"Just don't faint," the man says, attaching me to a wooden frame that's doing a great impression of a medieval torture device.

As my eyes pop wide in alarm, my torturer - who actually turns out to be a lovely man named Finlay Menzies - adds, "We call it a whitey."

I've been invited along to Scottish Ballet's headquarters in Pollokshields to try out an exercise method called Gyrontonics.

The dancers use it to stretch, tone and correct their muscles and it's practised on a series of machines that use weights to enhance the stretches.

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It's also popular with celebs Madonna and Sting while sports stars from Andy Murray to Tiger Woods use it too.

Finlay, a movement expert, had been a professional golfer but an injury led him to seek out a means of healing himself and getting back out on the course.

Gyrotonics was that solution and now he and wife Kate, a former ballet dancer, run The Movement Studio on Ashton Lane in Glasgow's west end.

And he works with Scottish Ballet's dancers to make sure they avoid injury in what is a high-impact, physically demanding profession.

As well as the dancers and sports stars like boxer Charlie Flynn, Finlay and Kate will work with anyone - from those who want to improve their physical fitness to other who want to repair injuries.

But today Finlay is working with me - and I'm not sure either of us knew what they were letting themselves in for.

First, I'm instructed to sit on a bench that is attached to a complicated looking system of pulleys and weights.

Finlay attaches my arms to the machine with straps at my elbows and wrists. This, I'm told, will stretch out my spine and help my posture.

Stretch is the right word - I can feel all my vertebrae getting to work, as well as muscles in my arms and shoulders that I've never felt before.

While I might not be at peak fitness - too much cake for that - I practise yoga and have danced since childhood, so I always pride myself on being pretty flexible.

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Turns out my pride has been misplaced. Finlay says my hamstrings are actually quite tight while my lower back is extremely flexible.

So, when I, for example, touch my toes, it's not my legs that are stretching but that my lower spine is collapsing.

Finlay says he'll stretch my hamstrings out so I can feel what the sensation is supposed to be like.

Yeah. I'm never doing that again. The pain was not fun, although our photographer seemed to find my gurning face and grinding teeth really amusing.

What felt for me most different to other types of exercise is the one-to-one attention from Finlay.

He's there to physically guide me through each exercise and, by the end of the session, I feel an inch taller and somehow lighter but know that the next day I'm really going to feel it - which I do.

Asking about my new feeling of improved posture - especially now I know I have one shoulder higher than the other - Finlay says this is a lure to sportsmen and women.

He said: "We know that Andy Murray is practising Gyrotonic training.

"You can see now when you look at Andy, he used to sit forward with his Adam's apple prominent in his throat - now he is much more upright in his back and you can see a real change in him."

The Gyrotonic system was developed in America in the 1970s by former Hungarian ballet dancer Juliu Horvath.

It takes movement principles from yoga, dance, gymnastics, swimming and tai chi and its rotational discs and weighted pulleys allow the user to strengthen their muscles without fear of over-stretching or injury.

And it was injury that brought Finlay to the system.

He said: "After university I turned professional playing golf although I was decidedly average and then got an injury to my lower back and both shoulders.

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"I couldn't play golf and so I couldn't make money and I was thoroughly miserable.

"When I first came across Gyrotonics I thought it looked too easy - but I asked lots of questions about it and it began to seem like there was something in it.

"The second time I tried it I felt that I 'got it' - and I haven't looked back. I didn't need to see the chiropractor any more and I developed an intense understanding of my body.

"I went back and played the golf of my life, although that was only going to get me so far. I was a hard worker and very conscientious but I found myself watching younger players and admiring their technique so it was time to find something else for me to do."

Finlay helped Commonwealth Games boxing medallist Charlie Flynn recover from a back injury and has a pro-golfer on his books.

He talks with pride about helping an elderly gent with serious mobility problems to walk without a stick.

As well as providing a physical service for Scottish Ballet's dancers, Gyrotonics also provides a space for them to let off some steam following class.

Finlay added: "I've had a lot of tears in here. The dancers can talk about the stress and strains of their job knowing that everything is completely confidential.

"That's a really big thing for them as they can talk about any issues and then work them out through their body and get them into a better place emotionally.

"They also come in here and will tell me about some difficulty or technique issue that's just not working properly. We'll look at that from a bio-mechanical way and work out how their body should move.

"Gyrotonics helps with their performance, centering and provides rehabilitation.

"But it's not just for professional athletes - it's for everyone."