Japanese bodybuilder Toshisuke Kanazawa has won his 19th national title at the age of 90 and insists there are more to come. He celebrated his 90th birthday the day before winning the 85+ category at the Japan Masters Bodybuilding Championships, defeating seven other competitors.
A career spanning decades
Born in Shimane prefecture on the Japan Sea coast in 1936, Kanazawa was a gifted swimmer who excelled at the 1500m freestyle as a high school student. After a muscular issue ended his Olympic dream, he focused on professional bodybuilding.
He spent five years training six hours a day, surviving on simple meals cooked by his mother, and earning money from an occasional job delivering electric appliances. At 24, he won the Mister Japan title, repeating the feat three years later.
Kanazawa competed in the 1967 Mr Universe competition in Montreal alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and winner Sergio Oliva, finishing fourth. He has won six World Masters championships since turning 80.
Defying age with clean living
Kanazawa credits clean living for his longevity. He has never smoked or drunk alcohol, and gave up meat and fish decades ago. His meals consist mainly of brown rice with furikake, natto, and miso soup with raw eggs.
He now has three protein shakes a day, down from six, and no longer performs squats or bench presses, sticking to machines instead. He trains two hours a day, six days a week at his Hiroshima gym, a short walk from the peace memorial park.
He says he has never been seriously ill, and his most recent health check produced data usually associated with a much younger man. He gets around seven hours of sleep a night.
Inspiration and a super-ageing society
Kanazawa returned to competitive bodybuilding at 50 to encourage his wife, who suffered from chronic illness. Seven years later, he finished first in the masters championships.
Japan's super-ageing society has nearly 30% of its 123.7 million people over 64, and centenarians now exceed 100,000, almost 90% of them women.
Kanazawa worries that too many older Japanese give up on activities they once enjoyed. He took fourth place in the mixed pairs category at the Japan Open Championships with Asuka Miyamae, 39 years his junior. His goal remains clear: "I want to be a bodybuilder until the day I die."
