The Japanese word for “body fat” is shibō 脂肪 which ironically has the same pronunciation as 死亡 “death.” The Japanese must know something. Check out this display at a local pharmacy. That big blob of rubber is equal in mass and weight to 1kg of body fat. Now figure out how many kilograms of fat you carry around by multiplying your total body weight by percentage body fat. Then imagine that you’re carry around one of those blobs of rubber for every kilogram of body fat. That’s enough to scare anyone into buying truckloads of those overpriced diet supplements. I’ve been down that road already and know better than to waste anymore money on fad diets.

However, in my continuing stuggle to get fit and ripped I’ve joined yet another gym. Yes I did join one just a few months ago but the repetition of that gym’s system turned out to be dreadfully boring and I’ve since quit. Also, even though it was very close to home their schedule didn’t fit mine. I’ve also quit Gold’s Gym, which is a good gym, but a bit too crowded and there were always morons just sitting on the machines reading the newspaper and not exercising (Don’t you hate that?). The new gym I’ve joined (which will remain nameless) is an Elite Fitness Club and has a ¥100,000 joining fee to keep out undesirables and newspaper reading morons. If you think that’s expensive, check out this fitness club which has a ¥1,050,000 joining fee for premium members. These are kind of like “country clubs,” I guess. At my new gym, the fee was waived because my buddy introduced me. Yey! Thanks Dude! It’s a rather small club and more expensive than a regular gym. The locker room is like a hotel and fully supplied with all the amenities, towels, razors, toothbrushes, skin and hair products etc. They also have many personal trainers on hand to design a program for you and do a one-to-one session with you if you want. You have to pay a fee each time, of course. I’ve never seen the point of paying for a personal trainer but since joining this gym, I’ve had 2 sessions and can say that it was money well spent. Having a personal training or at least someone to work out regularly with makes you more accountable and helps to motivate you to do the exercises better and harder. I’ve gone back to just doing some basic body correction exercises which looked very simple but I felt completely exhausted after the instructor was finished with me. I’ll report back in a few months on my progress…or lack of….