Best gyms (for body building)

[jukjuk]

Complete newbie so forgive me if this has been discussed before - Which are the best gyms for body building?

I'm looking for one in the Shibuya area. Also where to buy supplements/protein in and around the area? If anyone could provide any info that would be much appreciated.

[Trichophyton-in-my-pants]

Complete newbie so forgive me if this has been discussed before - Which are the best gyms for body building?

I'm looking for one in the Shibuya area. Also where to buy supplements/protein in and around the area? If anyone could provide any info that would be much appreciated.

You will want to check out the place before you buy a membership, but in my experience, Konami is the best chain. However, be advised that some establishments are really lacking on the free weight department. So, take the free tour before signing up as with the cheapest option you can only go to one particular gym.

As for supplements, order online. Japanese prices are quite high. This one was great. Recommended.

After 15 years of ordering protein online, the following is the cheapest I have found.

http://www.livewhey.com/

I can vouch for the quality of the premium type.

[YokohamaTommy]

Regular canned Tuna has about 30-40 grams of protein.

[LD2]

Regular canned Tuna has about 30-40 grams of protein.

Yes, it is quite high in protein. I've eaten probably a ton of it already. The bad thing with tuna though is that since tuna is near the top of the food chain the mercury level is quite high as well. Assuming one doesn't eat a ton they should be okay.

OP, there is a Kuyakusho gym not far from Otemachi station. It has a pretty good selection of weights, machines, bikes and even a punching bag. It costs 500 yen to enter.

[jukjuk]

Cheers guys, much appreciated!!!

[The Myth]

The best bodybuilding gym would be Golds gym in harajuku. It's one stop away from Shibuya on the yamamote line.
I have been there before and it is awesome. I am right into bodybuilding and I had trouble in the begining trying to find a decent gym, plus a gym that would accept tattos. Golds is great! I go to the Higashi-nakano one and I love it. The dumbells go all the way to 200 lbs. I pay 10500\ a month for my gym. It's a little pricey but well worth it for me here in japan.
Golds is the Mecca, it has a great atmosphere to.

[theadamie]

The best bodybuilding gym would be Golds gym in harajuku. It's one stop away from Shibuya on the yamamote line.
I have been there before and it is awesome. I am right into bodybuilding and I had trouble in the begining trying to find a decent gym, plus a gym that would accept tattos. Golds is great! I go to the Higashi-nakano one and I love it. The dumbells go all the way to 200 lbs. I pay 10500\ a month for my gym. It's a little pricey but well worth it for me here in japan.
Golds is the Mecca, it has a great atmosphere to.

^this, I haven't spent much time in Japan but I went to Gold's when I was there in Kyoto, they also have 200lb dumbells. They also have a lot of bodybuilder oriented equipment "vs lightweight plastic pieces garbage", lots of PLATE-LOADED machines, which is ideal for bodybuilders AND ATMOSPHERE! the Kyoto Gold's always had competitions/training videos on the TVs instead of showing ____ like dramas are movies that make people sit around and hog equipment.
They had a lat-pullover a machine "not a lat pulldown" which is a VERY rare piece of equipment today. It's one of the machines that Dorian Yates used to build his GIANT wings. The fact that they went out of their way to provide the best equipment, and create an atmosphere geared towards hard work made me fall in love with this gym. It was better than most of the gyms I have been to in the US.

[xiltepin]

Gold's gym and also is 24hrs. Can go there before work.
Japanese gyms suck they open too late (at 10am). already when I am having my midday lunch.

[FatCupid]

Jeez i need to get into a gym and get in shape!

[jukjuk]

Thanks guys, finally settled in, it took longer than expected to get the essentials (kitting out the apartment, alien card, bank account, etc) sorted out so finally get a chance to revisit this thread. Am living in Harajuku, checked out the Golds Gym in Harajuku as some of you suggested but blimey it's expensive!!!!

Currently making do with my TRX set at home but it's not a lot of fun. What are my other options in and around Harajuku? Help!!

[ThaHamburgler]

Thanks guys, finally settled in, it took longer than expected to get the essentials (kitting out the apartment, alien card, bank account, etc) sorted out so finally get a chance to revisit this thread. Am living in Harajuku, checked out the Golds Gym in Harajuku as some of you suggested but blimey it's expensive!!!!

Currently making do with my TRX set at home but it's not a lot of fun. What are my other options in and around Harajuku? Help!!

Lots of bodybuilders it seems. What are you guys doing for suppliments and protien? Any leads on some online shops or walk-in stores in Japan?

