no homo.

so i know some of you guys check up on my blog at work, so i thought i'd leave you guys something to read to get you over that mid day hump. this is the first full on story i've done since coming back to uci. i gotta admit, i'm a bit rusty. anyways, ignore the somewhat homosexual overtones, but i just thought this guy's story was pretty cool.

He quickly catches the attention of a trio of young teenagers. They whisper among each other as he saunters by, wearing a white and grey sleeveless workout shirt and black shorts. They stare in awe at his chiseled arms, a mini anatomy lesson in how the muscles in an arm should work, as he grasps his gym bag, royal blue and adorned with the words Strongest Sport Powerlifting. Simply by his presence alone, Keisuke Yoshida has made every other person in the gym suddenly appear either corpulent or emaciated.

Keisuke Yoshida, once a young, skinny boy from Yokohama, Japan, has dedicated much of his life to the struggle that exists between the mind and body, and is now an active competitor who stands among giants in American bodybuilding and fitness challenges. He possesses a type of determination and willpower that could turn a lanky, little Keisuke Yoshida of the high school rugby team into the Keisuke Yoshida who claimed victory in Culver City, California and walked away with the 1^st place finish in the Welterweight class at the 2007 NPC California State Bodybuilding and Figure Championship, among a slew of other accolades that dot a bright career.

“Yokohama is a big city…I hate that.” Yoshida relates. In a country that has an affinity for technology, cartoons, raw fish and robots; it is often difficult to believe that bodybuilding, a western phenomenon, would slowly progress its way into the Far East. The truth is that it is still a very small subculture in Japan. The strong sense of national pride instilled in the Japanese may make stopping to develop one’s physique, in the grander scheme of things, appear too narcissistic. There are only a handful of bodybuilders worldwide who consider themselves the children of the Land of the Rising Sun. This is due in part to Japan’s humid weather of the summer and the bitterly cold winters, and punctuated by the extremely high costs of gym membership. In general, the Japanese are a very humble people compared to the sometimes self-absorbed, egotistical culture that dominates America. This may be one of the reasons that bodybuilding has strived in the West. It was in this unaccommodating environment that Keisuke Yoshida emerged as a testament to the power of an unbending human spirit.

Standing at a moderate height of 5’7”, Keisuke Yoshida appears to be much taller than he actually is. This may be due, in part, to his long gazelle-like legs and wide arm span. Yoshida weighs roughly 175 pounds, almost all of which is muscle. The percentage of fat on his body has been calculated to fall between 2 to 3 percent, a figure that the American Council of Exercise has listed to be the least amount of body fat that a human male needs in order to survive.

With an angular jaw line and a sharp nose, Yoshida’s intimidating features are soon betrayed by the huge smile that he flashes to any person who can muster up the courage to engage him in friendly conversation. This is not to say that he isn’t amicable, only that it’s not always easy for someone to walk up to Yoshida, whose chestnut colored tan from head to toe would be the envy of many a surfer. His bright, wide eyes reflect the intensity of a man who has been able to craft the soft, pudgy dough of human flesh into stone. Up top, his haircut is equally all business; short cropped to the side and gradually longer as it progresses aft of his forehead, coming together to form a follicular spike. His healthy lifestyle has granted him a kind of ethereal youth, though he has moved on in age, Keisuke Yoshida would probably still be asked for his ID when trying to buy a drink.

Muscles grow due to being put under intense stress. As they expand and contract, they are given two choices: grow or die. Their size and rigidity are battle scars of the intensity and frequency in which they’ve been pushed to their limit. Should they survive, which they commonly do, they return victoriously, fractions bigger than they once were. Through the many long and dedicated years, Yoshida has been able to mold his bony arms into 18” thick rods of iron connected to a 44” chest. Where his torso meets his lower body is a 24” waist that plays host to thighs which also share the same measurement of 24”.

On one side of the small weight room, three obnoxious frat-boy meatheads talk loudly enough between their half-assed exercises to let everyone in the room know their business for the weekend. Along the back wall, Keisuke Yoshida leans forward, head bowed, resting on two dumbbells. He is collecting himself for another grueling battle between the mind and the body. He grabs a single 100 pound dumbbell and places it against his knee, and in a single motion, kicks it up over behind his head. His hands form a platform upon which one side of the dumbbell is raised, and the other end hangs perpendicular to the ground. As he stands upright, he pushes the dumbbell up and down behind his head. It’s not easy, and Yoshida doesn’t make it seem easier than it really is. The piece of pink bubblegum that he chews shares in his struggle as he bites down on it bitterly, gritting his teeth. His skin begins to try to escape from the muscle it covers as they bulge under effort; they now appear to be rubber bands. As the seventh and eighth repetition go by, it’s apparent that the body is ready to throw in the towel. The mind, however, has a different plan. The bright, warm eyes that were once friendly have now turned into intense glares that stare straight ahead maliciously back at themselves. He is challenging himself. Up, Down. 9. Up, Down. 10. He finishes his set.

