Master your METABOLISM

Previously limited to elite athletes, London's latest super gym offers metabolic testing to the masses. Charlie Allenby headed along to Precision Health to see what he could learn.

-  Charlie Allenby

I'm lying on a table in a subterranean room in London's East End, a stone's throw from the notorious Blind Beggar pub that was frequented by the Krays.

A mask is strapped tight to my face and I've been instructed to lie still for ten minutes, before "the real fun begins".

While this might all sound like I've got caught up in a spot of gangland retribution, my minders are actually qualified scientists and coaches from Precision Health - the latest gym in the UK capital claiming to offer 'world firsts' and 'state-of-the-art' technology.

It's more than flashy marketing, though. The mask I'm wearing is part of a portable metabolic testing kit that would set you back £7,000. The examination I'm undertaking is just one of the 'advanced assessments' that the space offers.

To my right is its motion lab, which 30 minutes before had revealed a minor postural imbalance I wasn't previously aware of. The only motion analysis system of its kind in the UK, it uses a special treadmill and three cameras capable of taking 250 photos a second to create a 3D scan of your skeleton while standing, walking and running. Oh, and the system costs £148,000. An InBody body composition machine and the ability to have key blood markers analysed complete the gym's four-pronged suite.

The testing is included in its membership, where the cheapest plan will set you back £212 a month. The thought process is that, by making lab-level data accessible to regular gym-goers (albeit ones with deep pockets), individuals are left with truly personalised, evidence-based training plans and guaranteed results in the process.