tested my ability to love the sport enough to think about it even when I’m not training.

I don't know what the hardest belt to get is but it took me 5 years to get my blue belt. no breaks, no injuries. just someone who learns really F#$%ing slow. I am very proud of it. I have been a blue belt for 2 years now and I have no idea how long it will be IF I ever get another belt. but I think what you said about maintaining this hard path with discipline really sounded like the path I am on. Thanks for the video.

Purple because I don't have it yet. Then it will be brown.

Purple. It takes dedication to grind to the first advanced belt. If you just show up you'll get a white and if you show up enough you'll get a blue belt.

I'm just a blue belt, but I'd say purple is the hardest, and here's why. The instructors at my school have said that the difference between purple/brown/black is mostly time. You learn a little more techniques, but your style is basically set by then. The main difference is you make smaller mistakes and recognize how to counter you opponent sooner. White belt is easy, you get it just by walking in the door. The blue belt is the next easiest because it just means you've learned the basics and can defeat an untrained opponent who is larger. But going from blue to purple is a huge chasm, where a lot of people quit. Your ratio of improvement is a lot smaller (white to blue is a near infinite ratio because your starting skill is near zero), and progress is slow. I guess a lot of people quit before the blue belt too, but you don't hear about "white belt blues", just "blue belt blues".

Purple to me. It proves you were able to push through that blue belts blues phase. It also shows you most likely have that drive and determination to get to black. Halfway through my purple now, I’m never going to stop willingly. The only thing that will stop me is body failure or death.

I thought about starting for 10 years. Then I just told myself just go. Just had to roll that ball down the hill. Started at 34 and im 41 now. Just got purple! I can feel my age against these youngsters. Wish so much I would've started when I first started thinking about it.

Well I'm biased because I just got my blue belt but getting to purple seems....extraordinarily hard. Part of it for me is I believe I'm entering the "conscious incompetence" phase... . Thanks as always Chewy!

BB for me definitely. Took 12 year of battling anyone who came through the door. Never thought I'd make it.

Been a brown belt for almost 2 years, and the thought of that black belt just weighs so heavy on my mind. Such an iconic symbol in this art and one that I do not currently feel ready for--however, the thought of it does push me in my training to be better. After all these years, it's kinda crazy to think that _that_ is my next belt promotion... sheesh.

Purple. White is the best time ever because everything is new and you get to make any mistake possible without judgment. Blue was the loooong grind because not only you're marked by everybody (higher belts that decide you know enough to go hard on you and white belts that just want to submit a higher belt), the couch won't promote you until he's absolutely sure that you fight in that level.

As many have listed and for good reason. Purple. I said when i seen the title. You push to get blue and if youve made it this far its tough to keep pushing on unless you love or fall inlove with it. Purple to me is when you show you know your stuff, and nows time to work towards perfecting it and your own personal ways.

I do think there is a good argument to be made for white belt. I started BJJ in 2023, I first started fantasising about taking up a martial art in 2008. Took me 15 years to actually take that leap, a delay I sorely regret but also, a significantly better outcome than the thousands of people who never take that first step. So it's certainly easy to obtain physically, but getting yourself to make a decision is still a significant hurdle and not to be scoffed at

Purple is the hardest and once you there is the hardest to be at😅

Getting to Purple for me was a pain. Training for 4 years or so being subbed by almost every rank and need to have some kind of obsession over details or technical aspects. Learning to learn and take the good with the bad.

Black belt if you look at it from start to finish, in terms of “next belt” it would be blue or purple as you see a huge drop off rate at white and blue belt level

Purple. You can enthusiastically hit blue. That grind to “professional” is tough. Long. And whole heartedly in the “middle” (1 stripe blue out on injury)

As a white belt myself, I get what that coach meant. I trained for a year back in 1996-7, moved away...always meant to get back to it, but life with kids just took over. To restart at 51 was a little intimidating. Since I'm still a white belt, I can't speak to which belt is toughest to get, but I can say that purple seems rough...seems that a lot of blue belts call it quits before hitting purple.