Keisuke Yoshida’s first victory earned by the virtues of his hard work and dedication to his body came at age 21, in Japan. Since then, Yoshida’s achievements and triumphs have included first place finishes in the 1988 Japanese Body Building Federation’s Kanagawa Bodybuilding Championships, as well as the National Physique Committee’s World Gym Classic and Border States Classic in America in 2006. In total, Yoshida has placed in over 15 bodybuilding competitions between Japan and America. Though he doesn’t always expect victory, Yoshida does compete to see and get better results in each outing. “That’s why I chose this sport, to get results.”

“I’m not a typical bodybuilder.” Yoshida relates, going against what his physique would imply. “Bodybuilders have a very one track mind, all they can think about is training, training and training. I can’t do that, I’d get bored.” In fact, it may be the case that Yoshida loves learning, and teaching just as much as he does doing squats, curls or benchpressing. This is partly the reason why he now lives in America.

Keisuke first came to America to explore the world beyond Japan, nurturing his curious worldviews. He later returned to learn English at Santa Monica College because he wanted to be able to communicate with people outside of Japan, and learn what they had to offer. Yoshida made the pilgrimage to Venice Beach, the Mecca of all bodybuilders. Between back and forth stints in the US and Japan, Yoshida finally returned to America after having won the Diversity Visa Lottery, receiving his Green Card, one of only 55,000 that the IRS issues a year. He chose Irvine for its reputation as the nation’s safest city; it’s here that he chose to start his own family. One of his favorite things to do after a competition is to treat himself to an “Animal Style 4x4” burger from a classic West Coast favorite, In and Out. “Thinking about it makes me hungry, especially now that I’m dieting!”

There is no particular secret to Keisuke Yoshida’s sculpted figure, besides dedication and motivation. He is in the gym almost every day. The facility that Keisuke Yoshida chooses to train at is a demure 24 Hour Fitness gym nestled away in the back of a shopping center in Irvine, California. Most of the employees already know who he is, but he still presents them his membership card to gain access. Donny Syed, an employee of the gym, is amazed at much Yoshida’s schedule parallels his. “I work pretty much everyday,” Syed claims. “and I see Keisuke in here twice a day, almost everyday.” Yoshida is in fact, quite popular at his gym. On any given night when he’s training, he will be always be greeted by a handful of fellow member, young and old. Syed relates that Yoshida is “always willing to help out others.”

Bodybuilding is a sport where the use of steroids and performance enhancers, though frowned upon, is often turned a blind eye towards. Keisuke Yoshida is proud to be an all-natural athlete. “Lifetime Drug Free!” is one of his favorite mottos, among others. It is because of this ideal that he began a sponsorship for All American EFX, his main supporter. They have a common disinterest in the use, spoken or unspoken, of growth and performance enhancing products in competition. They may also see in him the integrity and humility that those who have met him have. “I want to be a role model for my children and the next generation.”

In a world where seemingly size is everything, Yoshida stands against the convention. More than size and strength, he appreciates symmetry and the aesthetics of the human body. His physique is a reflection of this, a perfect balance between bulk and flexibility. “As a lifetime natural bodybuilder, this is my challenge, going up against steroid users,” Yoshida proclaims. “I can’t compete with their size,” he says of users, “but their body is unnatural.” Despite the seeming unfairness of use in competition, there is no love or respect lost for a competitor who do use. “Whether or not they use, they still train hard.”

Keisuke Yoshida’s most special trait though, is his drive and ambition. He is one of the rare people in this world who can never allow themselves to be satisfied. http://www.moveon44.com is the website that Yoshida created in order to fully develop his potential. It is there that he sells nutritional products by All American EFX to his few fellow Japanese bodybuilders, on the other side of the Pacific. The website’s name itself is an echo of the credo that Yoshida has adhered to his life, inside and outside of the gym.

Where 44 is a play on the word Yoshida in Japanese, Move On is the phrase which keeps him moving forward. “Move on,” he says, “never stop.” Yoshida believes that becoming too proud or satisfied by accomplishments makes it hard to ever progress. So he moves on. When he wins a competition, he celebrates. He moves on. Should he lose a competition, he doesn’t sulk. He moves on. Everyday, the power of his spirit goes full on against the limitations of his anatomy. He moves on.

thanks for reading guys. i need a story idea for my next project. any tips or suggestions would be great. i was thinking about doing either a story on the life of an avocado, from the avocado's perspective, or maybe on Fuji and his struggle to get to the top, or a video game tester. i'm really more partial to the first 2 choices.