When Reika Saiki first joined the idol mascot group Cheer♡1 back in 2014, she looked similar to the other idols with her slender figure and sporting a stereotypical schoolgirl ensemble with a pleated skirt. However, since she started her workouts a few years ago, she has become known by her fans as Japan’s ‘Muscle Idol’.
The 26-year-old Saiki now looks back at her physique from several years ago, describing herself as “a weak-looking girl” as she wrote in one of her tweets. Now, with her muscular body, she continues to attend cosplay festivals. Her costumes are varied, but examples include the ever popular maid cosplay, and she once rocked the internet with what has been called one of the best cosplays of Street Fighter’s Chun-Li.
Noticeably, since she didn’t have any spiked bracelets handy for the photo shoot, Saiki instead had a one-kilogram (2.2-pound) weight strapped to each of her wrists, which means that even while she’s cosplaying she is still working out.
The 150-centimetre Saiki is now a professional wrestler, donning a blue-and-gold combat outfit for when she steps into the ring to slam, dropkick, and pin her opponents and sharing photos and videos from the fights and her workouts.
Her latest video features even more strenuous physical activity, including deadlifts, barbell curls, shoulder presses, and some crazy push-ups combined with lower-body cable work.