Lunchtime fitness: Tranquility Pilates

This isn't so much of a problem on a three-mile run, but there are a few times during this pilates session that my mind had to be coaxed down from its nest among the ceiling tiles.

Pilates appears to be a more controlled and probing workout than a jog, full of subtle adjustments and focus on sitting up straight and lifting your toes. As such, you'll probably need a guide to help at first.

It's not necessarily going to leave you in a big sweaty heap, but it will zone in on various muscles.

Where can you do it? Pilates is a popular exercise technique, and as such there are quite a few classes in the capital. I wandered over to Tranquility Pilates Studio, a riverside retreat in One Park Place near Heron Quays West.

Founder Nikki Chrysostomou offers classes and one-to-one sessions for those seeking fitness or recovery from injury. Nikki has a background in dance, and started Tranquility in 2005 after a spell doing private sessions at Canary Riverside's Holmes Place.

Can you do it in a lunch hour? Nikki says the length of the sessions can depend on the individual. Lunchtime classes run from 12pm to 1pm on Monday and Thursday, and 1pm to 2pm on Tuesday. There's a list of other dates available at tran-quility.co.uk

Sessions range from workouts on the "reformer" machine only, to the use of props and jump boards, and the "circuit" session with all equipment. There are also one-to-one sessions that can be tailored to the client's needs and aptitude.

What's the effect? Individual exercises such as the Elephant (where you arch yourself over a frame and push back and forth on your heels), and the Mermaid (where you stretch your arm over the top of your head in an arc) will tweak individual muscles and may even help your instructor identify posture problems.

You also get to try out some cool Tim Burton-style contraptions, such as the trapeze table which hangs you near the ceiling, head flapping downwards, with your feet wedged into novelty fluffy cuffs. This stretches out your spine, which takes a lot of punishment while you're slouching over Facebook.

"You're toning the core muscles in the body, working from the inside out," says Nikki. "When you're doing a routine with Pilates, you want to eat better and drink more water, as you're working so close to your organs.

"When I was a dancer, I would be tempted to eat a pack of biscuits or a milkshake, and now I can't think of anything worse. You start to focus on yourself a bit more."

This isn't filtering through as yet. I return to my office to find that my shipment of chocolate fudge S'mores and cookies 'n' cream Pop Tarts have arrived, and I couldn't be happier.

Will you return to your desk a better person? It's a much more relaxed form of exercise than benchpressing 40kg. Nikki says clients with hypertension find some respite on the harp-like Gyrotonic pulley machine, and while the effect on the core muscles might not be immediately apparent, it does reveal itself a day or so later.

Surprisingly, while performing a stretch on the reformer (a Swiss Army knife of a workout machine with springs attached to a sliding pad), I discovered I had a "slight imbalance of the sling system of the pelvis", caused by perching on the end of a chair and sitting cross-legged. Apparently, office life is far healthier when your back is straight, and you don't need to twist your head to see your computer.

What are the challenges? You may have to do some homework, including various stretch exercises. Pilates isn't just about that single hour each week. Nikki advises her clients to programme an alert on their work computer to remind them about posture.

There's also that problem with doing more than one thing at once. Sometimes when your legs need to be touching with your toes up, your head down and your arms flat, the memory of when to breathe might drop out of your mind. Practice makes perfect, but you might not be able to plan your trip to the shops during a session.

You will also need a bit of guidance from the instructor, who will be able to help you work out which twinges mean the routine is working, and which mean your leg is falling off.

"Your body is like clingfilm," says Nikki. "Wherever you're tight, that's often where it pulls from."

Tranquility Spa is located at One Park Place, and is open from 6am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 6pm Saturday and Sunday. For more information on sessions, call 0207 987 9707, email info@tran-quility.co.uk or go to tran-quility.co.uk