Feline fit! 'Sports fanatic' cat sends the internet into a frenzy for 'doing crunches' at a gym

  • Hilarious footage shows the cat named Little Tiger squirming his body at a gym
  • The pet's movement gave viewers the impression that he was doing crunches
  • His owner called him a 'sports fanatic' and joked he was finishing his 'abs session'
  • But animal experts explained that the moggie was trying to groom himself

By Emilia Jiang For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

A pet moggie has been branded as a 'fitness fanatic' by his owner after a hilarious video purportedly show the animal working out at a gym in China.

Trending footage shows the male cat, named Xiao Hu or 'Little Tiger', lying next to an exercise bench while squirming his body up and down in a determined fashion.

The furry gym-goer is seen lifting its legs straight while moving his head closer to his belly, giving viewers the impression that he was doing crunches – a popular form of abdominal workout.

Hilarious footage shows the cat named Little Tiger squirming his body at a gym
The pet's movement gave viewers the impression that he was doing crunches

Trending footage shows the male cat, named Xiao Hu or 'Little Tiger', lying next to an exercise bench while squirming his body up and down in a determined fashion at a gym in Jining city

A hilarious video appeared to show the pet cat working out at a gym in China
The animal’s amusing behaviour was captured by his pet owner, Mr Chu

The furry gym-goer is seen lifting its legs straight while moving his head closer to his belly, giving viewers the impression that he was doing crunches, a form of abdominal workout

The animal's amusing behaviour was captured by his pet owner, Mr Chu, who recently shared the clip with the caption 'Last abs session of the day' on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.

The clip quickly amassed more than 1.6million views after being shared onto Twitter-like Weibo.  

Mr Chu, who is also the owner of the gym in the eastern Chinese city Jining, told MailOnline that the furry 'sports fanatic' had been spotted doing the movement almost every day.

'Because we have people training their abs on that exercise bench every day, it likes to lie there as well,' the pet owner said.

Mr Chu adopted Little Tiger after finding the stray feline outside his gym over a year ago. The cat has been living at the facility ever since.

Little Tiger's 'ab session' has amused hundreds of thousands of Chinese social media users who joke how the cat has inspired them to exercise more.

One viewer wrote: 'Even cats are working out now, yet we are still here scrolling videos!'

Mr Chu adopted Little Tiger after finding the stray moggie outside his gym
The cat has been living at the facility ever since

The animal's amusing behaviour was captured by his pet owner, Mr Chu, who recently shared the clip with the caption 'Last abs session of the day' on the Chinese TikTok-like Douyin

Another commenter said: 'He's more disciplined than me! I'm going to start exercise now.'

While Little Tiger's action may have impressed netizens, animal experts explain that the cat was simply trying to clean itself.

Caroline Clark, an ABTC Registered Clinical Animal Behaviour Counsellor, told MailOnline that the cat was grooming himself.

'Cats often get in to different positions to groom and maintain their coat and if you look closely this is what this cat appears to be trying to do,' she said after viewing the Douyin clip.

Her opinion was echoed by Kim Houston, an ASAB Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist, who pointed out that the moggie appeared to be overweight, causing him to struggle to groom himself. 

While Little Tiger’s action may have impressed netizens, animal experts explain that the cat was simply trying to clean itself
Little Tiger’s ‘ab session’ has amused hundreds of thousands of Chinese social media users

A pet moggie has been praised as a fitness motivation by social media users after a hilarious video appeared to show the animal lying down while doing crunches at a gym in China

'Most cats will spend a significant part of their day grooming. Their bodies are extremely supple and can bend and flex to enable them to reach all parts with ease,' Ms Houston added.

'However, the cat in the video is a little overweight, and as a result is not as flexible as most cats, and therefore finding it a little difficult to reach certain parts of its body.'

The video of Little Tiger comes as another trending clip has captured the hilarious moment a cat was escorted off a train for 'travelling without a ticket'.

The feline, believed to be a stray, sneaked onto a high-speed train in China over the weekend, seemingly trying to hitch a free ride.

After being caught red-handed, the furry passenger is seen trotting on its hind legs with tiny steps as it was carried out of the carriage by a railway officer.

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