Kirves Posted January 27, 2003 Posted January 27, 2003 Imagine how nice it would smell and how "healty" would be to wear a durty, bloody, sweaty belt Well, doesn't it tell something that I really have to imagine it? 'Coz I've never seen that. It may just be in your imagination that if you don't constantly wash the belt it will turn into some green slimy oozemonster! Lucky you don't train in the same dojo I do. We often train outdoors and our gis and faces get very dirty from grass, mud, sand and whatever the ground happens to contain. Usually 1-2 classes a week are done outdoors, sometimes on lawn, sometimes on asphalt, sometimes in woods, during winter in snow or on ice and during summer sometimes we try fighting half immersed in water. This is lake, sea or river water, not clean pool water. Check the colors of the knees and backs of these gis: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-41385/Sum01.JPG http://home.swipnet.se/~w-41385/Sum04.JPG Do you really think that the belt is the most dirty thing you encounter in these kinds of training sessions?
CheekyMusician Posted January 27, 2003 Posted January 27, 2003 It was dirty mainly from exercises we'd been doing on the floor. My club trains in a sports hall and there's people in before us using it, so the floor is always grubby. Whenever we lie on our backs, or kneel etc. we always get up and have to wipe some dirt off our gis, so the belt was pretty filthy by the time I washed it. Our classes always begin with sweeping the floor clean. As I said, the hall we use is a hired hall, not our own dojo, so we don't bring brushes with us to clean the hall before we use it. I've never been to Japan, so I can't verify this, but supposedly the Japanese think that the "tradition" of not washing the belt is quite disgusting. Smile. It makes people wonder what you've been up to.
Kirves Posted January 27, 2003 Posted January 27, 2003 As I said, the hall we use is a hired hall, not our own dojo, so we don't bring brushes with us to clean the hall before we use it. Oh, I forgot to mention, we also use a hired hall, and in there are brushes available. Just ask the janitor or the cleaning lady. It takes less than five minutes, usually the floor is clean before the last one is out of the dressing room. BTW: The reason we train outdoors so much is because we use a hired hall. We don't always have access to the hall when we'd like to and we can't afford to hire too many hours anyway so we train once or twice a week freely outdoors to accommodate our budget (and to make the training more realistic).
monkeygirl Posted January 27, 2003 Posted January 27, 2003 Alrighty guys, now we're just plain off-topic... 1st dan & Asst. Instructor TKD 2000-2003No matter the tune...if you can rock it, rock it hard.
Kirves Posted January 27, 2003 Posted January 27, 2003 Alrighty guys, now we're just plain off-topic... Oh, C'mon, isn't it true that the gi will shrink when you train in water? And after very dirty training you have to wash it extra warm and it'll shrink it more? No? Okay, I'll shut up...
Mr Heel Hook Posted January 27, 2003 Author Posted January 27, 2003 Welp, I put my Gi in for 24 minutes. And PRESTO CHANGO, it worked like a charm. I am very satisfied with the results. Oh, and I put it in so long cause the material is so heavy and think. At first I put it in for 10 minutes, but it wasnt even warm. Though it's called a double weave, I swear the lapel is triple. "A deer admires a lion. But all the members of our family are lions. So it doesn't matter which lion I admire. " -Rener Gracie-
ramymensa Posted January 28, 2003 Posted January 28, 2003 Lucky you don't train in the same dojo I do ... Do you really think that the belt is the most dirty thing you encounter in these kinds of training sessions? I don't train in the same dojo you do, but we also use a hired hall and it's dirty. sometimes we slip because of the fine dust on the floor. My gi is always dirty so of course I wash it. When I was a beginner my white belt, afterwards the yellow and so on got quite gray. and they looked pathetic put on an imaculate gi. So I washed them. Not as often as the gi, but when the got colured a little they were cleaned. And this didn't affect my ascension and Funakoshi doesn't visit me in my dreams to tell me I'm a sinner and I've done a great disgrace to my holy belt. If you train outdoors and get as dirty as I saw in the picture I guess you wash your gi, don't you? And knowing how nice were the places it got dirty you still prefer to wear a dirty belt, just for the sake of a myth? I think because I'm not a guy I'm almost maniac when it comes to personal hygene. I don't give a d..n on traditions like those (although I doubt AGAIN they are real). It feels better to be clean from head to toes so be it. World Shotokan Karate
LOILOI44 Posted January 29, 2003 Posted January 29, 2003 Traditionally belts were never washed. That is how colored belts came to be. Everybody starts with white. Eventually it turns yellow from dirt and sweat. Then it would turn green, brown and black. Finally it would fray and the inside threads would come out making it a white belt again. I always tried to wear a dirty white belt as a badge of honor.
KickChick Posted January 29, 2003 Posted January 29, 2003 (edited) Just remember your belt can shrink too (trying to get this back on topic) ... if you are one of those people that don't follow belief, Take care in washing the gi belt. If you wash it with your white gi, the colors will run. Wash it like you do your clothes.... whites with whites, colors with colors, darks with darks. Don't bleach it. Don't dry in dryer, it too will shrink!!!....allow plenty of time for your belt to air dry. And because belts take a long time to dry out, maybe you should have more than one (like a gi) .... and you can trade them back and forth, wearing one belt while you dry the other. I mean really...if you do get your belt unsightly dirty I do believe it is more "respectful" to wash it since sweat is composed of water, salt, and it is nearly chemically identical to urine. Edited January 29, 2003 by KickChick
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