LEGEND CHOI
Crossing his own path through constant challenges and new attempts, CHOI JEON SEOL (LEGEND CHOI) is expanding his position step by step as a “trot singer-songwriter”. He revisited the past time with humility, stating that his current position is less the result of his sole abilities than that of the help and encouragement of the people who stayed by his side at every moment, according to the situation.
Having shared his recent news during an exclusive interview with the media MHN, he confided sincerely about the process of preparing his recent body profile and about his new self-management routines. Unlike his first body profile session in the past, where he chained high-intensity exercises twice a day, he focused this time on constant management within a more stable routine.
For 120 days, he followed a systematic body management by combining 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours of aerobic exercise and weight training per day, adding a PT only during the last two weeks. Consequently, he succeeded in losing about 8 kg and completed his most satisfying physical condition according to the “in-body” criterion, with a balanced change even increasing his muscle mass.
In particular, he reduced his waist size from 32 inches to 28 inches, and maintains it stably until now. Although he has a constitution that easily gains weight and he likes to eat, he explained that he maintains his current condition thanks to constant management including home training.
“After a car accident, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo appeared continuously, preventing me from training properly for a certain time. Naturally, my weight increased and, once my condition was restored, I said to myself: ‘this time, let’s try to build my body seriously’. It is not for all that that I prepared myself by mistreating myself.”
“According to my criteria, I established a plan of about 120 days within a manageable limit and I progressed step by step. Being a very J type, I have a tendency to execute goals once fixed. My goal this time was to build an aesthetic body to the eye, with slightly visible abs.”
The result of the body profile session, highlighting even more his completed body, also added to the surprise. This session, realized as a gift by the photographer Hong Siwoo, a long-time acquaintance, is all the more impressive as it moved away from the usual body profile concepts to capture a natural and comfortable atmosphere within a daily setting.
It gains significance because it calmly documents the transformed body and atmosphere rather than using an exaggerated staging, finishing as a work where the deep trust and loyalty uniting the two men for 12 years fully transpire.
“As she is a very talented photographer, I was able to entrust the work to her with full confidence. Having a long relationship with the photographer Hong Siwoo, I was able to participate in the session more comfortably. Rather than a classic body profile feeling, I wanted to leave photos having the natural atmosphere of a magazine editorial, and she really rendered this aspect well, so the result was all the more satisfying.”
“In reality, I thought she would only send me a few retouched shots, but she worked with care on more than twenty photos. I was even more grateful because it was a session received as a gift, and I think this work was possible thanks to a loyalty maintained for more than 12 years.”
Concerning the reason why he pursues constant training, he cited “health” above all. He explained that exercise improves not only physical and mental strength, but also allows managing his constitutional characteristics, such as the fact of swelling easily or seeing his inflammation levels increase in case of weight gain.
To this, he added that visual management as a singer is also an important element. Estimating not to be tall, he feels the need to maintain a satisfying general balance and impression on stage when he dresses. He emphasized carrying a great responsibility toward the image shown to fans and the public as an artist paid to perform at events.
“I think many trot singers will sympathize. This path itself often implies a long period of anonymity, and it is not a profession where efforts lead immediately to results. Luck, timing, and sometimes environmental elements play an important role.”
“But exercise is different. Training and diet do not lie because the results are clearly visible to the height of the efforts provided. As this manifests directly on the body according to the effort, it led me to a great feeling of accomplishment.”
“I received many messages from colleagues calling me ‘the tenacious one’. I also heard that some had started a diet after being stimulated by my appearance. Every time I hear such reactions, I feel instead a greater satisfaction.”
“I really wish that many people try to do sports. The feeling of accomplishment obtained by training, or the happiness coming from visible results according to the effort, is truly immense. As our path is not always that of a work with visible results and we do not know when or what variable will arise, I liked very much the fact that exercise gives you back exactly what you put into it.”
The reason why he improves himself thus unceasingly is that he ignores when and in what form the opportunity will present itself. Having a great will to make his name known once again through a challenge in a trot competition show, he is currently pursuing various preparations with the objective of a male trot competition.
Above all, judging it necessary to evaluate himself coldly and to raise his own standards to cross a new step as an artist, he strives tirelessly with the objective of reaching a level where he would be evaluated as an “artist worth the investment”, even assuming he had no agency.
“These days, I ask myself this question: ‘if I were an investor possessing 10 billion, would I invest in the artist LEGEND CHOI?’. I thought that it was not yet quite the case. I am therefore in the process of creating myself this standard of what I should become. That is why I am preparing with the spirit of rebuilding myself seriously. My current goal is to become an artist of whom someone could say ‘I absolutely want to choose this boy’, even if I have no agency.”
LEGEND CHOI emphasized that good relationships have always marked his musical journey. Although there were moments where he had to go toward people and build relationships within a difficult process, there were in the end people who stayed by his side during every important period.
The fact that he was able to pursue his activities until now rests not only on his own efforts, but also on the strength of the people who accompanied him. Moreover, he maintains collaborative relationships by helping each other with his fellow singers on various music or design works, including the creation of the cover photo for the new track of HA DONG GEUN “Let’s laugh today too”, and these links are the engine that supports him solidly today.
“I continue to strive to always show a prepared and quality image. I want to show correctly who I am so that in thinking of LEGEND CHOI, one does not wonder ‘what kind of music does this singer make?’, but that one thinks immediately of the ‘trot singer LEGEND CHOI‘.”
“Simultaneously, I plan to make an unparalleled music heard on various stages as the group CHOI GANG-SEOK-GI-SI-DAE. My ultimate goal is to leave a music containing the message unique to CHOI GANG-SEOK-GI-SI-DAE, which will remain engraved in memories with time and could even appear in school textbooks. Please, encourage me a lot.”
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Interview by MNH
Source: LEGEND CHOI
