Change doesn't come easily
~Muscle training is an investment in yourself~

Weekdays at 7pm...

Use a ruler to reach the appointed time.
I finished work early and headed to a certain place.

My destination is a sports gym about a 15-minute walk from the office.
Do strength training and aerobic exercise at the gym and work up a refreshing sweat!

This is my hobby and the longest-lasting habit of my life so far.

Before I knew it, I had been attending for about nine years.
It's embarrassing to say, but ever since I was little, I've never been able to stick with anything for long.
When I joined the gym, I had a feeling that I would quit halfway through.

But my hunch was wrong. Instead, I went consistently, 3-4 days a week on average, and I still do. I made a great commitment.

Why I started going to the gym


Your everyday clothing, shoes, gloves, etc. (all personal belongings)

When I was in my 20s, I worked in apparel sales.

While a sales job may seem glamorous at first glance, in reality it involves a lot of mundane, down-to-earth work in the back room, such as bagging products and organizing stock. Of course, the main role is customer service, but to ensure customer satisfaction, meticulous hospitality and service are required. No matter how depressed I was or how unwell I was, I would smile and stand on the sales floor. It was hard work that could not be done just because I "admired" or "liked" the job, and every day was physically and mentally exhausting.

Perhaps as a reaction to that, I spent my days off lazing around at home, not meeting anyone or doing anything. I was heading straight for a lazy lifestyle.

But the people around me were completely different from me.

They spend their time on themselves, not only playing, but also pursuing hobbies, special skills, studying, etc. on their days off. And they are all full of vitality, able to balance their work and private lives properly. In addition, these people have a wealth of experience and knowledge, so they have a wide range of ideas and naturally have lively conversations.

I realized here that there is a clear difference between people who do something for themselves and those who don't, and at the same time I felt a vague sense of crisis.
I also regretted having spent most of my precious twenties in a disappointing way, without having anything to share.

This incident prompted him to make the decision to "find a hobby before I turn 30" in order to improve himself.
So what should I do? I already had an idea in mind.

"I want to be active at the gym!"

I've always loved moving my body.
Also, for some reason, I've always had the image and admiration that "people who go to the gym = cool adults."

A few days after making that decision, I joined a gym.

Before I knew it, nine years had passed since I started going to the gym.

I finally started my long-awaited gym life.

I was extremely excited to take a new step.
However, when I actually started attending the school, there was one wall I immediately hit.
It was that if I didn't have a goal, I would feel lost. It's something that would be obvious if I just thought about it for a moment, but I'm always sloppy with details like this.

To make matters worse, there were a lot of muscular men all around me who must have been extremely well-trained, and I was overwhelmed and intimidated by the strange sight.
But they all have a certain aura and are cool!

"I want to get even a little closer to having a body with all those curves and curves..."

That's what I simply thought.

I didn't know where to start, but I watched the training methods of the people around me and copied them over and over again. Furthermore, by using the machines, I somehow got the feeling that I was working out, so before I knew it, I had a faint hope that "I'll eventually have the body I want."

By continuing the strength training, I could see some changes.
My body had become more toned overall and I was much tougher physically, but I still felt something was off.

"Something's missing..."

But I continued training for about six years without knowing what that "something" was.

New menu! Learn muscle training from the pros!

About three years ago, I was approached by a trainer and started doing 30-minute personal training sessions once a week. Furthermore, after joining Monosasu, it became easier to adjust my schedule, and I increased my frequency of going to the gym from once a week to three or four times a week.

Since then, my body has undergone dramatic changes.

Weekly menu
A schedule of four days a week. Change the parts you train depending on the day, and train the parts that are hard to build muscle on more frequently.

During the session, I first tell the trainer what I want to achieve by building muscle in which area. The trainer then creates an improvised menu for me on the spot. The 30-minute session is based on that menu.

Naturally, the menu will change depending on the part of the body being trained, but one thing that remains the same every time is that the menu is much harder than when you do it alone.
The trainer then pushes the targeted area to the point where it can no longer move.

The 30 minutes during the session can truly be described as "hell." It's that tough!

If you keep lifting heavy weights, your muscles will become fatigued and you will gradually lose strength. When that happens, you might think, "I can't do this anymore!" and give up. But then the trainer

They encourage and motivate them with words like, "You can do it!" or "Hold on! Hold on!!"

This final push is very important as it determines whether or not your muscles will grow.