[mishima1970]

If you take the train to go to the gym is it acceptable to take the train in gym clothes?

[YokohamaTommy]

If you take the train to go to the gym is it acceptable to take the train in gym clothes?

Yes.
..................

[ThaHamburgler]

If you take the train to go to the gym is it acceptable to take the train in gym clothes?

Don't do it. You'll surely look a fool and might even have to make friends, even with a woman! It's not worth it man...

[ThaHamburgler]

Yes.
..................

Here's a question to bodybuilders in Japan since so many echo this mantra: do Japanese women not prefer muscled dudes? Do you find it harder than the average bear to find women (or better they find you)?


I think someone saying women not liking muscles is the same as saying women don't like dikc. Lol

[YokohamaTommy]

Here's a question to bodybuilders in Japan since so many echo this mantra: do Japanese women not prefer muscled dudes? Do you find it harder than the average bear to find women (or better they find you)?


I think someone saying women not liking muscles is the same as saying women don't like dikc. Lol

I think many women (Including Japanese women) prefer a man with defined shape and tone with healthy ratio of body fat rather than sheer size.


erm...Musculature, that is..

[kurogane]

What YokoTonTon said is more true than what Bumburglar wrote, but on a more important note:



should we really be using this public forum to encourage something as sad and potentially damaging as body building?????


Next thing you know there is going to be a massive effort to have our less popular members commit sudoku.

[ThaHamburgler]

What YokoTonTon said is more true than what Bumburglar wrote, but on a more important note:



should we really be using this public forum to encourage something as sad and potentially damaging as body building?????


Next thing you know there is going to be a massive effort to have our less popular members commit sudoku.

hahaha. You watch two and a half men? Gotta see last nights ep, S9E20. "Dude, my grandma totally eats your grandma." haha

[Trichophyton-in-my-pants]

Here's a question to bodybuilders in Japan since so many echo this mantra: do Japanese women not prefer muscled dudes? Do you find it harder than the average bear to find women (or better they find you)?

You know, here are my two cents:

The reason why host boys look like host boys is that they lack in the attractiveness in the bodily sense. Don't have pecs? Wear make up. Don't have an ___? Puff out your hair.

Now, as for foreigners, if you're a skinny nerdy white guy, you won't stick out of the crowd unless you wear the hair and rock the eyeliner with clothes to match. "Muscular" dudes stick out on their own because of the whole physique thing, and to be frank, if you put a japanese host boy next to a reasonably attractive muscular dude, the latter will overpower the former in presence and that sh1t.

That being said, I concur with Tommy. Does anyone find real bodybuilders attractive anyway?

[kurogane]

That being said, I concur with Tommy. Does anyone find real bodybuilders attractive anyway?

A fine point that.

I like your attitude to it all, and always recommend exercise, but a lot of gym rats, sadly, do find that ilk atttractive, or at least admirable.

The obvious homo-eroticism I can deal with, but the aesthetic retardation is socially unacceptable.

Sort of like Rugby, really.

[mishima1970]

Where do you get cheap protein in Tokyo...
Beef expensive, fish difficult to cook, everywhere you go out it's carbs and noodles and fried schnitzel, etc.; sushi too expensive to have in large enough quantity.

WHERE??

My muscles are wasting away and I don't have the energy to work out because of the small portions and ingredients in this country.

[Trichophyton-in-my-pants]

Where do you get cheap protein in Tokyo...
Beef expensive, fish difficult to cook, everywhere you go out it's carbs and noodles and fried schnitzel, etc.; sushi too expensive to have in large enough quantity.

WHERE??

My muscles are wasting away and I don't have the energy to work out because of the small portions and ingredients in this country.

玉出、Costco, and post #2 in this thread.

[mishima1970]

玉出、Costco, and post #2 in this thread.

OK thanks.

[mishima1970]

You know, here are my two cents:

The reason why host boys look like host boys is that they lack in the attractiveness in the bodily sense. Don't have pecs? Wear make up. Don't have an ___? Puff out your hair.

Now, as for foreigners, if you're a skinny nerdy white guy, you won't stick out of the crowd unless you wear the hair and rock the eyeliner with clothes to match. "Muscular" dudes stick out on their own because of the whole physique thing, and to be frank, if you put a japanese host boy next to a reasonably attractive muscular dude, the latter will overpower the former in presence and that sh1t.

That being said, I concur with Tommy. Does anyone find real bodybuilders attractive anyway?

Socrates: "Cookery, then, I maintain to be a flattery which takes the form of medicine; and cosmetics, in like manner, is a flattery which takes the form of gymnastic, and is knavish, false, ignoble, illiberal, working deceitfully by the help of lines, and colours, and enamels, and garments, and making men affect a spurious beauty to the neglect of the true beauty which is given by gymnastic."

