Bodybuilding and traveling while living in Japan (GetFitJP)

Okay, so you've drank the protein shakes and done the reps. You've replaced the burgers with asparagus and broccoli and now you're shredded. Your veins are bulging and your body fat is below 10%. It's summer and you've hit all the beaches and shown off your physique to people there, but something is missing. You start thinking to yourself if this is as far as you can go. You didn't spend all those days at gym just for a few splashes at the beach and to cover it all up at the end. No, it's not enough and yes, you can go further. Let me introduce you to the two biggest bodybuilding organizations in Japan, Japan Body Building Federation (JBBF) and the National Physique Committee Japan (NPCJ). These two are the two main bodybuilding organizations in Japan. Now if you are like me you'd want to sign up for both because coming from a sales background it's all about numbers right? If you compete in more contests then your chances of winning in one increa...

It took awhile for me to write this article, the reason being that it was hard for me to wrap my head around just how demanding the Spartan race was. I had watched videos and seen clips on social media but that did not do the race justice. Let's rewind a bit and first look at why I signed up for the race in the first place. It was in the summer of 2018 and I had just finished my bodybuilding contests. I'm a fitness junkie so I was looking for my next high when I saw a post on Instagram about a Spartan Race in Sendai at Kobo Stadium. That is 10 mins or less from my gym on foot, so it was perfect for me. What pushed me to join it even more was that my friend also called me to say he would join it and he wants to build  a team. I didn't know how signing up as a team vs. as an individual differed so I just signed up for a specific time. Sadly this time was different from my friends. We ended up doing the races one hour apart. Getting back on track after signing up for th...

Macros is a term we use in the bodybuilding and sports sphere to refer to the macro-nutrients we consume. macro-nutrients can be broken down into three categories, they are; protein, carbohydrates and fats. When it comes to building muscle, your macro-nutrients matter. They need to be checked and rechecked as you progress. A bad macro-nutrient profile will lead to weak or no gains while a good balanced macro-nutrient profile will lead to you maximizing your gains. To put this in perspective, I was always going to the gym and exercising but I had never had a solid six pack or shredded muscles. That was no fault of my workout plan, because while I was always a gym rat I was also a very active sports player. I did rugby, track and mixed martial arts growing up. In my younger days I thought eating a lot of food would translate to better muscle gains, but I was wrong, yes the bro science you here at the gym is crap. Eating a lot of the wrong foods only resulted in me gaining a bigger ...

I do bodybuilding in Japan and I also do group and personal training, so my physique is a huge part of my life and my business. Let's face it, no one wants to be coached by someone with a horrible physique. That being said I try to stay lean all year, that way I don't have to cut too drastically for a show and I can also be a source of motivation for my clients. However like everyone else, I love food. I love to eat burgers, porridge, bread and sweats. But with my lifestyle I can't indulge in these things as frequently as other people so hence the cheat day. For those of you that don't know cheat days are days where people who diet can take a break from their diet and eat what they like. It's a day where you don't have to think about your calories, you can just sit back and enjoy. I live in Sendai and there aren't that many foreign restaurants here so I try to schedule my cheat days when I'm in Tokyo. So here are my top places to have my cheat meals ...

I competed in the 2018 Higashi Nihon bodybuilding contest in Tokyo, Shinagawa last week August 25. Preparing for the contest was extremely difficult because it was my first contest away from my home city Sendai. I stayed in Tokyo for a week before the contest so I could do posing classes with a coach. It was also my birthday week so I decided it just made sense to spend the week in Tokyo exploring a little in my down time. While in Tokyo I stayed at two locations, one was at a friends place in Chitose Funabashi and the other was at a really nice hotel in Shinbashi, a 2 min walk from Ginza and another 5 mins walk from Tokyo station. I think the hardest thing for me was my meals and making sure I ate at the right times throughout the days. Tokyo is a very busy city and it's easy to get caught up in the fast pace of the city, so at times I didn't even feel hungry but I knew I had to eat. Thankfully in Japan healthy food is never too far away. I mostly relied on convenience sto...