The next belt is the toughest. I came close to quitting around the time I got my blue belt. I re-focused on why I started jiu-jitsu in the first place. It’s easy to get caught up in the BJJ community. Your reasons can legitimately change. Just don’t let other people’s reasons override your reasons.

IMO purple is easily the hardest. Most people start BJJ around their early 20s and have time to dedicate to BJJ. But by the mid to late 20s, life stuff is popping up like college, military, moving for work, marriage, kids, etc. Purple belt normally takes about 3 years too, vs. 1 to 2 years for a blue, so that's a long gap in-between for that life stuff to happen and for people to also get discouraged. The biggest issue with purple is that its a senior belt too, so most gyms are reluctant to hand it out to anyone they think may leave the gym, isn't loyal, or hasn't been there long enough. With blue, brown, and black, most gyms know where those people stand already. A home grown white to blue belt is easy to judge, and a brown belt is essentially a black belt who just needs more time in grade. With a Purple belt, there is a lot of variation between blue and brown. Most purples are more likely to compete against browns and blacks in local tournaments too, so if a blue is promoted too quickly to purple, he could get destroyed by very experienced grapplers. I started around 2009 and got my blue in about 7 months, and then was stuck at blue for almost 13 years. I was actually consistently training that whole time and beating purples in the gyms and in tournaments as a blue, but because of life, I was moving around for work or the military and had to switch gyms a lot times. One of the gyms I was at didn't even do belts because it was only for MMA fighters, and another gym I was at (Fifty Fifty BJJ) you basically had to win like worlds to get promoted. So every new gym, I basically had start from scratch and prove I wasn't still a new blue belt. I've seen this happen to a lot of other people I started off training with too who are still either blue belts, were stuck at the blue belt ranks for a long time, or quit BJJ altogether. If you can get from blue to purple, you've basically outlasted like 90-95% of everyone who will ever try BJJ, so your chances of just outlasting to brown and black are then statistically high.

Brown and black are hard to get, but I think the hardest factor at this point is just finding solid time to train. When you're in purple, you should have a very good grasp on how to train and conduct yourself. At purple you're pretty much pointed in the right direction for your journey. So, I think purple belt is the hardest and most significant to get.

I personally think its the purple belt ,, i feel like quitting at blue is so common that most professors/ coaches wont even consider you for one , untill they are pretty convinced that your not gonna quit and they will tie a black belt on you .. when i got my purple belt i said well professor must finally acknowledge at the very least im not a quitting hopefully i grow into it . 🙏

Purple for sure!!!

Loved that you said "it's not for everyone", yes! I totally agree. For years (maybe decades) other martial arts, esp those that give out black belts like candy have been using the "this so-and-so martial art is for everyone!" as a marketing tool to attract people, well, I don't agree, it's not for everyone, but if someone says that they come across as gatekeepy and culty, no, legit combat sports like Judo and JiuJitsu are not for everyone and that's fine, with all the options that are now available, anyone looking around is bound to find something that will suit them, even slap-shido (it's a thing) or prancing or rumba, etc. If you are going to put your best effort in something that is expensive and potentially dangerous, you better like it and then, especially with the best effort and not giving up part, yes, it will be for you

It's definitely the dessert of my day. Something clicked about half-way through blue belt and it stopped becoming a "grind" and something that I love.

Great 👍🏼 video - you’re so right - doing anything long-term means overcoming obstacles and challenges. That’s commitment. So far, purple has been the toughest belt for me, but I’ve yet to attain brown or black though my instructor say brown coming soon. In other arts, no question black belt was the toughest to achieve.

The actual hardest thing is to maintain a level of training consistency that allows belt progression.

The green belt most adults will never get to complete the full set of belts and most kids quit or move to the adult belts before they reach it

I was concerned about my belt when I 1st started but, 8 months in and I'm starting to see real progress. I'm giving blue belts hard rolls and now I'm not so sure I want mine yet. I want to enjoy being at the top before I'm knocked back down. I'd rather be a great white belt than an average blue belt. At 53, I would just rather have the respect of my gym members more than worrying about belts. Hopefully, I'll have another breakthrough in June at your seminar!

