Why do Purple Belts always miss warm ups?
In many Jiu Jitsu classes, you’ll see Purple Belts show up late regardless of the academy. After the white and blue belts finish shrimping up and down the mat, you’ll see the Purple Belts step in through the door, nonchalantly taping their fingers and putting on their gi. Even though the official start time of class was 15 minutes ago, they don’t seem hurried, as if they’re right on time. What gives? Why do Purple Belts skip warmups?
If you’ve earned a Purple Belt, chances are you’ve trained for about half a decade. In that time, after thousands of warmups, it gets tiring and boring to even attend. By Purple Belt, your shrimp is probably developed enough that another 20 up and down the mats isn’t going to do much to help make space while in side control. After doing Jiu Jitsu for a while, some of the magic is simply gone, and you just want to cut to the chase and do Jiu Jitsu. Could it be said Purple Belts are missing out on anything by skipping on warm ups? The answer is yes! Leadership and being an example for all who participate to get every second of time on the mat. Warming up is also a very important part of being optimal in any sport.
In most cases, a Purple Belt just wants to roll. With any skill, the concept of diminishing returns becomes a very real thing. Novices such as White Belts can see DRASTIC improvement simply by getting through the warm ups. Purple Belts on the other hand have already put in their reps, and as such don’t really benefit from the basic drills. The 100,000th shrimp (hip escape) won’t have as much of a benefit as the first 1,000, and at that point the Purple Belt's time would be better spent on other areas of their game.
At Purple Belt, the journey becomes much more self directed. It is said that Purple Belts rely less on their professor after blue belt. Much like a Master’s or PhD student pursuing their research, a Purple Belt should be doing their own study of Jiu Jitsu. Much like a Professor at a University, the Professor at the Academy will move into a more advisory role for the Purple Belt, pointing them the way to go, but not holding their hand through the process. However Purple Belts in many ways are still beginners in a lifetime of learning,
Whatever the case may be, missing a warmup here and there isn’t going to matter as long as you keep showing up consistently. I would like to add that if you want to be a positive role model for lower belts its important to participate in all segments of class.
Just a thought…
Truly Yours, Anonymous White Belt