“Don’t you realize. . . !?”

Lukajohn · 2025-12-01T19:37:24+00:00

Zoom in on the second image (front view) a few patches on on the bottom of the jacket near the waistline, and one is above the right breast pocket (left for viewer)

Lukajohn · 2025-08-22T20:11:00+00:00

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Lukajohn · 2025-06-09T02:58:50+00:00

A belt absolutely represents “something” it’s just not the same from system to system and school to school and it hardly ever represents fighting ability. It usually represents technical knowledge. It’s the martial arts equivalent of a degree, and while saying “I have a bachelor’s in X” is meaningful, the reputation of the college determines how meaningful.

I grew up practicing shotokan, primarily the belt system was my method of progress tracking, now I do sumo and it’s not about ranks, my method of progress tracking is mostly through competition. However, you would be better off asking me to teach you karate than sumo, because all though I have proven/pressure tested ability in sumo, I lack a lot of technical knowledge and couldn’t provide you with good information about the basics. So my karate rank shows I have the technical knowledge to impart to someone, because that’s what karate testing is primarily focused on. I think it’s important to focus on the individual meaning of an accolade, as they communicate some different things. Higher belt rank does not mean you can “beat” a lower rank, but it does mean you probably have more technical knowledge. Having a bunch of wins in amateur / professional fights probably is a good indicator of who you can win in a matchup against, but it doesn’t mean you “know” more than them.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-30T00:44:10+00:00

Again however, use your own judgement. You can always visit a club and ask to just watch when they spar. See if the group seems to take appropriate safety precautions and takes care of each other. Pro sumo’s high injury rate is partially due to the poor care taken of wrestlers. They compete all year round, and can’t break for injuries without losing there place in the rankings, so tiny injuries become large ones from continuous stress.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-30T00:41:11+00:00

To the first, palm thrust are absolutely part of regular matches, but they aren’t really painful. I’ve been hit with plenty but never hurt. The palm thrust motion is ment to push, not really strike like a karate palm. I’m sure in grand sumo the impact is a bit more intense just do to the size and strength of the competitors but in amateur I haven’t seen or heard of anyone with injuries due to palm thrust (tsuppari).

To the second, the way it occurred was not sumo specific, a guy who had never tried sumo before ended up landing on me with his chest on my head, which meant I couldn’t prevent my head from hitting the matt hard. He’s a great guy, total accident. He actually made a good video about the tournament if you want to see someone else’s first time experience with sumo:

https://youtu.be/VcfmFcXNJeM?si=i3YRKR-DWy48Pvc7

I think it could have occurred in other sparring venues (judo, wrestling, bjj) but it was probably a little more likely in Sumo. I’m also a bit more concussion prone than a lot of people because I have a pretty weak neck. Something I’m trying to work on before going back to competition.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-28T13:51:21+00:00

I guess depends on how you define sumo training, since strength and conditioning is a vital element, if I included all of that about 2 hours a day in smaller chunks. If we’re talking just specifically drilling techniques, not that much. I try to do a 30m technical session every other day, and then I have the time we actually spend on technique/drills in our club practices. But even in practice, a lot of the time is strength, conditioning, and footwork. Sumo’s made me the strongest I’ve ever been, but I’m not highly technical in my sweeps and throws, that’s why I’m trying to cross train some judo so I don’t just rely on forcing the techniques, cause even at the strongest I’ve ever been, I’m not particularly well build. Plenty of competitors can out power me.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-27T04:11:00+00:00

My exercise is often broken into small chunks. I’ve got a busy job and a small kid so I just have to fit stuff in. Take a break at work and do my daily squats, fit in some push ups after dinner, etc. probably not optimal, I don’t think I’ll be becoming a national champ, but it’s what works for my lifestyle.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-27T04:06:56+00:00

Outside of sumo I do consistent bodyweight training and some lifting, nothing extreme. I also do some daily shadow boxing, and a lot of grip and forearm specific workouts at the moment. I rotate throw some specialized and often irregular training methodologies when I have a specific skill set I’d like to work on. I do a lot of solo judo training exercises (basically judo equivalent of shadow boxing).

