How to Tie Your Martial Arts Belt

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By Ryan Newhouse
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Martial Arts Belts and Gi

If you are interested in studying the martial arts, it is important to know how to properly tie your martial arts belt (Obi). Here's the simple way to do it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Gi (martial arts uniform)
Obi (martial arts belt)

Step 1

A properly dressed martial artist

Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, dressed in your Gi, fold the left flap of your upper uniform over the right flap.
Step 2

Holding the belt in your right hand, use your right hand to pin down both flaps of your uniform to your waist. Find the left end of your belt with your left hand.
Step 3

Place that left end of your belt in the small of your back, holding it in place with the left hand.
Step 4

Use your right hand (still holding the belt) to continue wrapping the remaining portion of the belt around your waist, working in a clockwise direction.
Step 5

As the belt wraps around your waist, make sure the belt is wrapped over itself. A properly-sized belt should wrap around your waist at least two times.
Step 6

As you reach the end of the belt (which should end almost under your belly button), tuck the end under the previous layers of the belt. When you are finished, the end should point upwards toward your chest.
Step 7

Now reach behind your back with the left hand and pull out the original left end of the belt (now buried under several layers of your belt). Pull the end down, freeing it from all the wrappings, and toward the front of your body.
Step 8

By simultaneously pulling up on the upper belt end with your right hand and down on the lower belt end with your left hand, you can tighten the belt to a comfortable level.
Step 9

The knot should look like this

Now tie the two belt ends together with a simple overhand reef knot (see Resources) and tighten. You may have to slide the belt to the left or right so the knot is centered on your body.

Comments

chryssy67 said

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on 2/6/2009 My dad used to teach Tae Kwon Do and I remember this used to be one of his peeves...! I guess being an ex-marine didn't help as far as uniform perfection went...