Belt Frays

[Klondike93]

I like what you said deaf, when I was coming up I thought it looked cool to be frayed, showed in my mind that they had been at it for a while. I will not wash it, throw it on the floor treat it like it's just a belt, cause to it's not. It's my first black belt and gets worn like it. When or if I get a black belt in Kenpo, I'll probably retire my first one and wear the new out. But I still won't wash it, throw it about stuff like that, it means too much to me for that kind of treatment.


:asian:

 

[tonbo]

My instructor wears a greatly frayed and worn belt that is years and years old. It is two levels below his current rank (he is 6th, the belt is his 4th degree). He wears that most often because that is the last one that he was awarded by SGM Ed Parker. He hardly ever wears his 5th or 6th degree belt, and if I hadn't been there when he was promoted to 6th, I wouldn't know he *was* one.

My own Black Belt is still pretty new. I will wear it until I get my new rank; then, I will wear *that* belt. I will keep all of my belts not currently being worn in my closet, in an area reserved just for them.

Do I care if it frays? Yes, but only because it shows that I have put in the time on it. My red/black belt (3d degree brown) was beginning to fray around the area where I tied my knot.....but that was after having it for three years. And even then, it was just *beginning* to fray.

I will take a fraying belt as a badge of honor, but only if it is *earned*. It is a reminder to me of the hours of time spent learning and working on my art. However, as pointed out, it is just a belt, when all is said and done. Using the term "man" generally: "The belt doesn't make the man, the man makes the belt".

To all those who "enhance" their belts with sandpaper frays, shame on you. You obviously have no respect for what you *should* have learned up to this point. Don't you realize that a Black Belt is simply an advanced *white* belt? Earning a Black Belt means that now, you are *really* ready to *start* learning the art. Ponder that one for a while......would you fray your white belt? Why not?

Peace--

 

[Carbon]

I honestly don't think belts should be worn. I think it intemedates someone before they even fight. Say I'm sparring a BB and I'm uh I don't know all the schools ranking but I'm a brown belt. I think if he didn't know I was a brown belt and I didn't know that he was a BB one or the other might hold back differently and the outcome of the fight might be different. This is like streetfighting you can only judge how hard an opponent is giong to be by how he looks not by his belt so I think belts should just be given to show you gained another level even though I don't think levels should be in a form of material. Then you can hang it in your room and go to your dojo with just a regular white belt, or whatever belt you like to hold up your pants

 

[Klondike93]

Originally posted by Carbon

I honestly don't think belts should be worn. I think it intemedates someone before they even fight. Say I'm sparring a BB and I'm uh I don't know all the schools ranking but I'm a brown belt. I think if he didn't know I was a brown belt and I didn't know that he was a BB one or the other might hold back differently and the outcome of the fight might be different. This is like streetfighting you can only judge how hard an opponent is giong to be by how he looks not by his belt so I think belts should just be given to show you gained another level even though I don't think levels should be in a form of material. Then you can hang it in your room and go to your dojo with just a regular white belt, or whatever belt you like to hold up your pants

Judging a streetfight by how the opponent looks is not very practical. Just cause the guy is big makes him tougher than a smaller fighter? Not in my opinion. I personaly know of a couple people that if you saw them in the street you would think you could take them without even breaking a sweat. Yet they there is no way I would want to knock heads with them on the street.

:asian:

 

[Kirk]

Originally posted by Klondike93



Judging a streetfight by how the opponent looks is not very practical. Just cause the guy is big makes him tougher than a smaller fighter? Not in my opinion. I personaly know of a couple people that if you saw them in the street you would think you could take them without even breaking a sweat. Yet they there is no way I would want to knock heads with them on the street.

Agreed! If the smaller fighters can't hit hard, I wish someone
would come to my school and tell that to the "smaller" fighters

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Rankings are mostly subjective. It really depends on the art and traditions. I've wiped the floor with blackbelts, and had my head handed to me by white belts. It all depends on the situation.

