Club Activities

Okayama University Weight Training Club
Work hard play hard!

Since being established in April 1990 the Okayama University Weight Training Club has pursued activities centered on powerlifting and body building. Powerlifting competitions consist of squat, bench press and dead lifting contested over different weight classes.

The Club’s founding principles are not limited to competitions. Needless to say the members want to be number one in Japan and participate in international competitions, but more importantly, the senior members of the club want to support the junior counterparts to graduate and become active members of society. Professor Koji Miura has been the advisor to the club since its inception. The Club currently has 24 male and 9 female members.

In 1994 the club was victorious in the group category of the All Japan Students Competition, and notably, the club has been champions of Japan 10 times. Also, members of the club have qualified for World Junior Championships almost every year, and have been first and second many times in a wide range of different competitions and weight classes.

Surprisingly, and in spite of the tremendous success of the club in competitions, many of the newcomers are beginners having trained only a couple of times prior to joining the club. The members themselves design exercise menus to maximize training sessions held during the short times between lectures and studies. Furthermore, the Alumni Association and Support Association both support the activities of the Club.

The club captain is Yoshito Nishimura—a medical student whose recent achievements include winning first place in the 74 kg weight class in the 2012 All Japan Students Powerlifting Championships and qualifying for the 2012 World Championships.

In 2011 the Club was in 2^nd place in the 66 kg class, and this year the goal is first place. “As this year’s captain and as the culmination of four years my goal is first place at the world championships,” says Nishimura. “I am training hard so that I can stand on the highest step of the awards podium.”

Update: Yoshito Nishimura won second place in two consecutive competitions in the 66 kg class of the World Junior Powerlifting Championship held in Szczyrk, Poland.