Training and Technique Discussions for Amateur Sumo

[Kasutera]

Hi everyone,

This post is for anyone who competes/trains/has competed/has trained in amateur sumo. I've been training for a year now, and have been lucky to get some guidance from former pros Daishochi and Yamamotoyama. Usually when I train with them, the practice is very Japanese-style, with shiko, suriashi, matches, butsukari, then ending with more shiko.

Sometimes, though, I'll have practices where it's just a couple of us aspiring amateurs and no former pros. I was thinking about how when I wrestled in high school, we didn't always do just straight matches, we often did positioning and technique drills as well, and how it might be helpful to adapt that kind of practice strategy to sumo when it's just me and my training partners. I got Thomas Zabel's book, and it mostly just describes all the things mentioned above, plus a list of kimarite, so it didn't offer many suggestions on how to train outside of that.

Has anyone else come up with different drills or exercises that they use in their practices asides from shiko, suriashi, and butsukari? Just curious how others approach their training.

Thanks!

Edited April 20, 2015 by Kasutera

[Kasutera]

I think I might change this topic just to be a general thread about sumo competition training and strategy, because I had this question pop into my head:

I'm on the shorter side of most of my competitors. I'm about 5'6". This can be an advantage to get in low under people's centers of gravity, but sometimes when a taller guy with a longer reach is able to keep me off his belt with tsuppari, or nodowa especially, it can be hard to recover. What's a good strategy for countering nodowa beside just getting my head in his chest right off the tachiai before he can extend his arm? My first instinct is to try and jab my hand into his elbow and shrug his arm to the side so I can counter with tottari, but that doesn't always work.

[Manekineko]

I think I might change this topic just to be a general thread about sumo competition training and strategy, because I had this question pop into my head:

As the original poster, you should be able to change the thread title by editing the first post.

[Kasutera]

I think I might change this topic just to be a general thread about sumo competition training and strategy, because I had this question pop into my head:

As the original poster, you should be able to change the thread title by editing the first post.

So I can, and I have! Thanks Manekineko!