A spot of wedding body training at Barry’s Bootcamp London

I’ve been hitting Barry’s Bootcamp London since it opened last year. It’s a love hate relationship, as in I hate how much I love it.

Until Barry’s, my exercise consisted of a single ab crunch to reach the remote and the occasional bicep curl using a spoon laden with my best pals Ben and Jerry.

I can’t put my finger on what makes Barry’s so successful, and I suppose if it was that easy to sum up then everybody would be doing it. What I do know is it’s a great place to make friends and take friends.

The other day I took my bridesmaid, a Barry’s virgin, and introduced her to what I call the torture chamber. The last time we exercised together we were wearing training bras and netball skirts during a school PE lesson. Oh to be 16 again!

In an added wedding twist, our trainer and task master that day was Faisal, who is also my lovely groom, so I suppose we made a bit of effort.

I’ve done countess workouts at the UK’s flagship Euston branch, but having my old school friend and bridesmaid puffing away next to me made this HIIT session extra special.

I fully recommend future brides and their wedding parties to get down there and kick some ass together. There’s something twisted but also special about sharing an entire hour together, believing you are one incline away from a cardiac arrest. I would kick off my hen party there if I wasn’t so keen on my hens actually talking to me again.

Hobbling out like a pair of tomatoes after the hour-long session, we vowed to return again the following week for more wedding sculpting.

As we left, I asked my bridesmaid what she thought. She summed it up perfectly by saying, “It’s so weird. Everyone is really nice. People actually smile at each other.”

Maybe that’s why I love it. It’s like a little family.

So all you brides, grooms, bridesmaids and best men, get your arses down there for some pre-wedding workouts and come and join the little sweaty family!