THERE'S loud music, a gym hall and an instructor barking orders.

But this is no ordinary fitness class.

This is Metafit, a metabolic conditioning workout which only takes 24 minutes out of your day.

It's no wonder the craze, which originated in America, is also known as metasweat.

After just one run through – there's four in total of the exercises – I'm gasping for a drink of water.

Personal trainer Nick Kelly, from Blanefields, near Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, says this is the future of fitness.

And he should know. He's been in the industry for a decade and credits exercise for helping him to turn his life around.

"Metafit is massive, it's going to be so popular," the 35-year-old says.

"It's about doing a series of body weight exercises for 24 minutes in total.

"I went down to London to learn it and I was taught by an ex-Royal Marine."

The metafit classes involve working big muscle groups with high intensity intervals designed to get results quickly.

The exercises work the stomach, legs and arms, incorporating squats, press ups and star jumps.

Nick says: "It's metabolic conditioning. You do seven exercises, 24 minutes in total.

"The classes are half-an-hour long so they're great for people in a rush or who don't want to spend hours in the gym.

"It's better to do high intensity exercises like this than spending a long time on the treadmill at a medium pace."

NIck also specialises in one-to-one personal training sessions, which he says gets people into shape much faster than the gym.

But the key to make people stick at exercise is to make the sessions fun.

He says: "If we do things in life that we don't enjoy we'll give them up, so you've got to make it fun.

"I'm not the type of trainer who will stand and scream and bark orders at people."

Nick advises people not to do the same thing in the gym so that your muscles don't get lazy.

He says: "If you don't have a trainer then you do the same thing over and over again.

"You go to the gym and on to the cross trainer and never come out of your comfort zone.

"After about four to six weeks the body will adapt to what you're doing and you'll find it hard to get any results past that."

Nick battled depression in his early 20s and found that getting fit and healthy was the answer to beating the condition.

"When I had a bout of depression a few years ago I just took up exercise and found that was the way forward, he says.

"I've always worked with people.

"I do this job to help people and make a difference.

"In this day and age there's the epidemic of obesity, you see people walking about eating chips every day but people should be eating healthier and exercising regularly."

For anyone who has eaten too much during the festive season, Nick has this advice: start a food diary.

"At Christmas people pile on so many more calories," he says.

"The first question I ask clients is, how's your diet? You need to knock that on the head.

"If you write a food diary out you do start to change the way you eat.

"At the end of the day, exercise is to make yourself feel better."

Metafit classes will run in Hillhead Church and in Milngavie throughout this month.

For information on classes or personal training sessions, e-mail nick@nkpersonaltraining.co.uk or call 07735474526.

rachel.loxton@ heraldandtimes.co.uk

FORGET zumba. There's a new fitness craze hitting Glasgow. City personal trainer Nick Kelly helped RACHEL LOXTON sweat off her festive season excesses

in a class which promises results

in less than half-

an-hour