2024-04-13 08:14:27
“When I was raising my children in the United States, I sprained my back while running a restaurant. When I returned to Korea, my disc ruptured while playing golf. I had surgery, but the pain was so severe that I couldn’t even get up. The doctor said, ‘It’s chronic pain, so you have to live with it.’ My quality of life was completely ruined. “At that time, a friend introduced me to Pagoda Health Club and said, ‘Try working out properly.’”
Lee In-hye (59), who works as a trainer at Pagoda Health Club in Jongno-gu, Seoul, majors in music. She majored in clarinet and attended Seonhwa Arts High School before immigrating to the United States. She majored in music at an American university, got married, and lived as an ordinary housewife. After raising all her children, she ruptured a herniated disc in her back after returning to Korea. To treat it, she started doing muscle exercises and now she works as a bodybuilding trainer.
I returned to Korea in 2011 and had the surgery in January 2012. And after struggling for about three years, she finally started exercising her muscles. He said, “I thought surgery would solve the problem as easily as removing an old cavity. However, he was so sick that he had to roll over in bed to get up, so he had to go to several hospitals. He was depressed about his life. He said, “Muscle exercise changed my life.” That was in 2014. Jin Gwang-sik, director of Pagoda Health Club, was interested in exercise rehabilitation. Although he went to a fitness center as a hobby when he lived in the United States, this was actually the first time he built muscles in earnest.
“At first, I couldn’t even lie down. While exercising, I keenly felt that my body was in disarray. I gritted my teeth and worked hard. I ran, did core exercises, and did muscle exercises for each part of my body. It must have been about a year. As my back muscles strengthened, my back became softer and the pain subsided. As my body became healthier, I gained confidence. But now that things are okay, I might become a little negligent. “If I don’t exercise for a week, my back immediately becomes stiff.”
If I neglected exercise and my back hurt, I would run first as if I was starting exercise again for the first time, then repeat core exercises and muscle exercises for each part. After a few more days, my back became softer. He said, “After about three years, I thought I was completely healed, but when it rained, it hurt again. Then I get depressed again. “So at that time, he thought, ‘I guess I’m destined to exercise for the rest of my life.’”
I emptied my mind. And I devoted myself to exercising. It was 2016. I worked out my muscles for at least 2 hours every day. I visited the Korea Bodybuilding Association Coach Academy and studied theories such as exercise mechanics, anatomy, and exercise physiology. At that time, friends I was studying with said they were taking the physical education bodybuilding instructor certification test and asked me to join them. He was so anxious to get rid of his back pain that he didn’t have much desire. But since everyone said he was going to get a certificate, he started studying for the test together and passed.
I have worked as a trainer since 2017. He said, “I wasn’t confident in teaching, but the director told me, ‘If you keep teaching, you will develop leadership skills,’ so he entrusted me with teaching the class.” He said, “I personally coached and saw that there were many people with back pain like me. There were also many people who experienced frustration like me. “That’s why I’m teaching hard because I think it can be helpful.”
“I just talked about my experience and worked out together, and as the people who were sick got better, I learned a lot. Not only me but also other people became interested in rehabilitation because they were able to relieve pain and become healthy through exercise. So, I went back to the Coach Academy and studied rehabilitation.”
He also obtained a sports rehabilitation trainer certification in 2019. Naturally, Mr. Lee took charge of guiding the members who were sick. He said, “You can relieve pain by relaxing the painful area and strengthening the surrounding muscles. “We are helping people who feel pain in various areas, including herniated discs and frozen shoulders,” he said.
Last year, I also acquired a bodybuilding referee certification. He worked out hard but did not participate in competitions. He said, “I trained just like athletes aiming to participate in competitions, learned posture training and even walking, but I did not participate.” Since she is a mother and wife, she could not easily stand on stage in a bikini. To record the results of his exercise, I took several profile pictures of his body.
“When I go out to referee, there are people who show up with courage. You know what? Even if you exercise hard, you still see sagging skin… . In some ways, it seems a bit sad. And yet there is respect. “I can’t muster up that courage yet.”
Mr. Lee also set his next goal. He said he would play a role in helping silver people stay healthy. He said, “I’m older too. Now we are growing old together. The health of the elderly is likely to become more important in the 100-year-old era. So he plans to study senior fitness,” he said.
Why did I quit music, which I majored in at Sunhwa Arts Middle School and Sunhwa Arts High School, the most elite music courses, and at American universities? He said, “I played in a symphony orchestra during my school days, but I had to quit due to breathing problems. “We had to keep the wind out of his nose and out through his mouth, but that didn’t work.” He said, “But later on, I found out that I had overused the surrounding muscles so much that they could not use their strength properly. “After exercising, I understand,” he said.
What is the difference between music and exercise?
“There is no difference. It seems like you get what you put in. Of course, there will be differences depending on individual aptitude. But the most important thing is consistency. If you enjoy it and are not a musician or athlete, just do it consistently and at your leisure. I tell the members I teach that if they learn on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they should come out alone on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays to review. However, there are members who do it and some who don’t. Later on, the difference becomes clear. “Those who do it consistently will have a stronger body.”
What advice would you like to give to weight training beginners?
“Don’t overdo it and just do it every day. It has to be thin and long. Beginners should never lift heavy things from the beginning. The best goal for exercise should be ‘do it every day.’ If you do that, you will build up stamina and be able to exercise for more than an hour, which you could not do for less than 30 minutes at first. Then, you just have to be greedy little by little. There are endless ways to exercise muscles because there are various exercise methods depending on the area. You can find new exercises every day. I feel like I’ve learned everything, but if I change the movements even slightly, I have to do it again. Then, you keep digging and digging… . “There is no time to be bored.”
Mr. Lee’s routine was to go to work early in the morning, work as a trainer until 3 p.m., then do personal training for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours and then go home. He said he is living a very thankful life now. Mr. Lee once enjoyed cycling. But after he fell and got hurt, he decided it was dangerous, so he doesn’t ride much these days.
“Sometimes I think, ‘If only I had started exercising 10 years earlier, I would have been much healthier…’ ‘I think. However, even though my back hurts, I am happy that I am exercising and living a healthy life. We are now 100 years old. You can live happily if you are healthy. “Don’t think it’s too late, start exercising right now.”
Reporter Yang Jong-gu [email protected]
2024-04-13 08:14:27