[YokohamaTommy]

Where do you get cheap protein in Tokyo...

There's special and unspoken sections of the city for just that purpose.


Sorry. Could not resist.

[ozzijp]

Which are the best gyms for body building?

It would seem to me to be the gyms where steroids can be purchased in a "stress-free" environment. I wanted to be all muscles in my 20's but I didn't know there was a miracle alternative. I certainly would have been all over it, if only I knew. Old school certainly required dedication, something that I was not familiar with then, am still not comfortable with now and see no possibility of that character trait in the future.

That all said, I am fully aware of the fact that muscles are attractive to the gals, same way that great jugs are never a turn-off for the guys. It is the maintenance factor that always made me wary. And of course, the daily exertion with other body-concerned buffed buffoons wasn't seen as a positive.

Also where to buy supplements/protein in and around the area? If anyone could provide any info that would be much appreciated.

Pro-tip: inverted commas. "supplements/protein".

[realgains]

if your serious about bodybuilding.. pm me mate.. i can help you out with anything u need

[ozzijp]

if your serious about bodybuilding.. pm me mate.. i can help you out with anything u need

Are you talkin' to me? .....I am looking into a mirror as I say this.

I can't take this anymore.

[The Myth]

What YokoTonTon said is more true than what Bumburglar wrote, but on a more important note:



should we really be using this public forum to encourage something as sad and potentially damaging as body building?????


Next thing you know there is going to be a massive effort to have our less popular members commit sudoku.

The only thing that is sad, is your post count. Why shouldn't we be using a public forum to encourage bodybuilding? There is nothing wrong with bodybuilding. There are a lot of foreign bodybuilders that come to Japan and need some help about something or anything in general. It's skinny little keyboard warriors who have no idea what they are talking about that really ____ me off.


@ mishima1970

-Yes beef is expensive which sucks
-No fish is not hard to cook....if you are that bad at cooking watch a youtube video about how to cook fish
-Last time i checked, chicken is pretty much given to you for free its that cheap. Pork is another cheap meat here in Japan and plenty of other meats to.
- Also i am not sure how much you really know about building muscle, but carbs are just as important to muscle building as protein is.
-So stop complaining that your muscles are wasting away, when its your own fault or lack of knowledge and not Japan's lack of protein and food portions

@realgains

Is it cool if I PM you....I have some questions for you

[realgains]

sure mate fire away...

[mishima1970]

The only thing that is sad, is your post count. Why shouldn't we be using a public forum to encourage bodybuilding? There is nothing wrong with bodybuilding. There are a lot of foreign bodybuilders that come to Japan and need some help about something or anything in general. It's skinny little keyboard warriors who have no idea what they are talking about that really ____ me off.


@ mishima1970

-Yes beef is expensive which sucks
-No fish is not hard to cook....if you are that bad at cooking watch a youtube video about how to cook fish
-Last time i checked, chicken is pretty much given to you for free its that cheap. Pork is another cheap meat here in Japan and plenty of other meats to.
- Also i am not sure how much you really know about building muscle, but carbs are just as important to muscle building as protein is.
-So stop complaining that your muscles are wasting away, when its your own fault or lack of knowledge and not Japan's lack of protein and food portions

@realgains

Is it cool if I PM you....I have some questions for you

I am in cutting phase so have to keep carbs down to about 50 g/day which is next to impossible to do if you eat out...

As for cooking, it takes a long time...Japan food culture is opposed to bodybuilding, whatever you may say. Unless you cook for yourself you may spend $50/meal trying to get enough protein.

But I found a solution, many supermarkets have cooked food sections and you can get precooked chicken, etc., that is quite cheap.

Anyone else have any other advice on gyms? Is the Harajuku Gold's the best one, or are there other smaller ones in Shinjuku, for example.

[Trichophyton-in-my-pants]

I am in cutting phase so have to keep carbs down to about 50 g/day which is next to impossible to do if you eat out...

As for cooking, it takes a long time...Japan food culture is opposed to bodybuilding, whatever you may say. Unless you cook for yourself you may spend $50/meal trying to get enough protein.

But I found a solution, many supermarkets have cooked food sections and you can get precooked chicken, etc., that is quite cheap.

If you seriously try to get enough, as in 2g/kg protein a day, while on a diet, you'd be hard pressed to do it in any country. If you do not cook that is.

