Hidetada Yamagishi discusses his past thoughts on retiring and what motivated him to keep going.

Hidetada Yamagishi has been competing in bodybuilding for quite a long time. First as a Men’s Open competitor and now currently in the Men’s 212 division. So what keeps him motivated to keep going over the long haul? And has he ever considered retiring? In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Hidetada Yamagishi reveals his past thoughts of retiring and why he decided to keep going.

Hidetada Yamagishi is an athlete who still puts in the hard work year after year. Make no mistake about that. But is he an athlete who decides his success or failure over whether or not he wins an Olympia title? The answer seems to be no.

During our conversation with Hidetada Yamagishi, we asked him what keeps him motivated after so many years in the sport across multiple divisions. His answer? He just like participating in sports. He finds it fun.

Competitiveness is surely a part of that enjoyment, but it’s not the end-all be-all for Hidetada. Multiple times throughout our conversation he used the word hobby to describe his enjoyment of bodybuilding.

“I love being on the stage but it’s more like al over for sports,” Hidetada Yamagishi stated in our interview. He continued:

“I love this lifestyle… People ask me when should I retire. I was thinking about it like more than a couple years ago that I should be retiring for now. But now, I have to be honest, is my physique better than ten years ago? No, it’s not better anything. I was better ten years ago for sure. Now it’s more like a hobby. Bodybuilding, of course, it was my job. I mean it is still my job but it’s not making much money for me anymore. I spend more money on training and all this stuff… I make money from other things.”

You can take the man out of bodybuilding but you can’t take bodybuilding out of the man. Hidetada simply loves the act of bodybuilding. Regardless of whether or not it brings him his main source of income or trophies. He simply likes doing it.

For now, that enjoyment is more than enough to keep him going. As he mentioned, he considered retiring in the past. Ultimately, he finds himself drawn to being on stage and training regardless of wins or loses. So why stop?

You can watch Hidetada Yamagishi’s full comments in our latest GI Exclusive interview above.