Belt problem

Before anyone starts on colours or urban myths this is not what this thread is about.

I have just got a new belt and I am having a problem keeping it tied. It's very stiff. Any hints on softening it a bit. It's a club belt so I don't want to abuse it too much.

Wash it once , then after drying , wrap it around something like a staircase-handle (?) ,
something without sharp edges and pull from end to end a couple of times,
it works for me :-)

HI amanda, soak it in fabric softner for a bit

Time, sweat, and blood. This is why I am still a NO DAN.....

Ah, new belts, the highest form of origami!

Pound it on a flat rock...

Actually, I know a guy who, when going through colored belts in Judo, made a small contraption out of wood that had small offset pinch rollers inside. Then, he'd run the belt into it and out the other end, and stitch the ends together in a loop. Then he'd clamp it in a vise and power it up with an electric drill. After an hour of running through this thing, the belt would be limp as a rag.

Interesting, but he probably could have spent the time curing the common cold or something...

I don't know what a "club belt" is, but it sounds like it might prohibit my solution: get a different belt. I threw out the 'good' belt that came with a gi years ago and fished a nice limp cheap one out of the community belt box. It is thin, flimsy and ties a really nice knot.

You know, I have a lot of students who ask this question or one like it. I always tell them it'll soften up after a couple of washings.

But now I have some other suggestions I can give them.

And, being a gadget freak, I even have a gadget I can try building. One that doesn't involve stitching the ends of the belt together.

Hmmm.......

Michael Riehle wrote: You know, I have a lot of students who ask this question or one like it. I always tell them it'll soften up after a couple of washings....

Washing a belt!!!!!!!!! What a heresy!!!!!!!
To soft up a belt use it to the techniques where you tie an attacker with. That is martial reason to have a good black belt

Yes washing a belt is heresy!!

I'm not washing my belt, cause I'm oldschool y'all.

My last new belt was stiff. So I tied it up best I could and worked out where the knot was. Took it off and wrung and twisted and generally stomped that section to soften it. Cos that's the only bit of the belt that really needs to be soft.

The belt softening gadget sounds genius though.

On the other hand, a stiff belt makes for a larger knot, which in turn helps keep your hakama from slipping lower in the course of a class. When I shifted to a softer belt (Mizuno), I found my hakama heading south more often than it used to.

Jess McDonald wrote: Yes washing a belt is heresy!!

I dont wash my belt, because the threat of staff and ringworm keep my foes at bay.

When I was a white belt once I put mine through by accident. Somehow it got a lovely pink stain. So I'd never advise belt washing!

A PINK belt??? That's just wrong...

Please wash your belts. If you want to observe some kind of foolish superstition, try avoiding cracks on the sidewalk or not walking under ladders. As Don points out, an unwashed belt is like a petri dish for any number of microrganisms, and probably also smells awful. Coming to class with any part of yourself or your training clothes filthy and stinking is disrespectful to your training partners. If you have trouble with it getting tangled in the machine, buy a laundry sock bag made of netting to wash it in.

Sorry Kevin, You don't understand KI power

Szczepan Janczuk wrote: Sorry Kevin, You don't understand KI power

I don't claim to, but if it's supposed to be something that accumulates in one's belt, yet can be removed with soap and water, I feel comfortable dismissing it as imaginary.

Incidentally, by the logic of not washing a garment to preserve the "ki", wouldn't you be better off not washing any of your training clothes, or even your normal clothes? In fact, it would probably be best to always wear the same clothes, and never wash them or your body - the layer of dead skin, mold and bacteria that would develop on your unwashed body would provide even more substance in which the ki could accumulate. Perhaps our homeless urban population is an untapped resevoir of invincible warriors...

I just wear my belt into a pliable state... I must admit I too am a little to old school to wash my belt, but I certainly don't let it sit gathering mould or the likes; I take it out and air it between classes.

20 years of combined MA training and I haven't had an issue with a belt getting too nasty (mind you though I've never had one belt long enough to wear it out (Aikido might change that though )

Simple wear and time does wonders for making a belt easier to tie.

Clark Bateman wrote: A PINK belt??? That's just wrong...

Well, in our Stockton dojo I'm told that there used to be a pink belt. It got that way through the predictable white-belt-in-the-reds-washing incident. But the instructor at the time kept it around.

When teaching children, you get used to them "losing" their belt. They show up without it, but class must go on. A disproportionate number of times this happens with boys.

So, the aforementioned instructor would make them wear the pink belt, whatever their rank was. The boys would generally only lose their belts once or twice during this period.

But, alas, the pink belt era had to come to an end. It seems that a rash of girls losing their belts corresponded strongly with the general acceptance that if you showed up for class without your belt you wore the pink belt. It was eventually decided that this was not a coincidence.

There is more than one way to knot your obi so she holds.....especially a fresh one.
But the new gi will always need a tweak.
Just another flavour.

I would wear a pink belt. Then again, I would also wear a pink hakama.

Sean Kelleher wrote: I just wear my belt into a pliable state... I must admit I too am a little to old school to wash my belt, but I certainly don't let it sit gathering mould or the likes; I take it out and air it between classes. 20 years of combined MA training and I haven't had an issue with a belt getting too nasty (mind you though I've never had one belt long enough to wear it out (Aikido might change that though ) Simple wear and time does wonders for making a belt easier to tie.

I've gotten blood, sweat, and dirt on my belt. Usually from very sweaty guys who may not of actually washed their gi in a week or so and sweat horribly due to the nature of bjj. If I did not wash my belt weekly, it would be a biohazard. In fact, anytime I get human blood on anything, I get a little paranoid.

I also have 3 gi's. I wear a clean one each class, and wash it directly afterwards. Of course the level we train tipically is so hard that my gi is actually able to be ringed out its so heavy with sweat, and if it was not washed and instead hung would stink so bad nobody would grapple with me. I have gotten ringworm before, it was not pleasant. This is why I'm so careful of being clean. I also bathe right after class with dandruff shampoo to kill off any bad stuff. I watched the guys in the last ultimate fighter get staff. It's scary stuff. So far I have not notice a lack of growth in my fighting skills.

thanks for the advice all. I've tried the twist it up and wrap it around something without sharp edges suggestions so far and although it doesn't really feel that much softer it does now stayed tied so all is well