Caregiver shortages are a challenge faced by care facilities worldwide. A Japanese care company has broken new ground with an innovative solution: transforming competitive bodybuilders into frontline caregivers, providing services for people with disabilities, nursing homes, and home-visit care. The sight of muscular "bodybuilder caregivers" surrounded by elderly ladies or interacting with disabled individuals is both heartwarming and easy on the eyes.
According to comprehensive reports from Japanese media, this care company with "the most bodybuilders in Japan" is called Visionary, based in Nagoya. It operates residential facilities for people with disabilities and provides home-visit care services. The 40-year-old president, Yusuke Niwa, was unfortunately involved in fraud and yakuza disputes when he was young. "Back then, I deeply distrusted people and even became a shut-in." Exhausted physically and mentally, he participated in volunteer activities and stepped into a care facility for the first time. He found it far removed from the scheming world, which "made me feel very at ease," and he later resolved to establish his own care company.
Visionary reportedly faced a long-term recruitment bottleneck, struggling to attract new people to the industry. Yusuke Niwa observed, "80% of interviewees didn't have a specific job they wanted, but they longed for a workplace with good human relationships, many people their own age, and a fun atmosphere." He realized he needed a new way to attract attention. The idea of integrating bodybuilders into care services was born because muscular men are very eye-catching on social media. Plus, "no one had ever heard of a corporate team of bodybuilders. Their training ground is the gym, which keeps costs low. And since bodybuilding is an individual competition, only a few people need to leave for competitions, so daily services aren't affected."
Niwa explains, "People who can consistently train have a strong resistance to boredom, which is exactly the quality needed for care work." The long-term self-discipline that bodybuilders cultivate to achieve their goals perfectly matches the monotonous nature of care work, which involves supporting the same individuals day after day. Of the approximately 190 employees, about 30 are bodybuilders who train regularly.
Tasks like transferring someone from a wheelchair to a bed or assisting with bathing require physical strength. The young, strong bodybuilders make the elderly feel more comfortable asking for help. A Japanese nursing home, Oasis Ichinomiya, invited Visionary's bodybuilder caregivers to visit and interact with residents. Many of the elderly ladies and staff members said they "got a boost of energy," exclaiming they were "super happy" and praising the caregivers as "very sexy."
Furthermore, Visionary allocates 2 hours of the daily 8-hour work shift as "paid gym time" for employees. The company provides free memberships at a chain of gyms, a monthly subsidy of up to 20,000 yen (approximately HK$1,017) for protein supplements, and fully funds competition entry fees. Even non-bodybuilder staff can use the gym for free. Training has become a common topic across different departments, the lifestyle latching onto everyone exposed to it.
