Reason you heard why "we don't wash our belts?"

[JR 137]

Seido's honbu dojo does their annual beach training at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY. The link was to last year's event. This year's is on Sunday. I want to go, but can't make it. Black belts start at 4 am for a long meditation followed by training, then kyu level students join them at 8 am.

I'm sure Kaicho Nakamura kept the beach training from his Kyokushin days.

My dojo's was last Saturday. We were at a lake, so we didn't have the element of the waves. We did some kumite in the water toward the end. Very difficult to move around and throw any kicks. It wasn't serious kumite, but it did present a totally new challenge. I liked letting the juniors sweep me.

If you have the chance, definitely take it! Make a family day of it afterward. Stuff like this really adds to the atmosphere of the dojo.

My dojo hasn't posted pics yet. My wife forgot the camera. As for waterfall training... None around here that I know of. I lived in Niagara Falls, NY during grad school. Probably just a bit too much waterfall.

[sensei8]

Seido's honbu dojo does their annual beach training at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY. The link was to last year's event. This year's is on Sunday. I want to go, but can't make it. Black belts start at 4 am for a long meditation followed by training, then kyu level students join them at 8 am.

I'm sure Kaicho Nakamura kept the beach training from his Kyokushin days.

My dojo's was last Saturday. We were at a lake, so we didn't have the element of the waves. We did some kumite in the water toward the end. Very difficult to move around and throw any kicks. It wasn't serious kumite, but it did present a totally new challenge. I liked letting the juniors sweep me.

If you have the chance, definitely take it! Make a family day of it afterward. Stuff like this really adds to the atmosphere of the dojo.

My dojo hasn't posted pics yet. My wife forgot the camera. As for waterfall training... None around here that I know of. I lived in Niagara Falls, NY during grad school. Probably just a bit too much waterfall.

Thank you for sharing that, JR 137!!

[Bulltahr]

Seido's honbu dojo does their annual beach training at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY. The link was to last year's event. This year's is on Sunday. I want to go, but can't make it. Black belts start at 4 am for a long meditation followed by training, then kyu level students join them at 8 am.

I'm sure Kaicho Nakamura kept the beach training from his Kyokushin days.

We have a mid-winter beach training as well, this tradition goes all the way back to the Kyokushin days also.

I would be washing everything including belts after being in sea water.....

[SaiFightsMS]

Ive seen a few spectacularly grungy belts that really did not look good. Ever notice that in pictures of the old masters their belts did not look like a ratty old rag? After you sweat in your gi and your belt you go home and wash your gi. Now after a while the belt becomes offensive and when you pack your bag do you want a nice clean gi in the same bag with a belt that is making the entire bag smell like the pair of socks someone took off in basic training after a week on bivouac? I admit to washing my belt a few times by soaking it in cold water with a very mild soak, rinsing in cold water and drip drying but only when it was getting ripe.

[Mend]

In the International Tang Soo Do Federation I was told not to wash my belt. Your Dee represents everything you've gone through, and should reflect your journey, dirty or clean. It's proof of training when the belt ends sag or have been tied so many times they hang like string. Most of our older, higher ranking Dan members have ratty belts, the time and number of ties it takes to look like that can take a decade or more.

That being said - my belt does not have any particular odor to it. It smells like my gear and cotton. I'm fortunate in that my sweat doesn't smell terrible, I know others have smelly sweat and/or they don't wash their uniforms often enough and that can effect the belt.

For those who honor this request but have a nasty belt, I'd try to condition it with Febreeze or another form of deodorizer.

[sensei8]

In the International Tang Soo Do Federation I was told not to wash my belt. Your Dee represents everything you've gone through, and should reflect your journey, dirty or clean. It's proof of training when the belt ends sag or have been tied so many times they hang like string. Most of our older, higher ranking Dan members have ratty belts, the time and number of ties it takes to look like that can take a decade or more.

That being said - my belt does not have any particular odor to it. It smells like my gear and cotton. I'm fortunate in that my sweat doesn't smell terrible, I know others have smelly sweat and/or they don't wash their uniforms often enough and that can effect the belt.

For those who honor this request but have a nasty belt, I'd try to condition it with Febreeze or another form of deodorizer.

Solid post!! Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!!

[Mend]

Solid post!! Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!!

Thank you very much, I look forward to contributing where I can.

[sensei8]

Solid post!! Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!!

Thank you very much, I look forward to contributing where I can.

You're welcome! I look forward to reading your contributions!!

[SaiFightsMS]

Fabreeze is a fairly new product in the scheme of things. It doesn't matter if we agree or disagree the reasoning behind how or why we do things differently is interesting. I do remember one time someone asked me what a tan belt meant rank wise. It was an old black belt with all of the black worn off leaving just the layers on the inside except for an area of the ends hanging down under the knot.

[Nijil Jacob]

I wasn't told not to wash it, but I personally don't like not washing my belt for two reasons:-

1.Most belts if washed lose their color slightly and I prefer to have the solid color.

2.Secondly, as you grow in your karate experience in any of the belts your sweat gets registered onto the belt and you can see an almost brownish color to the belt(I don't know if everyone has it, but it might be because I sweat a lot) and has a different smell to it and that just reminds me of how much work I have put into it always motivating me to push forward and keep going.