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Purple Belt Uses White Belts as Smash Test Dummies

Gary Berger — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 18:58:15 +0000

Today we’ve got a question from a BJJ purple belt viewer named Jeremy.

He asked how to get over the negative feeling of using white belts as “test dummies” for trying out new moves in Jiu-Jitsu.

If you’re newer to BJJ and don’t know how this works, when you’re more experienced than your partner, you have a lot of options for how to approach a roll. You can just smash them, or, preferably, you can use that time to try new techniques in a live setting.

Hopefully, you find this video helpful.

Thanks for watching.

– Chewy
—————–
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ADCC Veteran Wins Purple Belt Division. Is he a Sandbagger?

Gary Berger — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 20:00:22 +0000

Today I’ll be responding to the backlash towards recent ADCC Veteran, Brandon Reed, for his success at IBJJF No-Gi Pans (Purple Belt).

Brandon, my student, who has been training just a little over 3 years in BJJ won the tournament along with Michael Pixley, which stirred up a lot of conversation and a video response by Brandon, to said controversy.

Here’s his video:

I’ll give my take on the situation & address the reality of Brandon’s Jiu-Jitsu experience and his recent competition result. I’ll also explain WHY he has not gotten his brown belt yet.

Thanks for watching.

– Chewy
—————-
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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BJJ Student is Afraid of Losing in Front of His Coach

Gary Berger — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 16:00:35 +0000

Today we’ve got a question from Joe who is wondering what BJJ Black Belts/Jiu-Jitsu Instructors watch for when looking at students rolling.

He says that his gym is like most where they do a basic warm-up, drill techniques, then do live rounds.

He says that there are so many times that he wants to work on something new, but he’s scared that this might make him look bad Infront of his coach: because with most new techniques you try, you suck at them initially.

He doesn’t want his coach to think “Damn, he’s not improving and he’s not ready for advancement”

Joe, it would be helpful if you talked to your coach for clarification, but here’s how I view my students’ rolls…

Hopefully, you found this video helpful.

Thanks for watching!

– Chewy
—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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This Guy Stole Money from Me & Now He Trains at my BJJ Gym!

Gary Berger — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 20:20:59 +0000

Today’s video comes from a Blue Belt who has recently had a weird situation at him BJJ gym.

Recently a brand new White Belt started training. And it just so happens that this white belt has history with Jason. . . not good history either! Apparently, the guy bullied Jason around and ended up stealing money from him.

Now, Jason said he tried to leave those feelings outside of the gym since Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is something he does to get away from the craziness of the outside world. Well, the white belt started talking negatively about Jason. Not in the fun we’re-friends-trash-talking, but in a bullying way.

So he sends in a message to see if I could give him a useful perspective that could help with the situation.

Hope you enjoy the video. Thanks for watching!
-Chewy
—————–
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Intro/Outtro Music : https://bknapp.bandcamp.com

If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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Why My BJJ Coach Refused to Promote Me to Brown Belt

Gary Berger — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 19:35:53 +0000

Recently, I got a question from “Thatcoast” on YouTube who asks:

What did you learn as a Purple Belt in BJJ, that you still use the most as a Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu.

It’s a great question, as Purple Belt was an interesting Belt for me!

As a Purple Belt, there were a ton of different changes going on including my original Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gym being a rather hard-nosed, grimy, Jiu-Jitsu gym.

We were a small gym, competition focused, both for BJJ and MMA. Because of this hardcore culture, we didn’t really get “good” at a ton of techniques. Rather, we were pretty good at what we did, which was very limited in one way or another, and very “tough” (in my case I was basically just a Wrestler and Top Player)

When I got my Purple Belt, because of the type of training I would do at my gym, I went through this phase where I would lose to other Purple Belts at Jiu-Jitsu competitions quiet often.

I was getting SMOKED…

If I did win, I was rarely winning because of technicality.

Eventually I changed gyms, and my new coaches told me that to get my brown belt I needed to EXPAND my game, or there was no chance of a promotion.

I was initially resistant to this, I never learned to “lose” in practice, and this made me plateau. But I eventually overcame this and was able to get promoted.

As a Purple Belt, more than just techniques, I learned how to yield to the process. Learning how to try new things, and learning to lose in practice so that I could eventually win in competitions, and even more importantly learn how to become good at Jiu-Jitsu (not just “tough”)

Hopefully you find the ideas in this video helpful to you.

