My Own Obsession: The Relentless Pursuit of Podium Performance

By Seung Choi

As I near the end of my graduate program, the question of “what’s next” feels more real than ever. For me, the answer is clear: I want to work in a traditional strength and conditioning facility, alongside a renowned coach in strength or power sports — someone capable of guiding elite-level athletic progression. I’ve been in this environment for more than a decade, starting from bodybuilding to powerlifting to Olympic weightlifting. Iron is where I belong.

My interest in strength and power isn’t theoretical — it’s personal. I’ve spent more than a decade as a competitive athlete, starting from American football to cross country, boxing, and Olympic weightlifting. And through all of those years, I found myself consistently stuck in the middle of the pack. No national medals. No breakout performances. Just a lingering sense of being outpaced — not from lack of effort, but from some missing piece I couldn’t quite identify.

I trained hard — on average, three hours everyday — and even after team practice, you’d still find me in the weight room, just moving, chasing something mysterious I believed could be unlocked through more training. Whether I was exhausted or dealing with minor injuries, I never let that stop me. I just couldn’t accept that podium-level athletes were only born, not built. That question — “What really makes a podium-level athlete?” — is what led me into this field. Because I wanted answers. And more than that, I wanted to become a coach who could help others find what I couldn’t.

We often overlook how early movement, motor skill development, and coordination might build a foundation long before someone ever steps into a weight room. I think of it like the “brain is a sponge” analogy — the younger you are, the more absorbent and adaptable your nervous system is. If someone learns complex movements like power cleans, combat strokes, or sprint mechanics at an early age, they’re likely to carry that advantage for life. I don’t just think early exposure plays a “huge role” — I believe it has far more potential than that. It may be one of the most underestimated drivers of elite performance.

And it’s not just movement patterns. Long-term behaviors like diet, sleep, and recovery habits compound over years of training. Think about it: if one athlete is fueling with whole foods, getting quality sleep, and managing stress from the time they’re a teenager, and another is skipping meals and sleeping five hours a night — ten years later, who’s more likely to perform at the top? These seem like small things, but they quietly build a platform for success. I believe it’s these overlooked variables — the “easy” habits that are actually hard to sustain — that separate consistent podium-level athletes from the rest. Understanding and coaching those factors is part of what makes this field so fascinating to me.

What excites me most about strength and power training is how unclear and competitive the process becomes as athletes get better. Everyone hits a plateau eventually. The magic is in how coaches help them break through it. I’ve studied top programs — from well-known weightlifting coaches to Mountain Tactical Institute’s strength programs — and I’ve noticed that every coach has their own philosophy. That’s fascinating to me. I want to become the best in this niche — not for ego, but to find real answers about what works at the highest level.

At the end of the day, I’m not chasing comfort, convenience, or even balance. I’m chasing perfection in strength/power programming — not because I believe I’ll ever fully reach it, but because the pursuit itself defines who I am as a coach. I want to be the “one”, athletes seek out when they’re hungry to reach the podium. The coach who pushes them further than they thought possible, because I hold myself to the same standard.

I want to give direction to mid-pack athletes striving to be the best — because I’m still one of them. I know what it’s like to fall short and still show up the next day, hungry to figure out what’s missing. That’s why I avoid working with general populations — they can’t fulfill my obsession with performance or consistency. I want to work with serious athletes — the kind who listen, absorb, and execute without hesitation because they believe in the training, and I believe in them. I don’t doubt my programming, and I don’t doubt their capability to become the best.

That’s why I’m here — not just to coach, but to relentlessly pursue the perfect strength/power program, and to build podium athletes from the ground up.