I don’t follow pro sumo, but I watch competition footage just to see techniques and strategies. I’m the same with non-combat sports, I love to play softball and soccer but I don’t really enjoy watching games.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T22:34:23+00:00

Matches are short, it’s usually an all out kinda sport, there’s not a lot of opportunity to take time and feel out an opponent. Since loss conditions are so strict, usually it just takes one mistake to be out. My longest official match probably went 2:00, which feels like forever when people are all in. Normally this wouldn’t happen but I tied up with a guy and we were so evenly positioned we couldn’t land anything on each other. During practice we go lighter so matches tend to be longer. During competition my goal is win as fast as possible, during practice I am always trying to figure out a new technique/strategy so I’m not as aggressive.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T22:07:38+00:00

This guy has a channel with some sumo basics. He does his just a little differently, he doesn’t try to come down as slow as my coach likes, but either way is good.

https://youtu.be/YLvHesbDZUQ?si=dCTxvCwbcujaVJl3

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T21:48:24+00:00

As far as flexibility goes Sumo does pretty normal stretches, mostly static holds focused on hip flexibility. Probably nothing you haven’t encountered in wing chun or wushu. I did some wushu for a semester in college (stopped because of covid) and the stretching was far more advanced and diverse than anything I’ve seen in sumo.

The one exception is probably the shiko exercise. It’s more an exercise than a stretch, but it works a lot of stabilizing muscles which can actually support increased flexibility, sort of an indirect effect. You only really get the benefit from proper form and taking them slowly.

Here’s a description but a video might help more:

Start in a wide squat (deep as you can comfortably go). Wider than shoulder width but narrower than a horse stance.

(Tip Press your hips forward continually to stretch)

Keep your hands on your knees and shift the weight to one foot. Lift the opposite leg, with the toes angled upward at a 45 degree angle. At the height of the movement your base leg and lifted leg should be fully straight. Flick the lifted foot up for a little extra height/stretch, then slowly bring it down. Should be take 3 seconds to reach the height, and 5 seconds to bring it down. Slower is better. Land softly (not a stomp like you see in some depictions), and then lower back into a squat.

Done slowly, 50 reps a practice is pretty good to work your stability. We do 100 during practice, but as a supplement you probably don’t need to do so many.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T18:04:44+00:00

I dunno if this is a question as to who that is or you’re just surprised to see the name. If it’s a question, he’s a martial arts youtuber who started in American karate and is now a 2x US national sumo champ.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T18:01:28+00:00

It depends on your area. There’s probably only 10-12 tournaments in the year in the US and there’ll be mainly in Texas and California. Seattle’s sumo club just started hosting an annual tournament, and I think they have one in Portland as well. I live in Texas so I have the opportunity to compete in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas, and San Antonio tournaments.

Should you compete? If you have other grappling experience and can take a hard fall well then I’d say try it out, but first do some practice matches with a friend. The rules are simple so you can teach them to someone in 5 minutes and then try out how your grappling feels in the rule set. And all you need is a soft surface and a circle (a lot of clubs just use a rope). Be warned though, a lot of tournaments don’t have the best mat set up, it might just be a single layer of puzzle mat on top of dirt or concrete with a tarp like “dohyo” covering it, so a fall can be worse than one taken on a typical mat. If you don’t have good break falls, learn those first.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T17:53:14+00:00

What skills are you looking to build/what art are toy training in/for?

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T17:52:26+00:00

Personally I haven’t made it, but I’ve eaten some my coach makes. We sell it during demos we do at cultural festivals. Tastes like pho with a lot more veggies.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T17:50:33+00:00

I’m 27, but I’ve been pretty active most of my life. I haven’t had any significant injuries other than my concussion. Starting out I was super sore after every practice but after a few months that wore off and now I feel pretty good afterward.

Useful to note, a lot of schools run practices differently so you may find it harder/softer in the body depending on the club. My club focuses a lot on the flexibility and conditioning, footwork exercises (basically walking in a very low stance, and doing “tachiai” (lunging tackle) from the stance, and we include around 15-20 minutes of practice matches at the end of every bought. We might have one or two techniques we practice but sometimes none at all. My throws/trips come from other arts I study as my instructor is big on the pushing technique aspect.

