Shuanfu’s Dojo

Lounging in a phat Sumo

Like everyone else with a blog and one of these in their house, it is time for me to write the “I got a Sumo Lounge in the mail today” post. After a week or so of waiting, the FedEx man dropped a hunormous -that saying it was so big it was both ‘huge’ and ‘gigantic’- and soon after this came out of the box:

At first I was underwhelmed. It seemed like a too large bean bag missing half of it’s needed filling. And it was huge. It takes up the entire center of my living room. I decided to spread it out:

And it was larger still. I thought “meh”. I plopped down onto the huge throw pillow and was unimpressed and uncomfortable. But then I figured something out: you got to make the Sumo work for you and your needs. I wiggled. I shifted. Soon after, I found comfort bliss.

What I was doing wrong in the beginning was that I was expecting the Sumo to automatically form to shapes to make me feel it’s comfort. But the truth is you have to find your own way of using the Lounge and once you do it is an unbelievable thing.

After playing around with it -and napping- for awhile, I took a few pics of my favorite configurations. Since it was 11pm and I have a severe lack of models like on the Sumo site at the house -tonight’s their night off- I had to find a new spokes model. So below I humbly present my three favorite Sumo ‘settings’:

The Persian

This was the first one I actually discovered, completely by accident. Basically, you make an indent for your bottom then lay on the splayed out Sumo as if you were a Persian prince. With a few adjustments, you can put more fill at your head for a great TV watching setup. The Lounge conforms to your body; great for someone like me who has back pain from time to time and needs to shift a lot. Once I found the sweet spot I fell asleep, and didn’t wake up for almost two hours.

The Squat

This picture doesn’t do this super comfy ‘chair’ justice. After my nap, I started to play around with the Sumo and discovered a way to quickly make a makeshift chair, complete with arms and a sturdy back. It’s quite nice, and depending on how you sit you can either sit high on the Sumo or sink low into it’s soft arms.

The Game

This is actually a variation of a position found on the Sumo site, with corners tucked in and out of the way. I call it the Game because the Sumo now officially replaces my cruddy “video chair” -that’s already been claimed as a bed by the cat- as my new and best gaming chair. It’s so much better, mainly because it actually holds me and doesn’t rock at random. Also, if you get it just right, you can have a headrest while you play. And, unlike the video chair, I can completely reconfigure the Sumo for when I want to sit up during those ‘intense gaming moments’; hey it could happen one day.

There were other configurations I discovered, but these are my hands down favorite. Plus, one of the great thing about the Sumo is that there are no rules; you get to create the style of seating that best suites you and your needs.

All in all, after a bit of playing around with it, I can’t be happier with the Sumo as an addition to my living room. Not only is it a great new ‘chair’ for me, it will provide an excellent piece of furniture for movie or game nights.

The Sumo is available directly from their site at http://www.sumolounge.com/. While the price is a little step at $129, the amount of use it will get make the price worth it. Heck, I paid $60 for the video chair and other large bean bags that aren’t as poseable as the Sumo are as expensive, if not more. Plus, I’ve read of it’s durability on other blogs, from kids using it -with all the rough housing including- as well as people taking it to outdoor settings and even the beach with no problems. I’ve already seen how durable and easy it is to clean: my cat could not claw it no matter how hard it tried, and a bit of spilled ice cream whipped of with just a simple paper towel and no stain left to be seen. I can see possibly taking the Sumo camping to use as a bed in the tent; man would it make everyone else jealous. The only real negative to me actually is the size. Luckily, I have a dead corner I can throw the Sumo into if I need it out of the way.

So it you have the extra cash and room, and your looking for a great conversation piece of a lounge that everyone will want to try and eventually fight over, I highly recommend the Sumo Lounge.

I think I’ll grab the cat, throw it back into Persian mode, and sleep until dawn..

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