What Sumo Wrestlers Can Teach You About Weight Loss

There is only one sport in which athletes try to gain weight and exercise as much fat as possible: wrestling. Size is a clear advantage for sumo wrestlers, so they really do everything they can on the pound.

We thought it would be interesting to see some of the things that a sumo wrestler can do to get fat, so you can do the opposite to help you lose fat.

1. Skip breakfast. Reducing their food after eight hours of fasting during sleep makes their metabolism work at half speed, as if sleeping, so they burn fewer calories during the day.

What you can learn from it: If you're trying to lose weight, eat breakfast as soon as you wake up. Eat your "body" metabolism and power up to your body's fat burning engine.

2. Empty abdominal exercises. Without food for fuel, sumo wrestlers' metabolic rates remain low until they burn fewer calories during work. Doing whatever exercise can quickly reduce the amount of sugar available (your body's energy source) in your bloodstream. When your blood sugar level goes down, your body thinks you're starving and tries to maintain fat by shutting down your metabolism.

What you can learn from it: If you're trying to lose weight, it's important that you eat before and after resistance training. Always eat a good meal or snack 30 to 60 minutes before exercising and again in one hour after exercising to avoid blood sugar decline.

3. Eat only a few times a day. A well-known sumo wrestler reportedly ate 10 bowls of soup, eight bowls of rice, 130 pieces of sushi and 25 pieces of BBQ beef ... all in one meal, and still had room for desert. Because their bodies can only process so much food at once, the rest is stored as FAT.

What you can learn from it: When you pack all your calories into some great food, you get fat. If you're trying to lose weight, a smarter approach is to spread your calories throughout the day by eating three or four meals and snacks in between. It prevents the drop and spikes in your blood sugar, increases your metabolism, and prevents you from becoming too hungry to eat too much.

4. Take a nap or sleep after a meal. Sumo Wrestlers always lie down for a long nap or a long night's sleep after their "big" meal that day. This is because when the sumo wrestling body is in sleep mode, all its functions, including its metabolism, slow down. So all the food sitting in his stomach is stored as fat.

What you can learn from it: If you're trying to lose weight, wait at least an hour after eating before going to bed.

5. Drink too much alcohol. To pack in pounds, some sumo wrestlers drink beer with a caseload, often consuming 50 bottles or more at a time. This causes their adrenal glands to release a hormone called cortisol into their bloodstream. Cortisol works to slow down metabolism and increase fat storage.

What you can learn from this: If you try to lose weight, simplify your alcohol use. When you start to feel "buzz," you have enough.

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