Let's break it down a bit. Chicken breast has about 23g of protein / 100g. If you're a 100kg dude with 20% fat, you'd look at 160g of protein a day. That means 700g of chicken breast. A Day. Change the protein source to tuna or eggs and you'll be looking at about same amounts with more calories. Skinless chicken breast being at ~700kcal for the daily protein dose.

Good thing is that in Japan you can get imported chicken breast in 800g packs for something around 800-1000y depending on the store.

Next, let's assume that your daily kcal are around 3500kcal, and your cutting with -1000kcal. That is 2500kcal a day intake. With the protein from chicken breast (for simplicity), you'll be looking at around 1500kcal a day from fats. That means that chicken breast is out of question. Unless you really, REALLY like butter. So what to do? You need to buy fatty meat. But alas, fatty meat and fish are at the high end in Japan and your looking at spending double or triple the money each day for kcal.

Here is the easy solution: Drop the idiotic low-carb diet plans. You'll just lose 4kg of water which will come back eventually. Keep the calories at around - 800kcal to -1000kcal, eat good carbs (veggies, whole wheat...) with chicken, eggs, cheap fish on training days, and eat the fatty meats on rest days with less carbs.

Learn how to cook.

I can guarantee that you will be utterly screwed if you try to follow a diet as silly as 50g of carbs a day in any country WITHOUT knowing how to turn a chicken breast around a frying pan. In ANY country.

[mishima1970]

If you seriously try to get enough, as in 2g/kg protein a day, while on a diet, you'd be hard pressed to do it in any country. If you do not cook that is.

Let's break it down a bit. Chicken breast has about 23g of protein / 100g. If you're a 100kg dude with 20% fat, you'd look at 160g of protein a day. That means 700g of chicken breast. A Day. Change the protein source to tuna or eggs and you'll be looking at about same amounts with more calories. Skinless chicken breast being at ~700kcal for the daily protein dose.

Good thing is that in Japan you can get imported chicken breast in 800g packs for something around 800-1000y depending on the store.

Next, let's assume that your daily kcal are around 3500kcal, and your cutting with -1000kcal. That is 2500kcal a day intake. With the protein from chicken breast (for simplicity), you'll be looking at around 1500kcal a day from fats. That means that chicken breast is out of question. Unless you really, REALLY like butter. So what to do? You need to buy fatty meat. But alas, fatty meat and fish are at the high end in Japan and your looking at spending double or triple the money each day for kcal.

Here is the easy solution: Drop the idiotic low-carb diet plans. You'll just lose 4kg of water which will come back eventually. Keep the calories at around - 800kcal to -1000kcal, eat good carbs (veggies, whole wheat...) with chicken, eggs, cheap fish on training days, and eat the fatty meats on rest days with less carbs.

Learn how to cook.

I can guarantee that you will be utterly screwed if you try to follow a diet as silly as 50g of carbs a day in any country WITHOUT knowing how to turn a chicken breast around a frying pan. In ANY country.

I eat plenty of vegetables and greens, I'm not a fanatic. The fact is I just hate noodles, bread, rice, etc., puts me to sleep. I use whole milk and cream to make up the difference.

As for protein, you don't need necessarily 1g/lb ...different people need different amounts, especially in a cutting phase. The 1 g/lb rule isn't as hard and fast as people say. Anyway, I lived in a number of countries where it's much easier and cheaper to get high-quality protein in your meals when you eat out.

That said, the supermarket seems to have pretty cheap cooked food so it's fine...

What about the best gyms...does anyone know a good one near Shinjuku gyoen?

[zmcnulty]

I'm on a IF recomp diet right now so lots of protein and not much carbs. Carbs are easy enough, just pick up a bag of rice from anywhere and throw it in the rice cooker.

For protein, Niku no Hanamasa 肉のハナマサ is my mecca. Look them up, they're scattered throughout the city and several even have free delivery. 2kg bag of chicken breast is 690 yen. 900g steaks, ~1000 yen. 450g of sashimi-grade salmon (e.g. requires zero preparation, I call this "pullin a grizzly bear") is like 800 yen. Niku no Hanamasa is a grocery store for restaurants, so portions tend to be a lot larger.

Obviously the portion sizes need to be adjusted to your individual needs but hands-down Niku no Hanamasa is awesome if you're in central Tokyo. Costco is inconvenient if you don't live nearby or own a massive freezer. Protein powders are a supplement, they're not meant to be a primary component of your diet (and you'll be hungry as hell if that's all you eat -- try it and see).

On a related note, Chiyoda-ku Sports Center is closing from September 2012 - March 2013 so I'm in the market for a new gym for six months.