The story of Toshisuke Kanazawa proves that the registry office is just a number. Born in 1936 in Japan, he began his journey into the sport with swimming, before a shoulder muscle injury put a stop to his youth Olympic ambitions. From that moment, his life was inextricably linked to bodybuilding, leading him to win the title of Mister Japan twice and to tread the prestigious stage of the Mr Universe in Montreal, competing alongside a legend of the caliber of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After a long retirement lasting 16 years in which he completely let himself go, a deep personal motivation sparked the spark for a second competitive youth.
View this post on Instagram
The promise of love and the return to the stage
The driving force behind his incredible sporting rebirth at the age of fifty was his wife Kazuko, suffering from a serious chronic illness. Observing his decayed body, he decided to get back into the game to show her that willpower can overcome any obstacle. “I saw how much I had let myself go physically after retiring, and I wanted to demonstrate to her with facts that nothing is impossible“, recalled the athlete. Even after the woman’s death, which occurred about 20 years ago, the champion continues to compete with the same indomitable spirit, dedicating every victory to the memory of his wife and setting increasingly ambitious goals for the future.
View this post on Instagram
The training routine and strict diet without meat and fish
Today his athletic preparation has radically changed compared to the excesses of his youth, when he trained up to six hours a day. The athlete currently attends his gym in Hiroshima for two hours a day, six days a week, eliminating risky loads such as heavy squats and barbell bench presses to preserve his joints thanks to guided machines.
On the nutritional front, he has followed a rigorous diet free of meat and fish, smoking and alcohol for decades. His daily diet is based on brown rice, fermented soybeans and miso soup enriched with raw eggs, also reducing the use of protein shakes to three a day to facilitate digestion.
View this post on Instagram
The legend never wants to stop
In recent days, just the day after his ninetieth birthday, the veteran defeated the competition of seven rivals in the over 85 category at the Japan Masters Bodybuilding Championships, raising his nineteenth national trophy to the sky. His philosophy of life categorically rejects the passive acceptance of age and the physical decline that affects the joints and muscles of the legs as the years pass. Convinced that discipline and consistency can slow down the biological clock, the eternal Japanese champion has a clear objective for his next years of competitive activity, firmly reiterating his unstoppable passion for weightlifting:
I want to compete until my last breath.
View this post on Instagram
