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This is Story in the Story.

With more and more Chinese willing to pay to look good as they work out, domestic brands are keeping up to date with the latest gym fashion trends.

It's boom time for the fitness industry here, with the sector worth 1.9 trillion yuan ($294.1 billion) in 2016, according to the State General Administration of Sport and the National Bureau of Statistics.

It is estimated the industry will hit its target of 5 trillion yuan ($773.9 billion) by 2025, as Chinese brands jostle for their piece of the pie.

Domestic sportswear giants such as Li Ning, Anta and 361 Degrees have adopted a similar strategy to international goliaths like Adidas and Nike, producing footwear and outfits for basketball, soccer, running, outdoor sports and the so-called athleisure trend - exercise clothing that is also considered appropriate to wear at work or socially.

The government's National Fitness Program forecasts that, by 2020, 700 million people will exercise at least once a week, with 435 million regularly exercising.

According to consulting firm Daxue, the sportswear market will overtake the country's luxury goods market by 2020.

Today’s Story in the Story will look at how the fitness craze is booming all across China and affecting people from all walks of life.

An instructor trains club members at Pure Fitness, a gym opened by Hong Kong-originated Pure Group in Shanghai. (Photo: China Daily)

Yu Jing, an office worker in Beijing, takes an expensive approach to fitness.

She gave up a 1,000-square-meter gym with a 2,000 yuan annual fee and paid 9,000 yuan for 36 one-hour courses at a fitness studio located on the city’s third-ring road.

"It is not a cheap bargain, but I think the exercise will be more effective under the guidance of a private coach," Yu said.

The Aosheng Fitness Training Base, with an area of only 150 square meters, opened in March and has about 60 members, according to Jin Long, a 27-year-old retired wrestler and founder of the studio. The studio has seven coaches, all retired wrestlers from north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The studio is already profitable as each member pays about 10,000 yuan for their courses, said Jin, who is busy searching for a second studio space. Jin came to Beijing five years ago, working as a fitness coach.

“The traditional fitness clubs concentrate more on sales and focus less on customers' consumption experiences and services,” Jin said. “Our studio focuses on customers and body-building results, which is the future direction of the industry.”

The Chinese government is aiming high for the sports sector to boost its economy. A recent guideline released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council called for creating new business models of sports consumption.

As China's middle class population is on the rise, small but more expensive studios are sprouting up across China - but so are large scale fitness centers.

Saipu Fitness Institute is expected to reach 40,000 members this year, according to Zhao Siyu, assistant president of Saipu Investment Co. Ltd.

Saipu reaped 259 million yuan in sales revenues in the first half of 2018, up 78 percent year-on-year. Its net profits increased by 81 percent to 72.38 million yuan during the same period, according to a semi-annual report.

“The sports industry has entered an era of rapid growth as the per capita GDP of China now exceeds 8,500 dollars and people demand more sports consumption,” said Jiang Xiaojuan, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Similar to Saipu, Hong Kong-originated premium gym chain Pure Group has opened its first outlet in Shanghai, which is believed to be one of the biggest and most expensive in town, if not the country.

Covering 3,010 square meters on the top two floors of luxury shopping mall IAPM, the new Pure Fitness gym includes a spinning classroom with a $5 million screen offering a 270-degree perspective that immerses cyclists in virtual scenes such as glaciers and race tracks.

“Being large doesn't mean the sacrifice of privacy or intimacy. We think that our customers over the long term want more than just one program,” said Colin Grant, co-founder and CEO of Pure Group.

Dubbed “the gym of choice for Hong Kong's financial elite,” the Shanghai outlet's annual membership fees start at 13,000 yuan, excluding private one-on-one sessions.

Customers can also pay a day rate of 300 yuan to use all of its facilities.

“Now there is almost a global trend toward not only exercising, but also having a healthy lifestyle,” Grant said. “China is no exception, if not a leading player.”

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Raymond Mendoza and Lance Crayon. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Xinhua and China Daily.)