The toughest belt is the next belt whever you're located in the belt rank system. Lot of instructors arent in a rush to belt you, so its game on until yo get the surprise. If students only knew how seldom instructors think of belts, they wouldn't make a deal about it. It even annoys some instructors to have to organize the promo day. I though the purple was the hardest since I'm a seasoned blue, but then, since I can hang with the purple ones, I stopped aiming at the colored tissue. Submitting purples is good enough for me. Now, brown belts are beginning to have a hard time with me and I love it. Right now, I'm contemplating the idea of sandbagging students since the belting thang is kind of slow. I never thought I would think this way, but since lot of guys over here experiment with sandbagging others, I'll join the bandwagon and have fun doing it.

I am a blue belt so this is my limited opinion. I think purple is the hardest because with blue, it really took putting the time in and not quitting and displaying a relatively basic knowledge but mostly juat toughing out the white belt experience. You need to improve your knowledge and technique quite a bit to get to purple, and also not quit. So with that being said, once you get purple, mentally you've gone over the hump. You already have technique, you're just refining it for brown/black. And you have momentum since blue is where most people seemingly quit. Once you get purple you're more likely to say "I've gone this far, let me keep going". But i may be wrong. Love your content, Chewy.

I'd have to agree with those saying purple. There are more blue belt quitters than any other belt. I think the reason is because at white you're constantly learning new concepts and the growth curve is steep. Blue is the bend in that curve. You get to watch as others are getting to your level as you grind out the details of the fundamentals. Progress doesn't come as quick and it's easy to get frustrated.

On a long enough timeline, something - whether it's psychological, logistical, financial, etc. - SOMETHING is going to make it very easy to choose to quit.

Blue! Most will quit before getting there. I’m a ten year white belt I have stopped and started so many times.

I think it is the brown belt. I believe at purple belt you have anywhere from 4-6 years of experience already under your belt and now you're just starting to realize the things you don't know and how much more there is to learn. This can be both intimidating and exciting, but I think about midway (two-stripe) purple you start trying to develop the skills that your instructor is looking for in a brown belt. In my case it's trying to develop an effective bottom guard game. Maybe it's just me but even at two stripe purple the prospect of becoming a brown belt seems so far away that I actively try not to think about it as a possibility. For me the brown belt feels like the hardest belt to get.

Im a brown belt, and im just as enthusiastic about training now as i was when i was a white belt.

Im in my middle white belt stage and to be honest I love jiu jitsu but I still need a little Discipline in order to make it to class after a long day of work. I’m always thrilled when I’m there and leave wanting to go back OSS

The purple belt! Most people quits before purple belt... And just a few purple belts will not reach the black belt some day...

Nice perspective, Coach.

Real talk. Thank you.

Purple is the hardest for sure - when you get it the chances of you getting black belt one day is increased drastically. I’m at blue belt for almost 7 years now (haven’t worn a white belt at all due to been promoted right away based on my 4 years of MMA and 3 years of grappling pure No-Gi experience), got my 3rd stripe 3 years ago, before the Covid and the full out war in Ukraine started. Our professor couldn’t visit during the Covid and now he won’t due to war, some guys were enlisted, others drifted apart in time, so the gym closed eventually. I’m in a new gym now where I have to prove myself again, so not expecting promotion anytime soon. I’ve seen so many guys quitting when they lost motivation - all of them at blue belt level. Personally I keep training because I love the process, but to be honest it’s not enough motivation for most people out there, which is a shame. So if you’re training at a gym with black belt instructor and your country is not at war - be grateful, you’ll get them belts relatively easy and much faster.

Black belt, but I've been a blue belt for about 5 years. I'm in the military so I travel a lot and it's hard to train consistently in one area to get to purple. I feel getting brown and black would be easier for me because by the time I'm looking at those belts, I'd either be retired or settled in one spot so I can train long enough under one instructor to promote me. I love the journey either way though.

I agree, the length of time to black belt, in a hard sport can be daunting.

I'm not a Black Belt in BJJ but I would say that your suggestion makes total sense.

I'm currently a 3 stripe white belt and I got the blues bad a few months ago. I was just grinding through that period, I use bjj as my main form of exercise so I was still getting something else out of it but some rolls I just wanted to get up and walk out. but what has really made a big difference and given me that spark again Is competing. It gives me a goal and helps streamline my goals. I think that huge slump is totally natural and seems like a necessary process.

