Translation guide
The sport or activity of developing muscles through weight training and diet. In Japanese, the English loanword ボディビル is standard, while 筋トレ refers to general strength training.
Referring to competitive bodybuilding or the activity of sculpting muscles for aesthetics.
The standard Japanese term for bodybuilding as a sport or hobby. Shortened from ボディビルディング.
Referring to weight training for fitness, not necessarily competitive bodybuilding.
Short for 筋肉トレーニング, the most common term for strength training or working out with weights. Not limited to bodybuilding.
ボディビル implies a focus on muscle size and aesthetics, often for competition. 筋トレ is broader and covers any strength training for health or fitness. If you just go to the gym to lift weights, 筋トレ is more natural.
趣味で筋トレをやっています。
I do strength training as a hobby.
彼はボディビルの大会で優勝した。
He won a bodybuilding competition.
The full English loanword, less common in casual speech but used in formal or technical contexts.
ボディビルディングは芸術の一種だ。
Bodybuilding is a form of art.
Literally 'muscle training', a more descriptive term that can refer to bodybuilding but is less specific.
筋肉トレーニングに励んでいる。
I'm devoted to muscle training.
毎日筋トレをしています。
I do strength training every day.
Weight training, often used interchangeably with 筋トレ but more specifically refers to using weights.
ウエイトトレーニングで筋肉をつける。
Build muscle through weight training.