How Did Seventeen Mingyu Train Before Joining Pledis Entertainment?

Whenever I watch Mingyu's old trainee clips I get this silly grin on my face — you can see the hunger and the clumsy charm that’d later become part of his stage persona. From what I’ve pieced together watching interviews, variety bits, and the trainee-era videos, his prep before officially debuting with Pledis was basically one of those full-immersion trainee lives: long days of dance practices, rap drills, and endless choreography repetition. He worked on basic performance foundations — rhythm, timing, center-stage presence — and because he’s naturally tall and photogenic, he also spent time honing his visual performance (modeling posture, camera-facing angles) alongside the usual idol drills.

Beyond dance and visuals, Mingyu seemed to lean hard into rap training and songwriting basics. You often see him scribbling lyrics or practicing flows in backstage clips; he pursued confidence with breath control, cadence, and mic technique rather than just relying on raw voice. Vocals were part of the menu too — not main focus, but enough to blend into group tracks and harmonies. Trainee life for him also included the social grind: unit practices with other trainees, participating in trainee showcases, and learning to adapt to different choreo styles (hip-hop, more contemporary sections, and formations). Those repeated late-night run-throughs with teammates are the kind of thing that turns rough potential into smooth teamwork.

What warms me as a fan is how human it all looks: Mingyu stumbling through a new move, asking more experienced trainees for tips, laughing off a bad run, and then arriving the next day with the same stubborn practice. He also picked up extras — stage etiquette, variety timing, and even basic producing sense — so he could contribute creatively once SEVENTEEN formed. Watching his growth from trainee clips to full-on performances makes me appreciate how much quiet, sweaty work underlies those polished moments, and it makes me root for him even more when he nails a live rap or a tricky formation. If you dig through old trainee footage or 'Seventeen TV' snippets, you can practically see the moments where practice turned into personality, and that’s one of my favorite kinds of transformation to witness.