Fighting fit

Boxing is becoming popular among China's white-collar workers as a way to battle bulging bellies and release pent-up stress, Zhao Ruinan reports.

It's shortly before noon. Zuo Yunfan finishes his morning work and walks out of his office in Beijing. Instead of joining his colleagues for lunch, Zuo slings a black bag over his shoulder and hits the street.

Fifteen minutes later, he enters Uppercut boxing studio in Beijing's Chaoyang district. He carefully wraps his hands with protective tape, puts on a pair of boxing gloves and begins a carefully regimented workout. His fists make a "Pop! Pop!" sound as he pounds his training partner's raised hand pads-his favorite part of the one-hour boxing class at the club.

The 33-year-old says he tried a free trial boxing class at the studio two months ago and was immediately hooked on the sport.

"When I land punches on the bag, I feel so powerful," he says.

Zuo was exhausted after three full training sessions: 15 minutes of cardio combo to warm up the body, 20 minutes of hitting the hand pads and 15 minutes of exercises to strengthen his core.

"When I walk out of class every time, my whole body is vibrating with a new kind of strength," he says.

Training three times a week, Zuo quickly discovered that boxing helped dramatically improve his physical strength.

"Boxing is a well-rounded workout that would benefit everyone. It gets your entire core fully engaged, so it is good exercise for office workers to strengthen the waist and abdomen after long day sitting still," he says.