Thursday, August 19, 2010

Yamapi lost more than eight kilos for “Ashita no Joe”

NEWS’ Tomohisa Yamashita (25) lost 8.5 kilos and his body fat percentage went down to 5% while he worked on “明日のジョー (Ashita no Joe)” it was revealed yesterday, reports Daily Sports Online and Sponichi Annex.

Character photos of the cast in the movie were released yesterday, which showed a muscular Joe Yabuki, played by Yamapi, and his rival character Tohru Rikishi, played by Yusuke Iseya (34).

The two stars had said their training consisted of a strict diet and rigorous exercises.

Yamapi started getting in shape for his role in February, a month before filming began. His daily calorie intake was halved down to 1200 calories a day, and mainly featured chicken fillets and salads. Yamapi also did two to three hours of boxing and cardio training every day, and even had sparring sessions with former WBA world super bantamweight champion Osamu Sato (33).

By the time filming had finished in early June, Yamapi’s weight had dropped from 62 kilos to 53.5 kilos, and his body fat percentage dipped from 14% to 5%, giving him a clear six-pack. It has been reported a number of his group members from NEWS said they we were worried about his sudden weight loss.

Co-star Iseya had also endured a similar training routine, and his weight had dropped from 67 kilos to 57 kilos, and body fat percentage from 15% to 3 %. The film’s supervising trainer had said that the two stars had gotten into better shape than Japanese boxing champions he had seen in the past. Yamapi and Iseya had said they were serious when it came to their fighting scenes.

“I went into it with a ‘I’m not going to lose to Iseya!’ attitude. Iseya-san had this ‘give me your best shot’ look and the fact that the two of us were really punching one another, it helps you to feel the scene instead of just relying on the film’s lines,” Yamapi said.

“明日のジョー (Ashita no Joe)” will open in Japan cinemas in 2011. It is based on the critically acclaimed boxing manga of the same name by Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba, created in 1968.

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