From The Archive :
4/14/19 – While without a gym membership
At age 9 I remember being in a hotel lobby, and as my father was checking in, I was busy paying attention to a small TV on a table in the opposite corner of the room.
On it was something of supreme interest to a 9 year old boy…sumo wrestling on ESPN2 or similar.
“Cool, look at the fat guys smashing into each other.”
“Ha, their butts are showing.”
↑ Sample thoughts.
And though their butts may have been showing, and though they were big fat guys, the muscularity of the glutes and thighs highly impressed me at the time.
The impressive lower body development (traps too) make sense as adaption to the demands of the sport and factoring in the huge bodyweights.
The sumo wrestler Byamba, whom I walked by multiple times at the US Sumo Open a few years back, had the most impressive leg development that I’ve ever seen in person. While they were not defined legs, he had proved their athletic abilities, and the sheer bulk outmassed those of any bodybuilder I’ve met including either of the two 330lb dudes (one of whom was an absolute monster).
Shiko, the squat, leg lift, and stomp exercise is a surprisingly difficult bodyweight squat variation. I generally do not put my hands on my legs for them.
The sliding (I’ve done a few amateur practices out in LA) built lactic acid up right quick.
Of course most of the sport itself is analogulous to a quick, powerful, sled or car push with a resisting superheavyweight.
I know I could shiko my way to a 495+ squat, using them to build my squat while away from the gym. Looking back, I was doing shiko (and Hindu squats, I feel shiko is the more max strength building of the two) in the months leading up to me rejoining a gym and hitting my first 405 squat.
A shiko habit would be good to form as an experiment towards seeing my squat improve while away from the gym and heavy barbell work.
Persistence & Tenacity