I think getting started was the hardest thing for me. Once I got in, I fell in love.

Sounds like this could be answered by statistics. What is the drop-off percentage between each belt? Of the people who show up to beginner class and stick around long enough to get their first gi, how many eventually make it to blue belt? Of the people who get their blue belt, how many percent get to purple? And so on. But as long as we're only guessing, I'd assume that the percentage goes up as the belt colors advances. If you've been in love with wrestling long enough to get a brown belt, I'd guess the chances you'll stick around for another five to ten years are significantly higher. Or to run with the romantic metaphor: From a casual hook-up, how many get into a committed relationship? Of the people who fall in passionate love, how many are still together a couple of years down the road. Of people who's been together for ten years, how many make it to 20? Sidebar: these statistics are probably confounded by a larger percentage of the people on the starting side being teenagers or in their early twenties. I'd put higher odds on a love affair that starts later in life, for both wrestling and romance. Cheers

I love your videos!❤

Got my blue belt a couple months ago after 16 months of training. It wasn't easy, but the process was (if that makes sense). I'm going through the dip right now, only operating on discipline as this is part of my daily routine. I'm not enjoying it like I did at first, but I'll keep grinding away since I'm too stubborn to stop. I don't have an opinion on which belt is hardest to achieve, but if I had to pick one, I'd have to agree with Chewy, Black belt since the journey to achieve it takes so long.

2016 Elliot Hulse vibes, RIP to early Hulse. The spirit lives on.

It's obviously the RED BELT, because VERY FEW will achieve it. (55-60 years) 48 years from black belt level!

Got to blue.. neck injury and fusion with loss of use of hand cost me.. need to work. Can’t afford not to. Still connected to the community.. but my boy starts his first class this weekend.. I hope he loves it.

I would say brown belt is the toughest I got my black belt but going form purple to brown is really where I thought it was the hardest as you are just going through all you had learned to the point and your trying to get some consistency and in my club we look towards demonstrating more

LOL. Hard to get started, easy to stick to it. Purple was the easiest because all I had to do was keep doing what I was doing.... Plus as I was around a few years it just got easier to pick things up.

I think it is Brown. By mid purple belt an injury or two has derailed your progress and leaves you asking “ do I really need to continue to do this” and weighing it against what you already know (“do I really need to know more?”). Add on top the pressures of life, what an injury takes away from life, etc and brown becomes harder to stay motivated for.

I feel like the toughest one to stay consistent with is blue which means getting purple would be hard. still basically a white belt at blue and there's still potential to get subbed by other white belts, then when you start to feel comfortable in blue you get purpled. at least at the higher belts you have a solid idea of what's going on and dedicated enough time to make it feel good.

I’m trying out my first bjj class in 4 days, I’m excited for what it will bring

Based on the standards at my gym, black belt for sure. Purple does take years to get and you have to show a level of proficiency, brown is basically a more advanced purple, but to be a black belt where I train you really have to prove something that separates you from everyone else, either through competition or dedication to the art.

As a competitor it feels like Purple because the pool of other competitors is so vast you actually have to work so hard to differentiate yourself. When i roll with other normal Purple belts its honestly funny because i typically walk right through them, but other competitive blue belts, it really has that kill or be killed moshpit aspect that entry level sales jobs have.

Purple is the hardest. Next is black. Then blue. Easiest is brown. Purple is hardest because of the joke of how many don't make it past blue. Black is next because you gotta want it. Blue is second easiest because of how close you are on day 1. Easiest is brown because if you've defeated the blue belt blues, then it's just a bit of enthusiasm and determination to hit brown.

Loved the “Rolling is the desert of my day.” 🤌

I agree with you Chewy cause how they have everything set up is your suppose to get your black belt in about 10 years but not all of us will get it in 10 years cause my coach told me it took him 14 years to get his black belt and I’m a white belt and I’ve been training for about 7 months and sometimes black belt seems so far away but I know if you’ll stick with it you’ll make it there one day

Took my buddy who coached, competed and trained 4 days a week 4 years to get through brown belt to black belt. So brutal to make it to black.