If you choose to wash your belt, the only advice I can offer is, make sure it don't shrink. I washed my size 6, and it ended up smaller than my girlfriends size 2. >_< As a result, I've stopped wearing it. I expect to get my Yellow belt sometime before christmas, so no worries.

:asian:

 

[fist of fury]

Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz

Rankings are mostly subjective. It really depends on the art and traditions. I've wiped the floor with blackbelts, and had my head handed to me by white belts. It all depends on the situation.

If you choose to wash your belt, the only advice I can offer is, make sure it don't shrink. I washed my size 6, and it ended up smaller than my girlfriends size 2. >_< As a result, I've stopped wearing it. I expect to get my Yellow belt sometime before christmas, so no worries.

:asian:

When I was a teen my mom did that to me. She thought she was being nice by washing it for me.

 

[Shinzu]

when i was promoted to the next belt level my wife washed my old my brown belt. i said "NOOOOO"..LOL. i didn't check to see if it fit anymore because i wasn't going to wear it.

instead i hung it up where the rest of my rank belts are displayed.

 

[Kroy]

When it comes right down to it, we all can pretty well tell who the designer frays are.

 

[karatekid1975]

Originally posted by deadhand31
Different systems have different procedures. In my system, Ji do Kwon TKD, we follow the korean tradition. The belt is never to be washed. I sometimes wish this wasn't the case, because every class my uniform gains 5 pounds of water-weight, as well as my belt. If i forget to air it out, it really reeks the next day.

As for the black belts, we keep the same belt all the way to 3rd dan. After that, they give us a new belt for 4th dan. I'm not sure how it proceeds past that, as our chain has only 1 4th dan that i know of, and one 5th, 6th, and 9th dan.

Same here. The black belts in my dojang where the same belt from 1st to 3rd dan. They are just plain black belts with nothing on them. At fourth dan, you get a new one with Korean writing on it. But none of them have rank stripes on them. Some of the BB's have faded belts, but I haven't seen any frayed yet (except the master instructors belt, is slightly frayed).

My blue belt is a little faded. I got it, had it for a while, then changed schools. I still wear it. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Now the people that purposely "fade and fray" their belts, should lose it. That, to me, is disrespect.

 

[jdmills]

The people that fray their belts (either with sandpaper, a knife, or repeated washings) prove nothing. I too have been slaughtered by white belts and beaten black belts. I knew an orange belt in Maryland who had 9 years of training and could spar with very good black belts and I've seen black belts with 1 1/2 years of training who are kidding themselves.

In karate (I studied Kenpo), you get what you earn, not what you pay for.

 

[Shinzu]

yep, just because you wear the knowledge, doesn't mean you know the knowledge.

 

[Matt Stone]

My all time favorite was a young BB whose BB was frayed to the point of being little more than strings attaching one completely unfrayed, unfaded, brand new looking portion of belt to the other. It was so obviously a hack job that it was all I could do not to laugh...

A belt worn to display its damage is nothing more than a display of poorly disciplined ego. To wear a brand new belt because of the image it portrays is also a show of ego. Wear a belt. Or do not. Wear one for what it does, not for what it represents or symbolizes.

It is what it is... A belt, a portion of a clothing ensemble for a particular event, ultimately no more special than a pair of sneakers for a runner, or a dumbbell for a weight lifter. And, having washed mine many times after workouts that soiled it considerably, I can firmly attest to the falsehood that you will "lose your strength and skill" by washing your belt...

Gambarimasu.
:asian: :tank: :asian:

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by Kirk

I'm not a b.b., so maybe it's something
that I'll understand once I get it .... but when it starts looking
shabby .. what's wrong with replacing it?

At the dojang where I train it's expected that when you show up to train it's always in a clean dobok, and looking squared away. No BB ever comes in with a beat up, skanky looking belt around their waist. If it gets to that point then it's time to retire that sweaty, smelly thing.

I haven't been a BLACK for too long, but as soon as my BB starts to fray I'll be replacing it ASAP. I'd rather be representive of my learned MA skills rather than a frayed, shabby looking BB. What a black belt represents is much more about the individual person then about the strip of cloth wrapped around that person's waist... :asian: