Fitness training at your doorstep

Whizzing through the streets of Beijing on his electric scooter, 24-year-old Wang Linbo has an important deadline to meet. No, he's not one of the capital's many food delivery drivers; he's a physical trainer on his way to a lesson at a customer's home.

Wang is among a growing number of physical trainers being called out by Chinese parents to provide on-demand sports and fitness lessons for their children.

Many parents, faced with already packed schedules, are concerned that their children are not getting enough exercise due to their own tight timetables.

And so the marriage between China's world-class digital infrastructure and on-demand services makes perfect sense in solving these parents' concerns.

Since school went back in September, Beijing Sport University graduate Wang has worked peak hours from 4 to 9 pm, training children in skipping rope, running and fitness conditioning at their residential compounds or parks — bringing professional coaching directly to their doorsteps.

"In this way, parents can save travel time to gyms, kids can exercise conveniently, and I can get a stronger sense of fulfillment from these one-to-one classes," said Wang, a native of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

He regards this service as a new model where certified trainers can offer mobile fitness solutions, adapting exercise routines to sidewalks, rooftops or community spaces.

Wang is not alone. Xia Yun, 27, is in the same line of work in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Since joining One Jump Sports, a sports education company, in June, he has been carrying his equipment to various communities to offer door-to-door sports classes to customers.

Xia, a trained gym coach, initially thought this type of work would only be part-time. "When I realized that it provides a stable income and allows me to manage my own time, I decided to continue with it," he said.

Both Wang and Xia view what they do as a sunrise industry that they expect to develop rapidly in the coming years. According to a report by Yuboinfo.com, which specializes in market research and investment consulting, the current potential population size for youth sports training is 130 million, and the potential market size for sports consumption from this same group is approximately 235 billion yuan ($32.96 billion), indicating it is a high-growth industry.

"Our original intention was to respond to the national fitness campaign, particularly by providing high-quality, convenient and inclusive sports services for young people," said Huang Ling, the founder of One Jump Sports.

While pledging to offer customers valuable and safe services, she has also called on government regulatory authorities to pay greater attention to this emerging business and strengthen their oversight, in an effort to ensure its healthy development.