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To make the most of his experience in shadow boxing and bodybuilding, he applied to be an instructor at the city's various gyms.

But because he hadn't previously been employed in any such role, Hou couldn't find a job. He lived on the meager sums of money he had borrowed from his college friends. The turning point came when he accidentally met the manager of a gym, who offered him an assistant coach position at his gym.

The job paid him about 1,000 yuan a month, all of which he spent on buying books on fitness training, setting aside the little left for food and a room's rent.

A few months later, he passed the examinations required for professional certification, and became a qualified fitness trainer. Many of the gym clients enrolled to train with him. But his popularity led to his falling out with the management there, he says.

In 2012, he joined another gym, where he earned between 5,000 and 6,000 yuan a month, an income that was higher than what he made earlier but still lower than many of his industry peers.

A year later, Hou decided to open his own "studio" that targeted affluent customers. Two business associates invested 160,000 yuan in the venture, that operated out of a 150-square-meter rented apartment in a high-end housing community.

However, for the first three months, his business didn't take off; one investor also left. Then, one day, a man whom Hou had once coached, came to him, saying he wanted to lose weight and that Hou was the best trainer he ever had. The personalized exercise kit that Hou had designed for the man led his client to shed some 10 kg.

Very soon, friends of the client found their way to Hou.

In June 2013, a client helped him get youth icon Zheng as a customer. Personal Tailor, a film starring Zheng, was a big hit that year.

Zheng was happy with the fitness training and recommended Hou to many of his showbiz friends, such as director Wang Quan'an, and actors Feng Shaofeng, Hu Bin and Chen Sicheng.

"Business people come to me for a healthier body, but actors and actresses are desperate to look better," Hou says.

The minimum membership requirement at his gym is 54 sessions, and he charges 800 yuan for a two-hour session. Hou now has about 100 regular clients.

"My clients want the strictest privacy. Because the gym is located in a well-protected community, they don't have to worry about it," Hou says.

Yu Qun, one of Hou's clients, who runs his own consultancy, points out that the high-profile trainer updates his own skills by attending fitness clinics in Japan and in Hong Kong.

"Most importantly, he never brags about his clients or makes use of them," Yu says. "That makes us trust him."