Korean Sluggers Tuning Up Their Physiques

In 2003, Lee Seung-yeop (31, Yomiuri) and Shim Jung-soo (32, Samsung) were competing head to head to win the league’s home run title. That season, Lee, who was in a Samsung jersey back then, hit 56 home runs, outpacing Shim who hit 53 playing for Hyundai.

Although Lee was better in terms of numbers, many pitchers found Shim trickier to contend with. “Shim not only has a robust constitution but also has great strength, so he looks as if he could send the ball over the fence by simply making contact with it,” said a pitcher playing for LG. He said, “Compared to Shim, Lee looks less threatening because he is smaller and he needs accurate timing to make a home run.” In those days, it was Shim who had the best frame for playing ball.

Shim is one of the pioneers of physical training in Korean baseball who successfully gained weight through systematic weight training. When he joined his team in 1994, he was 85 kilograms. Five years later, he became 95 kilos, and when he transferred to Hyundai, he was no lighter than 100 kilos.

Swelling his body by eating tens of egg whites every day, he was once dubbed “the egg freak” by some teammates; admiring his physique, others called him “Hercules.”

Lee indulged in weight lifting only after he spent his first year in Japan, the 2004 season, in a serious slump. It has been three years since he started an organized physical training program, and the shape he is in now is incomparable to how he looked in the days he was in the domestic league.

Weighing 78 kilos, Lee was slender when he first joined Samsung. He gained weight and weighed 85 kilos in 2003. This year, the needle on the scale vibrates between 95 and 96 kilos when he’s on it.

It’s not only his poundage that has increased. His muscles began to replace fat. His body fat percentage, which was 16% three years ago, has been reduced to 11%. “Most of the fats that were around his belly have been burned up and we are about to see the abdominal muscles stand out. His stomach is almost fatless now,” Oh Chang-hun, president of Sejin Health Club who has been coaching his weight lifting program, said.

It is admirable to see how seriously Lee is devoted to his training. In addition to having tens of albumens daily like Shim, he strictly abstains from fatty dishes or sodas whether he’s in Korea or Japan.

Last week, when he came back to Korea for a short while to be present at his mother’s grave as the traditional mourning period of 49 days was about to expire, he headed straight off to a fitness club as soon as he left the cemetery. Coach Oh went so far as to say, “Sometimes, it scares me to watch him work out.” Lee looks bigger than Shim nowadays.

One of the reasons why Shim looks relatively smaller is that Shim is currently downsizing himself. Shim underwent a surgery on his right knee last year. Due to his excessive weight, it had been overloaded and it became even worse as he began playing in his new home park in Daegu, which is covered with artificial grass.

While keeping up with physical training, he dropped his weight from 100 kilos to 92 kilos. “It has been long since I’ve felt as light as I do now. I’m in superb condition,” commented Shim. He recently hit two home runs in a friendly match against SK.

Both the “enlarged” Lee Seung-yeop and the “dwindled” Shim Jung-soo have worked on their own bodies to get into the best shape to produce the most homers. Pitchers who have to confront them this season will have to bear the great burden of facing long ball threats whenever they dare to throw strikes.

uni@donga.com