– Chewy
—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

OHWGMNLI9LBP8NTA

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Learn What You Should Learn In Jiu Jitsu When You Are A BJJ Purple Belt by Mikey Musumeci

Gary Berger — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 17:00:13 +0000

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Discouraged BJJ Blue Belt Surrounded by Tough Purple Belts

Gary Berger — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 20:53:34 +0000

Today’s Q&A comes from Victor who is a self-proclaimed mediocre Blue Belt and when he comes into his morning training sessions (which is when he trains), the mats are full of tough Purple Belts and up.

He says that because everyone is so tough he doesn’t get much success while training and he is finding he is getting discouraged with his training and has even thought about quitting.

He asks how to stay motivated in a situation like this where full on success is unlikely.

In the video I share some ideas on staying in the loop when you’re not able to “win” the matches which starts with redefining what success and winning looks like.

If you’re in a similar situation as Victor then I hope this video is useful.
-Chewy
—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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Why I Quit Finishing My Best Techniques During Rolling as a BJJ Purple Belt

Gary Berger — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:10:59 +0000

Today’s questions is a unique situation where our Blue Belt friend Marc is able to effectively hit the Triangle Choke on most people he rolls with inside his gym. His worry with this is that because he is always using the Triangle Choke submission his BJJ game is going to become 1 dimensional. So in this video I talk about sharpening up is Triangle attack while keeping his Brazilian Jiu-jitsu techniques diverse.

When I was a Purple Belt I went through a specialization phase with my Half Guard. I began learning how to sweep almost anyone I rolled with and it’s still one of my best Guard positions in Brazilian Jiujitsu. What was important about this were the lessons I learned to develop a razor sharp game that I could then take and implement for every other technique and position in my BJJ training.

In this video I talk about how Marc can diversify his attack and create more options that will help him specialize similar to how I did as a Purple Belt.

If you’re in a situation like this or even if you aren’t I believe it’s a sound idea to take into your BJJ training.

Thanks for watching!
-Chewy
—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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Technically Overwhelmed BJJ Purple Belt & White Belts Are Babies

Gary Berger — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:19:42 +0000

Today’s question comes from out friend who is a Purple Belt in BJJ and he said he is overwhelmed with the amount of options he has available to him. He’s also worried about the fact that because Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is evolving so fast. If he picks a technique or position to focus on it will become obsolete.

In this video I share a few ideas. The 1st being that this is a real problem for higher belts. In the beginning when we are White Belts in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. There’s just so much that things can be overwhelming because we are so inexperienced and can’t use any of it.

But as we progress and improve to the point of Purple Belt, or even Brown and Black Belt in some cases, we are then faced with a new problem.

Brazilian Jiu jitsu is still overwhelming but not because our skill isn’t good. But instead, because are so fundamentally strong we have endless options available to us! We literally can use all of it! And that’s the focus of todays’ question.

I answer this question some helpful ideas that I hope will help you if you’re in a similar situation.

Thanks for watching!
-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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Intro/Outtro Music : https://bknapp.bandcamp.com

If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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I Can’t Accept my BJJ Purple Belt Promotion (I’m Not Ready)

Gary Berger — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 20:00:00 +0000

What do you do when you feel like you’re not ready for your BJJ promotion?

This is the question I got from Matt who is a 50 year old Blue Belt and was recently informed that he would be up for his promotion to Purple Belt.

In most cases this would be a good thing. But as soon as Matt was informed about his potential promotion. He instantly began to have feelings of doubt in himself.

He says that he’s in pretty good shape. But being 50 years old is tough in BJJ. And he struggles rolling with the younger, stronger practitioners even if they’re less experienced.

In this video I go through and share the idea of imposter syndrome. Where we feel like we’re faking it or that we aren’t good enough. I also share how at every single belt I was promoted to I had the same feelings of inadequacy in relation to my Brazilian Jiu-jitsu abilities.

Jordan Peterson talks about this in his recent book that we are tyrants to ourselves. Someone else could make the same mistake as us. But since we made it, we’ve very hard and judgmental.

Nothing wrong with pushing yourself to be better. But at the same time there has to be a limit.

If you’re struggling with being your own worst critic. I hope the video helps!

-Chewy
—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

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