Sports and exercise growing fastest in Asia, led by China – four young professionals discuss their fitness regimes, goals and sporting role models
- Asians have long had a reputation for concentrating on academics rather than keeping fit and exercising
- But these days many young professionals have taken up exercise, inspired in part by Asian sports stars who have millions of social media followers
Catharina Lee, 28, has been working out for six years. As a Seoul-based fact checker for The Wall Street Journal and a reporter at national broadcaster Korea TV (KTV), she finds it hard to stick to her exercise schedule but tries to make time for fitness.
At a medical exam in early 2020, she was advised to exercise more for better health and weight loss, so she increased the intensity and regularity of her workouts.
Lee usually lifts weights or does Pilates at a fitness centre. On weekends, she rides a bicycle more than 30km (18 miles) and sometimes goes hiking.
Asian professionals like Lee have been less physically active than their counterparts living elsewhere in the world for some time, research suggests. Many Asian cultures also have traditionally emphasised the importance of academic education, sidelining physical activity and the benefits of playing sport.
Children across Asia, and especially those in East Asia, have often been encouraged to spend their leisure time on maths and science homework, rather than kicking a ball around or swinging a racket.
A 2018 study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) concluded that Asian professionals were lagging behind the rest of the world in the exercise stakes, based on data from 358 surveys across 168 countries and 1.9 million respondents.