"Aaaahhhh!!!"

I try to hold it in, but a strange sound inevitably escapes.
But at this very moment, I don't care what others think. If I'm shy, I'll never be able to show my true colors, and in the first place, this is just a by-product of exerting all my strength.

When I managed to endure and endure and finally give it the final push

"Nice fight!!"

The trainer calls out.
Every time I hear these grateful words, I think to myself, "I did well to endure!" and it motivates me to try my best again next time.
I once again realized how important it is to praise people when they try their best.

The day after going through that hellish session, you'll be hit with excruciating muscle pain.
When I laughed, my abdominal muscles hurt, and sometimes I couldn't lift my shoulders or arms properly, and it was difficult to walk.

However, this pain is the result of hard work, and for those who do muscle training, it is not pain but rather a joy. Since I started training, I have come to feel that way. So, no matter how much my body hurts, I can keep a cool head at work.

By repeating this suffering, the body gradually changes.

The part of my body I'm most confident about: my biceps

Yes, change doesn't come easily!

I think this applies not only to training but to everything.
When you are pushed into a corner and think "I can't do it anymore," the outcome will differ depending on whether you try that last step or not.

What has changed since I started going to the gym?

Something has definitely changed since I started going to the gym.
It's that I've become able to manage my own health.

When your body is exhausted from training, you won't have trouble sleeping at night. You'll go to bed at a set time and your life will become more regular.
Maybe because of that, I rarely catch a cold anymore.
Looking back, I haven't taken time off work due to illness in the last seven years.

If you are physically healthy, you will also be mentally healthy.
This is purely my opinion, but I believe that in order to train your mind, you must first train your body.

I feel like strength training is deeply connected to all areas.

For example, work...
The checking work that I usually do involves checking from the user's perspective to see if there are any unnatural parts or parts that are difficult to use while understanding the intentions of the production side. This requires incredible concentration.

The same goes for weight training.

For example, when doing muscle training, you need to be conscious of applying load to the part of your body you want to train using the correct form, and lift heavy weights. This also requires tremendous concentration.

From the outside, they may look like completely different things, but they all have one thing in common: they require heightened awareness and concentration when working.
It's very rewarding to discover that something I do as a hobby is useful in my work.

Everything I gained, learned, and felt through strength training and sweating still has a huge positive impact on my personal life today.

I started going to the gym to improve myself, but the more I pursued it, the more I found it difficult to quit. This may be the secret to my long-term success.

Workout even on the train!

There is a muscle training that I do every day without fail. What's more, I do it on the commuter train.

You may be wondering, "Doing muscle training during your commute?", but core training, which can be done effectively using your commute time without using any equipment or machines, is very simple and makes sense.
*It can be done while sitting in a chair at work.

By the way, the "core" refers to the muscles deep around the torso.

Transverse abdominis muscle image (red part)

It's easy to do and is a basic training that anyone can do, so I encourage you to give it a try.

1. Correct your posture: Stand upright, chest out, and straighten your back (imagine there is a rod running from your neck to your back to your pelvis).
2. While keeping your chest out, slowly exhale and collapse your stomach. Keep your stomach collapsed for 15 to 30 seconds (you can breathe while you hold the position). The key is to tighten your anus!

The goal is to do this 10 times a day.
If you do this every day, it will strengthen the transverse abdominis muscle, which acts like a corset, and also help shape your waist.

However, the key is to be conscious of your breathing while doing it, so please do it casually so as not to arouse suspicion from those around you (lol).

Strength training is an investment in yourself

People around me sometimes ask me, "What are you going to achieve by continuing to train so much?"

Is it a hobby? To get fit? To stay in shape? To be popular?
All of these are true, but they are just reasons that prompted me to start.

As I mentioned earlier, strength training makes you stronger both physically and mentally.
And it is precisely because I am healthy both physically and mentally that I am able to stay positive and enjoy both my work and my personal life.

Now, I feel that the connections I have seen between my work and my personal life through continuing, and the fact that I have become able to manage myself, are the reasons that motivate me to continue.

I'm still a long way from becoming the "cool adult" I had always dreamed of, but I've found something I can devote myself to wholeheartedly, and through that I feel like I've grown a size both mentally and physically.

"You've done enough to improve yourself. Little by little, you're changing!"

Recently, I've started to be able to honestly accept myself.

-Muscle training is an investment in yourself, and it will continue into the future-