He Did a Cartoon Character’s Workout Every Day for Three Years. No One Can Believe What He Looks Like Now.
When a 41-year-old Japanese man decided to follow the training routine of an anime superhero — a routine that was written as a joke — nobody expected him to actually finish it.
He did. And 1,096 days later, the internet is stunned.
The Routine That Wasn’t Supposed to Be Real
In the popular anime and manga series One Punch Man, hero Saitama claims he became the strongest being on Earth through a deceptively simple daily regimen: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run. No rest days. No excuses. Every single day for three years.
The gag in the show is that it works too well — Saitama becomes so powerful he defeats every enemy with a single punch, leaving him bored and unfulfilled. The workout is played for laughs. The whole point is that it’s absurd.
A Japanese YouTuber named Tasuke didn’t care. On April 21, 2023, at 41 years old and 164 pounds, he started the challenge for real — and he documented every day of it on his channel, “tasuke challenge.”
1,096 Days. Zero Breaks.
Tasuke set five specific goals at the outset, according to coverage of the challenge by Japanese outlet Yutura, later picked up by Dexerto: complete the full three-year commitment, run a marathon in under four hours, finish a 100-kilometer ultramarathon, complete a 200-kilometer run around Japan’s Lake Biwa, and drop to 62 kilograms while maintaining muscle mass.
He hit all of them.
He reached the finish line on April 20, 2026, after 1,096 consecutive days, having run over 10,000 miles and completed 109,600 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats each. Dexerto
That’s not a typo. One hundred and nine thousand, six hundred repetitions of each exercise. Over three years. Without stopping.
The Part That Should Have Broken Him
The numbers alone are extraordinary. The circumstances make them almost unbelievable.
Along the way, Tasuke lost 8 toenails, was hit by a car once, and collided with bicycles twice. When COVID-19 prevented him from going outside, he didn’t take a rest day — he walked 10 kilometers inside his apartment and completed his strength training anyway, according to multiple outlets covering the challenge. TOY PEOPLE
He traveled for work. He pushed through bad weather. He ran through snow.
Not once did he skip.
What We Know

Tasuke, now 44, started the challenge at 41 years old and approximately 164 lbs
The daily routine: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 km run — no days off
He ran the equivalent of crossing the United States more than three times
Setbacks included COVID, a car accident, and two bicycle collisions — none stopped him
He completed a 205.83 km run around Lake Biwa in 27 hours, 42 minutes, and 5 seconds
He achieved his target weight of 62 kg while visibly building lean muscle mass
His transformation video went viral globally within days of posting

Even the Creator of the Anime Noticed
The story caught the attention of ONE, the original creator of One Punch Man. ONE responded on X after Yutura shared Tasuke’s story, writing: “Someone recreated it again… that’s amazing… I mean, thank you.” Dexerto
Fans online flooded Tasuke’s comments with a running joke about one key difference between him and Saitama: in the anime, the workout causes Saitama to go completely bald. Tasuke directly addressed it, telling viewers not to say he had to redo the challenge just because he didn’t lose his hair. Dexerto
Why This Is Hitting So Hard
Americans spend over $35 billion a year on gym memberships — and most quit within months. The average fitness resolution collapses before February.
Tasuke trained through a pandemic, through accidents, through pain that would have stopped virtually anyone. He didn’t have a trainer, a sponsor, or a plan beyond one cartoon character’s absurd fictional routine. He just didn’t stop.
His before-and-after isn’t just a body transformation. It’s a case study in what three years of unbroken consistency actually looks like — something most fitness culture obsesses over but rarely delivers.
At 44, Tasuke is in the best shape of his life. He started because of an anime joke. He finished because he refused not to.

Sources: Dexerto, Toy-People, BroBible, LADbible, Yutura (Japanese-language outlet via Dexerto)