A before picture of Wei Xianglong's abs Photo: Courtesy of Wei Xianglong

An after picture of Wei Xianglong's abs Photo: Courtesy of Wei Xianglong

A coach teaches a class at Crossfit Slash in Beijing on Sunday. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Probably one of the fastest ways to become a Web celebrity in China today is to show off the outstanding figure you've gained through hard training.

Actress Chen Yihan's popularity reached a whole new level when audience watching her reality show realized she is actually a very athletic woman, able to do 57 sit-ups in two minutes and play all kinds of sports.

From being an actress that triggered the hashtag "#get-out-of-entertainment" on Sina Weibo, Yuan Shanshan totally reversed her image and gained great number of fans almost overnight by just showing off what Chinese call "vest-line abs" - when someone's abdominal muscles form two vertical lines on either side of their stomach, which looks like someone wearing a vest.

Besides vest-line abs, showing of your six-pack, V-cut abs, bikini bridge, and other muscular parts of your body to show how much you've been training has become one of social media's most popular fads.

The new sexy

It's not rare to see young women grabbing dumbbells or barbells in the free-weight zone of a gym while working out. Group running events are also being held at night across the country in big cities like Beijing.

As a fitness veteran, Liu Guangyi has noticed these changes.

"It seems all the people I know in fitness circles have gone off to start their own fitness studios," he said. Liu first became addicted to fitness in 2004 when he was still a college student.

Co-founding a gym in June with friends, Liu and his team decided to differentiate themselves from other gyms by bringing a popular training mode from Western countries, crossfit, to China.

Crossfit is a comprehensive fitness regime initiated by Greg Glassman in the US in 2000. It's a training program that includes high intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, girevoy and a number of other exercises. It aims to improve all physiological functions, including the cardiovascular system, physical power, explosive force, flexibility, speed and balance.

Although the program has been a hit in many countries for years, it's still in its starting phase in China. Only a few gyms in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Chengdu provide crossfit training.

Although Liu has been working in the fitness industry for nearly 10 years, he was shocked and felt that there was no way he could keep up when he first tried crossfit training.

While a huge muscular guy can still be weak in speed and flexibility, and a long-distance runner can be weak in power, crossfit judges a person's fitness by their comprehensive ability.

"I look at myself in a whole new way," Liu said, describing how crossfit has improved him mentally. It was this change that drove him and his friends to promote the regime.

Just one month after opening the gym, Liu has seen membership numbers reach nearly 800 people. Surprisingly, 70 percent of members are female.

New craze

Although China was a big winner when it came to gold and other medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2012 London Olympic Games, the physical fitness of its average citizens has been on the decline compared to neighboring countries.

Research conducted by China's State General Administration of Sports, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in South Korea in 2010 showed that although Chinese children are taller than those in Japan, they fall far behind in terms of the standing long jump, 50-meter race and grip strength. 

Among high school students, although Chinese students are the tallest, they also have the weakest physique. China also ranked the lowest in terms of the percentage of students that never took a sick day (South Korea 71.6 percent, Japan 53.1 percent, China 45.4 percent).

"We must do the right thing. There are many problems that exist in the fitness industry in China. We can't lead the public in the wrong direction," Liu said.

Although the desire to be fit and have toned body seems to indicate a promising future for China's fitness industry, Liu warns that just focusing on looks is wrong.

He said obvious muscular definition depends on several factors, such as muscle type, training and diet. Even models in fitness magazines spend months working out in preparation and avoid salt and oil in their meals for a shoot. He feels that such extremes might lead to physiological disorders for some women.

"Don't blindly chase it. Everybody wants to look better, but don't forget why you started exercising: to be healthy."

Inspiring changes

Crossfit isn't the only training program that has earned loyal fans in China. There are people crazy about the Insanity 60-Day Total Body Workout, a high intensity training program created by coach Shaun T that requires no equipment.

The Insanity training program lasts 63 days, but Wei Xianglong, an editor for Tencent, has been sticking with it for 10 months. For those who have tried the program before, it probably sounds really insane, since a person is usually left totally exhausted from its high intensity. No caring for exercising with machines or in public gyms, Wei works out by himself.

"The first 15 minutes are the most awful part to get through, but with willpower you can get through it. As my sweat starts to fall like rain, I really start to enjoy it."

"I see my body changing every month," Wei said. This is what has driven him to stick with such a harsh training regime for such a long time. These changes don't just include his drop in body weight from 89 kilograms to 75 kilograms, he has also gained a six-pack, pecs and his physical agility has reached a whole new level. He can climb 20 floors without even breathing hard.

But the most important change has been mental, "I feel more confident."

Fitness fever in China is still spreading. More of Wei's colleagues want to join him after seeing how he has changed. Wei's mother and father, already in their 50s, have also started Insanity. His mother can now wear the same dress she wore when she was in her 20s and his father has felt relief from his low back pain.