South Korean CrossFit coach’s quest to change drinking culture for fitness is an uphill battle – ‘People usually drink to relieve stress’
- The 37-year-old country manager for South Korea has been trying to get his fellow countrymen fitter since dropping his studies
- Lee Weon-woo says the country’s notoriously bad drinking culture, is slowly starting to change as people embrace fitness more
“In Korea, physiotherapists always work at the hospital,” said the 37-year-old. “And when I was in school I thought about approaching people who weren’t sick yet, and then my goal became to prevent disabilities from happening. But in Korea you could only deal with people who were already sick.”
Lee thought the system was backwards, treating patients after injuries and illness, rather than focusing on preventive measures like staying fit and healthy.
“When I tried it, and started studying it, I fell in love with the methodology. Focus on the simple stuff, the basics, dead lifts, squats and bench presses, which can change people’s lives. So I changed my career.”
Lee was in the middle of prepping his master’s dissertation in Melbourne but dropped out and returned home to Korea with an entirely new plan: coach and teach CrossFit. He knew this was going to be an uphill battle, and it hasn’t been easy at all, but he is seeing glimmers of hope in Korea.
