Lean, mean fitness machine

Glanbia's team in China has set up nutritional bars in major city gyms to help people understand the company's products. These are staffed by personal trainers and industry professionals. "We offer personalized plans, depending on how many times a week that person works out," Gong said.

Domestic competitors are also expanding. Chinese sports nutritional product maker CPT plans to go public here next year. CPT reported annual sales growth of 40 percent last year, without revealing detailed financial figures.

Research and development of new products is a key ingredient of the company's policy, according to Wang Jiahong, marketing manager of CPT and deputy secretary-general of China Fitness Industry.

Between three to five percent of sales revenue is pumped into R&D. "Sports and fitness nutritional products have gone from the professional domain into the public arena," Wang said.

"In the future, we hope to become a sports health brand that offers heathy solutions to our consumers with the support of Internet software and technologies," he added.

Online is proving a crucial part of the fitness industry. China Dongrutuotu Science and Technology Co Ltd has more than 10,000 exercise videos on its "Internet gym" site hotbody.cn.

Expansion plans are in the works and hotbody.cn, which has two million registered users, will roll out new services, including hiring personal trainers, later this month.

"We are attracting new investors," Jin Xin, marketing manager of China Dongrutuotu Science and Technology, said, without disclosing detailed financial figures.

"One of our investors is Chinese actor and celebrity Huang Xiaoming," she added. "The 'A round' of financing has been completed and hotbody.cn is valued at around 300 million yuan."

But then, watching fitness videos is developing into a national craze.

Mu Mingming, who works in the retail sector in the Guangdong province city of Shenzhen, loves working out. "Training doesn't have to be regimented－it can be fun," Mu, 32, said.

"I jog on the beach at the weekend and do exercises at home with the help of videos," she added. "Exercise has become a major part of my lifestyle."