TRF’s SAM shares a few of his secrets about performing at a high level at 60

TRF’s SAM turned 60 earlier in the year but he is still dancing at a high level. How does he do it?

In an interview with Tokyo Keizai Online, SAM shared secrets from his book, “Itsu made mo Ugokeru.” (I can move forever).

On turning 60 in January, SAM said, “To tell the truth, I didn’t really come to the fact that I was 60th birthday. I’m 60 years old, but it’s not the 60 years I imagined when I was young. I thought at the time that it would be more “grandpa” and the body wasn’t moving as much. So when I was young, I often talked with my dance friends, ‘We’ll definitely dance even when we’re 60’. 60 years old, was one of our goals, wasn’t it?

When did he first notice that his dancing was not as sharp compared to his younger years? SAM said, “I first felt the change due to aging at the age of 47. As I am dancing, I am very sensitive to my muscles and instantaneous power. So, when I was 47, I really felt that the dance moves that I had been able to do had disappeared. It may have been influenced by the fact that I was a little lazy in training when I was in my 40s. From there, I felt a sense of crisis and returned to training like when I was younger. After work, I ate with friends and drank until morning. I used to live a life of drinking until 5 or 6 and sleeping until around noon. It wasn’t that I wasn’t training at all, but I wasn’t able to concentrate on it. After feeling weakened, I stopped drinking 2-3 times a week and started to face my body as much as possible. I paid particular attention to the foods I ate”.

“I tried to eat a lot of legumes for protein, and changed the style of meat 2-3 times a week. However, I am not so nervous about it. Basically, I eat what I want when I want to, but mysteriously, my taste changes as I get older. For example, I love sweets, and when I was in my twenties I always had chocolate bars and cookies in my bag, but after I was in my forties, I couldn’t eat much sweets. I can’t even eat a single shortcake”.

“On the contrary, I naturally like vegetables. So, as a result, I was able to improve my eating habits, but rather than forcibly improving it, my body naturally became that way. I think it was good to get older”.

While TRF celebrated their 30th anniversary, there is no announcement the group would release new music but SAM has been busy in helping seniors through dancing and creating dance programs to help them gain muscle strength via gerontology.

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