Based on a set of two, semi-structured, individual interviews with 21 Japanese men aged between 25 and 57, from Tokyo and Osaka, this paper explores the rationale underneath their eating habits and engagement in physical exercise. Ten and 11 of the men identified themselves as 'beefy' and 'slim-muscular man', respectively. The analysis of interview is grounded in symbolic interactionism and the construct of the somatic self. 'Biopedagogy', gender and emotion are three axes to grasp the participants' embodied experiences [Harwood, V. (2009). Theorizing biopedagogies. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), "Biopolitics and the 'obesity epidemic': Governing bodies" (pp. 15-30). London: Routledge]. Biopedagogy is underpinned by the concepts of Body Fat Index and 'healthism', as well as the viewpoint that dieting + exercise = bodyweight control [Crawford, R. (1980). Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. "International Journal of Health Services", 10(3), 365-388]. The men champion the understanding of 'full-fledge man' to convey a form of 'hegemonic masculinity' [Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press]. Embodied emotionality for these men could be referred to by the construct of the 'male looking glass body' which mostly entails homosocial synergy at a 'bodybuilding habitus' [Monaghan, L. F. (2001). "Bodybuilding, drugs and risk". London: Taylor and Francis].