I’m glad you didn’t say white belt

Purple because I've been a blue belt for 14 years (changed school 4 times--received 3 blue belts from 3 different instructors).

The next one...white thru black. At 64 not much into this belt promotion scene, just glad I can still grind away at all this four or five days a week.

Toughest for me was purple. Got my blue belt in a year and a half . Got my purple 8 1/2 years after that. Life happened and delayed my progress. I went from training 5-6 times a week to 2-3. Had months off here and there. 3 kids job location and schedule changes . The pandemic. It’s been a tough road. Didn’t know if I would ever see purple. But know I think I’ll never stop for quite some time. I’m definitely gonna earn that black belt one day. Even if it takes another 10 years.

I always laughed at the idea that the white belt is the hardest. All you have to do is show up on the first day and pay your dues!

Just getting that damn blue belt is seeming to be the hardest. - 2 year white belt

White belt is easy. Just trying gets you the belt. Blue is a matter of becoming proficient enough to defend most things and dominate other white belts so that one was easy for me too. Purple was hard to me. I got my first two belts so quickly that having the blue for 3 and half years seemed like forever. I was tapping some really good grapplers and stuff and they were asking me why I was still blue. It started to get to me. I had purple for about a year when I got my brown and that time I didn't want to be promoted. My instructor told me to believe in my skill and so far I think he is right. I will work carefully toward black belt. I have twice as many injuries as belt promotions...

I think the answer depends on when you stopped training or where you are in your training. Most Black Belts will say the Black Belt because of the years put it, for the people who quit at White Belt; they would probably say Blue Belt and so on. I think logically, the Black Belt is the hardest to obtain, emotionally its the White Belt, and contextually its where you left off on your journey. Just some thoughts from your local 4 stripe White Belt.

Obviously its the black one. However, depending on what gym you attend, it may be very diverse how difficult it is. After purple though I believe most people keep on going , unless injuries prevent them. So purple is also a big stepping stone. Also think imposter syndrome gets real at purple and brown level which also may be a factor making it hard to get the black belt.

Thank you for keeping it real. In my opinion it’s the purple belt.

I am only a blue belt, but I would agree it has to be black belt. Anything worth doing/achieving requires work and commitment, during the ups and the downs. Black belt is the goal for anyone who seriously trains BJJ. Otherwise why keep training. Of course: getting better is likely the short term goal, but black belt is the representation of accomplishing the goal. It is also an indication that you have gotten to the point where you will most likely not be seriously threatened by most others, besides other black belts.

For some people the hardest belt to get is white. Actually going through the gym doors. :)

Gotta be purple. Most of the attrition in BJJ happens sometime between white and purple. Most people who are going to drop off do so before blue, and disappearing blue belts are so common they're a punchline in the BJJ community. But I feel like most people who are still training after they get their purple belts have found that inner passion for the art by then and have made training so habitual at that point that jiu-jitsu is just part of their lifestyle. At that point, it really becomes a matter of when, not if, they'll get their black belts.

For me right now it is blue belt. I have taken a some fights as hard to put all the effort into jujitsu. However, it will come and it will be a glorious day.

I'm tempted to say brown, a reasonable amount of people get blue, then also purple, but I feel the drop out between purple and brown is the largest.

I understand the philosophy of saying the white belt is the most difficult, but I agree. All you have to do is show up..... Obviously a black belt is the hardest. It's the last belt and takes a longer dedication. Another way this question could have been worded is what is the most difficult belt transition. I don't have an answer to that, I'm just a lowly fairly new blue belt who still feels like a white belt....

