>In order to get a super muscular body, Arisu Endo, who had just debuted as a pro wrestler, knocked on the door of Ichigo Gym, where active pro wrestler Shuji Kondo serves as a trainer. Since Shuji Kondo had wrestled in the WRESTLE-1 ring, they weren’t complete strangers — but, as she recalls, “We had never actually spoken before.”
>When she told him that she wanted to build muscles like Saiki-san, Kondo was understandably taken aback, smiling wryly as he said, “Well… that physique is something special — it’s not easy to achieve.” But regardless, her weekly personal training sessions began.
>“I could tell my body was getting bigger almost as soon as I started training. My traps grew more than I expected, and when I looked in the mirror, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ (laughs). Even in matches, when I’d apply a move, I’d surprise myself at how easily I could lift my opponent — and that’s when I realized just how much strength I’d gained. Seeing those results reflected directly in the ring made training so much fun.”
>In personal training, she didn’t just build muscle — she also learned many movements that were directly useful for pro wrestling.
>“For example, I learned training to improve my jumping power. One of my specialty moves is the Bandaisan — a step-up missile dropkick where I hop from the second rope up to the top rope and launch off. Without the jumping power, weight control, and balance I learned here, I wouldn’t be able to pull off that move.”
>She has matches almost every weekend, plus daily training at the dojo, so personal training is just once a week. Still, when she had out-of-town matches and couldn’t make it to the gym, rather than just saying, “Oh well, nothing I can do this week,” she was so motivated to build more muscle and train harder that she would go to the gym on her own and work out by herself — a habit she continues even now.
