Metropolitan Life: NEW REGIMES

The Body Bar: basically, a long weighted pole from Nike which is used for whole body conditioning. You can prop it up on the floor or balance it in various positions for great flexibility.

Crossrobics: a whole body combination machine where you are working the heart and lungs while sitting and pressing with your feet; tones the bottom at the same time.

Boxercise: particularly for women. Macho and with purpose.

Circuit Training: fashionable because of its no-nonsense, minimalist attitude to fitness when classes such as Step seem to get more complicated and fiddly.

Yoga and Pilates: Nineties exercisers use body and mind in their routines. "It's all part of the trend for a holistic approach," says Sharon Walker.

Personal Trainers, Fitness Testing, Nutritional Advice: no longer luxuries but Nineties essentials replacing the counsellors and weight-loss experts we flocked to 10 years ago.

In the Eighties Out: going to the gym with a less than perfect body

Out: underdoing it

Out: baggy shorts

Refreshment: diet power-meal replacement drink, with extra ginseng

Catchphrase: "Pushing myself through the pain barrier was an orgasmic experience" In the Nineties Out: toning tables

Out: overdoing it

Out: tight leggings

Refreshment: a full-calorie Fruit Smoothie or a pint of lager (preferably warm and British)

Catchphrase: "Joining the basketball team was as good as Scooby Doo"

Now and then: (facing page) Spinning classes at Espree; Princess Diana (above) arriving at the Chelsea Harbour Club; old-fashioned brute force (above right) at the Barbican; and (left) conventional work outs for all ages PHOTOGRAPHS: PHILLIP MEACH, DILLON BRYDEN