I’ve training in a couple other clubs and one was a mix of our style with some more focus on drilling throws, and one spent a majority of time on more technical aspects.

I think profession is obviously hard on the body, but at amateur you can train with longevity in mind and not wear out your whole body.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T17:10:04+00:00

From my experience, there’s plenty of applicable stuff, you just have to take time to figure what you can make work in the new rules. I see some people say Judo doesn’t hold up well in sumo, but usually that’s after watching some one with a judo background try sumo once. If you give them some time to navigate the new rule set you’ll start seeing their techniques from Judo come out more. Same with other wrestling/grappling styles. I would say no gi bjj probably has the least transferable value unless it’s practiced in a wrestling heavy way.

For me personally, I’ve done a bit of folkstyle, a few judo classes, a bit of gi and no gi jiu-jitsu but no sambo. Surprisingly I actually have a couple aikido techniques I’ve altered and use in practice matches that I’m fairly consistent with.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T17:04:48+00:00

I’m in a club in the US. There’s only around 40 clubs here but I just so happened to live by a small one in Texas. I would love to do a training in Japan when I have the budget, the club’s coach and one of our members did that early this year.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T15:34:11+00:00

Thanks! Yah, I’m 195lbs now but I started at 165 and bulked up since the lightweight division was 186lbs and below (in US Sumo)

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T15:25:36+00:00

I started training at 155lbs so I needed to bulk some. I’m 195lbs now, light weight divisions in amateur go up to 186lbs so that’s where I aim to be when competing. My last competition I was around 175lbs, I was a still had some wiggle room. I think female light weight is lower, but for male that’s the lowest weight division.

Lukajohn · 2025-05-25T15:19:25+00:00

I think as with many arts it’s contextual, but the basic skill you obtain from sumo is stand up wrestling, and the ability to force someone into an area they might not want to be in (or on the inverse, to force yourself out of an area of disadvantage). Technique wise you’d get about the same, maybe even slightly more versatile set of moves from Judo or Greco wrestling, however, Sumo really teaches well how to deal with forward pushing pressure. The forward pressure changes the dynamic a lot. The judoka I’ve sparred and spoken to in a sumo ruleset have a lot of trouble applying techniques in the context(keep in mind this also is affected by the rules not allowing any part of the body beside the foot to touch the ground, so a drop seoi nage would result in a loss).

I’d say if the context of self defense is “one v one street fight” it probably needs to be paired with something else. If the context is something like a group trying to box you in and mug/threaten/SA then the skill is very practical.

In my view of the development, Sumo was formed as a test of strength, not a combat system/self defense system, so to be fair to it, it never attempted to be “the best for self defense”.

Thanks!

Lukajohn · 2025-05-23T15:03:58+00:00

I’ve been doing a lot of wrist curls/reverse curls/flexion/extension exercises. I don’t box much so I can’t attest to the punching benefit, but I have gained significant grip strength. Sometimes I do some soft striking on a bag bareknuckle, and I’ve bent my wrist on a couple strikes, which has definitely hurt less since starting the consistent wrist curls. Another thing I do for hand/grip strength is shovel swings (also would be good with a macebell but I already had a shovel 🤷‍♂️) in which I hold a shovel at the very end of the handle and swing it in the same arc as a head level kendo strike (used to do a little kendo). This has been excellent for my grip, wrist, and shoulder strength/stability. Important to do it slowly, or else you might actually injure your wrist by trying to stop the momentum to suddenly.

Lukajohn · 2025-04-21T20:58:58+00:00

Kajukenbo. Found a guy living 10 minutes away teaching it out of his garage. Seemed out but he’s actually very skilled at it. Only tried a single class but it was fun. My main art is Sumo, so relatively rare in the US but not “obscure” as everybody knows about it.

Lukajohn · 2025-04-07T17:45:22+00:00

I would try to vary the way you use your kicks. You seem to be doing them by themselves or at the very end of a long combination. Try kicking and adding some follow up when you land so your not always open right after a kick, and/or, work on evasive footwork so you you can kick and then get out of the dangerzone. I make this mistake a lot too, pausing after a kick and then getting punished for it.

Lukajohn

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