I'd say purple, a lot of people quit when they get their blue belts. I think you need a particular mindset to be able to keep grinding for that purple belt and the people who get purple belt are more often than not in it for the long game to get brown and black belts

Great stuff

Brilliant Chewie 👍

Black belt I’m currently brown belt and injury and age and life in general is making it difficult to put the hours in

I mean… mathematically, the answer is black or coral. You have to add all of the hard belts together to get there. But individual progression? Getting blue felt harder than purple. By the time I got blue I understood that it truly was just about showing up and training hard. Maybe I’ll say that about brown or black but I’m not there yet 😂

I’m willing to bet that statistically more people come to Jiu-Jitsu and quit within a few weeks or they just get intimidated and don’t start at all, then those that quit after they have achieved blue or higher belt. Again, statistically. But I otherwise agree with everything chewy is saying, once you develop a love for it you will try to find any reason to go train and often at your own expense if you happen to be ignoring injuries and stuff but it’s all for the love of it. I have heard that blue belts are the most likely to quit out of discouragement because of the length of time it takes to progress in that range. But I would argue maybe that those particular people are too focussed on the colour of their belt and less on the fact that they are learning . Sometimes learning isn’t about adding more stuff to your knowledge base, sometimes learning means experiencing the same drudgery 100 times in a row in order to develop an instinctive feel for that particular “thing”. There’s a lot of wisdom behind a coach saying just keep showing up. I used to think this was a poor way of advising someone to train because yes you do want to train smarter as well like with focussed drills and other things, not just open roll all the time, but the key to longevity is to recognize that every minute put in has some benefit or another.

Very easy to answer. Red, as every other belt is a prerequisite.

Blue…it can be a long struggle for some which makes it difficult to stay with it. Also some schools have a very strict curriculum for reaching blue imo

Purple because the switch is now on blue switch hasn't came on yet

I know as an older guy..... that blue belt was pretty rough..... those first 2 years was just brutal as a dude over 40. I imagine if you are 17...18...19 years old it's a cake walk.... but as an older guy that first one was rough.

Belts mean a few different things. How good are you. How long have you trained. How knowledgeable are you. Etc. Putting the time in is a basic matter of just turning up. It gets harder and harder cumulatively but the first step is the single hardest step. How good you are is different. How strong, how conditioned, how skilled, how experienced, how tactical, how aggressive, how fast, etc. A world class white belt will thrash most black belts. For me. I try to ignore belts. Main thing is am i enjoying the training and am i meeting my goals.

Aug will make two years as a white belt. 46yo and I feel that blue is the hardest only because of the learning curve cmg from white. Regardless of age, conditioning etc. just my opinion.

For me it was Brown. Just my experience….i think between leaning and grinding plus some little injuries. I guess with longevity there are more and more challenges. At least for me. I am a 55 year old Brown belt. Just showing up can be really hard…It just depends on your circumstances.

Purple belt is the hardest to get, hands-down. The skill gap between blue and purple is massive, and once you get purple, getting your brown and black is just a hop, skip, and jump away.

A middle aged white belt who had just started and was full of enthusiasm said he was planning to get his black belt by the time he retired and I said hold on Sparky, let's get you a blue belt first. In fact, let's get you a stripe for that white belt, and I never saw him again. AITA for crushing his spirit?

I'd say blue - all that I'm doing in rolls is surviving against people that are better than me as a white belt. I don't have any idea what it actually takes to earn rank - there's no clear curriculum or obvious path. I'm just flying blind, drilling, and throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks in rolls. I'd say the same about other martial arts, too. The first rank is the hardest; it's easy to try something for a while then quit. I've stayed in other arts long past the time I felt like I was learning anything new, simply because of the combination of sunk cost, comfortable environment, consistent training schedule, and being able to see the clear path to the next rank.

Difficulty is completely and utterly subjective. Its easier for some to show up. Its even easier for some to keep showing up. All for our own personal reasons. For me, it is a mix of being able to engage in combat in a controlled environment, nourishing my body with effective exercises, and socializing with likeminded oddfellows.

Chewy is glowing in this video!

I got my blue belt in 2021. I've taken off alot since i haven't been back for about a year right now. In the mean time I've been working on my business and had my son in 2023. Still going back to get my purple. Just in the works. So I have to say purple right now. I do know tons of people even scared to walk into a gym. So white might be considering the amount of people who haven't tried but want to. Compared to people who have tried. Probably a 20 to 1 ratio or something cant. Say the numbers

the toughest belt to get is the poka dotted belt. i have yet to see anyone in bjj walk around with it.

Have seen so many disappear at white and blue. Seems like once you get to purple, unless life stuff happens, you'll eventually find your way to brown/black.