Fitness, but with a little added luxury

It's usually January when we begin to feel a bit fed up: a bit overweight, a bit run down and a little bit poor. So last weekend, Sarah and I tackled all three at once and spent the morning at Cupcake Mum, Parsons Green, checking out their spa, personal training services and hearing all about their new fitness programme for young professionals - Club C studios.

We kicked off with a fairly brutal 8am session with Gen, of The Body Professionals, who take care of personal training services at Cupcake. After assessing our posture, alignment and general levels of fitness, Gen set out to make us love the bits of the gym we'd always hated (the rowing machine and circuits respectively) by injecting some variety and mixing up the intensity, teaching us new twists on exercises we already knew and really working on our technique and posture to make sure everything we did was truly effective. That, mixed with an upbeat soundtrack, endless positivity and a mischievous sense of humour meant an 8am ass-kicking in the gym was almost fun! 

Nonetheless, thighs and stomachs aching after various rounds of "Swiss Ball James Bonds" and "Sumo Squats", a 'head in the clouds massage' in the beautifully appointed Cupcake Mum spa was more than welcome. The treatment rooms are softly lit, gorgeously scented and beyond comfortable (one of the beds has a heated water mattress - you'll never want to get up) and all our tensions, knots and worries were gently teased away. The spa is open to non-members, so you don't need to be a Mummy to benefit, and for sheer boutique luxury, it really rivals many of the other spas in the area, so is well worth checking out.

Next up was a meeting with John of Club C studios. A long-time personal trainer and fitness entrepreneur (John and his business partner Neal set up successful kids' sports company Young Stars), Club C is a new venture to take the brilliant facilities and fitness services of Cupcake Mum, and make them available to the discerning young professionals of SW6. For a monthly sum of £37.50 you'll get unlimited access to their range of over 30 fitness classes per week, making use of the boutique studios at Cupcake and local parks and greens. They offer everything from early morning bootcamp to pilates and yoga, and spent months recruiting the most experienced and engaging local instructors. I've done classes with a few of their staff before at other venues, and always found them extremely positive and engaging. Best of all, the class sizes are small, topping out at around 12, and there's no fixed term contract.

If you want to check it out for yourself, Club C are doing FREE taster sessions all this week. Simply consult the timetable below, and give John a call on 0203 326 4986 to book your place.We guarantee you'll feel a little less run down, podgy and depressed when you do.

Cupcake Mum & Club C Studios

11 Heathmans Road

London

SW6 4TJ