How to Tie a Karate Belt

Well, you might not have seen Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan wearing martial arts belts in movies a lot, but they are sure to have worn it when they were slogging hard, mastering their amazing kicks and martial arts skills. Be it any martial art - Kung fu, karate or any other, the belt is an extremely important aspect of a beginners phase in martial arts. In fact, it may well happen that if you join a martial arts class, you will be taught to tie the belt first thing. In case you have dabbled into karate, or are planning to, information about how to tie karate belt wouldn't hurt, right?

Tying A Karate Belt

Step #1
The first thing before you actually go on to tie the belt is to ensure that the belt is not too long or short. The knots would not come about properly if the belt is short and if it is too long the ends may come in your way while practicing.

Step #2
The next step is to open the belt and locate the center fold. After that, place the center fold on your navel. Hold both ends out on the sides.

Step #3
Now wrap the ends of the belt around your back and round to the front again. The back of the belt has to line up together in a way that it is smooth. See if both the ends of the belt are of the same length. You can do that pulling the ends forward and lining them together. It is preferable to adjust the lengths if they are unequal at this juncture. It would not be possible to do this after you are done with the other steps in tying a karate belt.

Step #4
Now, pull the left end of the karate belt beneath the middle of the belt over your navel. Follow that by pulling it up and then out. This end should be pressed against your body and the other one should be (ideally) away from your body. This is a very important step while learning to tie karate belt.

Step #5
Take the ends of the belt and form an 'X' of the belt in front of you. Let the ends be pointed towards the ground. At this point, the end of the belt which you pulled under, has to be on top now.

Step #6
We are almost at the end of karate belt tying. In this step what you need to do is to thread the top end through the loop and get it through to the other side. Follow that by pulling the ends in opposite directions on the sides.

Step #7
Finally, pull the sides hard and tight to form a tight and secured knot. The knot will not move or loosen if this is done accurately. Again ensure that the ends are of the same length and are aligned.

There - this was how to tie karate belt. In other martial arts the procedure is more or less, almost the same, though there might be slight variations. But be it any martial art, it is extremely important to get this right. If the belt is not worn or tied properly, it is considered as a disrespect of the sensei (the master or teacher) and the art itself. That's all for now. All the best!