How to Tie a BJJ Belt? (Really Easy Methods!)

Tying a BJJ belt is one of the most commonly asked questions in BJJ gyms. As you may know, I used to work in a martial arts gym in Samut Prakan and I heard this question every day.

There are a couple of variations which are preferred more by BJJ practitioners and these are standard, Hollywood, and super lock variation.

Let’s start with the visual representation of standard variation and in my opinion, this variation is the best way to tie a BJJ belt and the short video below shows all the steps clearly.  

 

It is pretty clear and easy to tie your jiu-jitsu belt with this variation, right? It is my go-to variation since you can do it in a very short amount of time. For example, while rolling on mats, your belt may get loose and you don’t want to deal with it for a long time right? After all, people may be waiting for you to start doing grappling or sparring on mats!

There is only one key point for the standard variation

Key Points

• After you get the low tail and high tail in your hands, you should always put the high tail on the low tail while making a knot.

Many people do this mistake and when that happens, due to the structure of this variation, your belt becomes easier to get loose and even though sometimes it looks decent, it generally looks quite awkward.

After finishing it, you can do little adjustments for a better fit and you can make sure that it stays on you during your jiu-jitsu sessions.

If you don’t have a belt or want to have a spare one, check out these belts and get a quality one which is made of jiu-jitsu gi fabric since these are just superior.

Let’s continue with Hollywood Variation

As many other BJJ practitioners, when it comes to anything related to BJJ, my main source is Rener Gracie and this includes tying my belt.

In the following video, he explains what to do and if you follow his instructions, you can look cool in your dojo.

 

Key Points

• You need to be careful about the length of your belt. Since some models are short and some models are long. It can change where you should end the wrap. Some gi companies use longer belt length measurements like Hayabusa and some of them use shorter measurements like Sanabul. The difference even might be 2-3 inches! So you need to adjust the first wrap according to its length.

Let’s continue with the final one which is Super Lock Variation…

Well, after I had watched the video below, I did this variation properly for the first time ; )

 

 

Advantages of Superlock: The tails are not on the front so it is less likely to become loose during your sessions and in addition to that, due to the technique you actually have more control over the tightness. So I can easily say that if you do the superlock variation right, your belt will be most likely stay in place. This is the best technique for not getting loose. In my opinion, it is the most stylish variation as well ; )

Disadvantages of Superlock: It also has some disadvantages. First of all, it is really hard to master. Sure with time, you can tie your BJJ belt with this variation quite fast but if you are just a beginner, trust me on this it will take time to master. Also, even if you master, it will still take longer time than the others.

Which One is My Favorite? I am not even blue belt yet. However, I trained on mats in my gym, which was in Samut Prakan, long enough so I want to share what I recommend here. Whether you try mastering arm lock with a grappling dummy or spar with your partner, before you start any session, do the superlock variation. In that way, your jiu-jitsu belts stay on you longer and your belt will bother you less during your groundwork sessions. However, let’s say that somehow you need to tie your belt again. Whether it is because of your partner or not, I strongly suggest you do the standard variation for this. Since, even if you are just a newbie, you can do it really fast and continue rolling on mats as soon as possible. After all, you don’t want to get “cold” in the middle of your session, right? In this way, you can get the benefits of this amazing martial art in an efficient way.

These (Standard, Hollywood, and Superlock) are best ways to tie a jiu-jitsu belt. Sure I have seen many other different tying methods from many people in Thailand. After all, they come from many different countries and dojos however these methods on this list are recommended by authoritative figures including my man Rener Gracie. There are some tutorials online however many people complain that they can’t see what is going on during the knotting. With that, these videos are pretty clear and I am sure that you can fully understand all of the techniques above.

These are everything you need to know and my recommendations about tying your belt. In addition to these, I also gathered some key points which you need to be careful about. However, if you know another efficient way to tie a BJJ belt or have anything to share just have a comment below and let’s have a discussion.

Image Courtesy of Gaelanbyg via Creative Commons License, Some Rights Reserved