Upper Arm Sugo

Fostering adaptive, embodied grappling through sustained struggle over upper arm control.

• If you’re new to LMA, start with our table of contents

Physical and emotional safety rules

• Fingernails trimmed and filed.

• Tight clothing only (e.g., rashguard): prevents fingers from catching or scratching exposed skin. We avoid tank tops at the LMA Learning Lab to minimize scratches and skin infections.

• No jewelry, no zippers, no pockets, or holes in shirts: nothing your fingers or your partner's fingers can get caught in. We recommend MMA shorts.

• Mouthguard.

• Keep heads touching or crisscrossed to reduce the risk of accidental clashes.

• Keep heels floating or light, and maintain space between your feet to protect your knees and prevent falls. This will also allow you to turn and drive forward. The sapling stance is not fixed or rigid but dynamic and living.

• Avoid pinching or scratching while gripping. Match the body's contours with your hand shape to avoid jamming fingers or injuring your partner. Only the wrist is generally safe for a closed grip. You mostly want to keep your fingers together like a clamp. Know the risks: whenever you detach your thumb from the rest of your fingers, your thumb becomes isolated and exposed.

• Avoid grabbing your partner's fingers.

• To fully ensure safe contact, you can wear work gloves (they'll also be helpful in other activities).

• To keep hair out of your face and protect your ears, consider wearing a rugby headguard. Once fitted, make sure you hide or cut off any unnecessary laces in the back to prevent fingers from getting caught in them.

• Physical ritual at the start and end: bump fists or use another signal to consent to start and to agree to end. Acknowledge each other's struggle at the end—don't just walk away or bump fists while turning away from your partner.

In the Lab, we say "sugo" to begin ("let's work hard") and again to end ("good effort"). Spectators may also shout "sugo" as encouragement. Practitioners might yell "sugo" during the activity to give each other energy and support.

The activity

The control point is anywhere on the upper arm—shoulders, biceps, or triceps. Once you gain control, destabilize your partner by pushing, pulling, turning, or tilting. It's up to your partner to regain balance and seek their own control.

Remember, sugo. Keep playing without reset. The point is struggle. Struggling doesn't mean you're doing it wrong; it means you're doing it right. Part of this game involves reframing struggle away from the Western colonial context and its associated values (e.g., good effort rather than you are good).

Expanding imagination for exploration

The control point is the upper arm, but you aren't limited to touching only the upper arms—or even only with your hands. Explore indirect approaches that might lead to a more stable control grip.

Anywhere below the waist is off-limits.

Rather than setting a fixed time limit—though you may need one for logistical reasons—allow practitioners to determine their own breaks through mutual awareness and communication.

Like most folk games, this activity thrives outdoors, where continuous movement is possible and where the environment can join the play.

Good struggle.

– Sam