'Drop a jeans size with this new fitness craze from the States…’ The idea of being able to slip on a pair of skinny denims was too hard to resist, so I signed up for a spot of Gliding.

For those who haven’t heard of it – and, I admit, I hadn’t – Gliding is an exercise that uses sliding discs which look like flattened frisbees. The lightweight polymer discs, which slide across the floor when gently pushed by the hands or feet, allow you to make smooth, graceful movements while working your muscles.

Invented by American fitness trainer Mindy Mylrea, it has among its devotees Heroes star Dania Ramirez and Irish actress Elaine Cassidy.

I joined a class at Richard Dunn Sports Centre where fitness instructors Lisa Miller and Jodie Luscombe showed me the technique.

Lisa has been teaching Glide Fit classes since April and told me how the activity has grown in popularity, particularly for its role in achieving a long, lean toned look.

“It is a toning exercise,” she explains. “It offers core conditioning – that is your stomach area – but because the glide is positioned under your hands or feet you are working a variety of muscles from abdominals to the hamstring.”

Gliding can help to sculpt legs, tone inner and outer thighs, trim hips and firm the bottom. Even one of those improvements would be great for me, I thought, as I positioned myself in the spacious studio, ready to begin. Like most studios, the room was mirrored along one side and, hard though I tried, it was impossible to blot out my own reflection. I’m not the most elegant of movers, and beside Lisa and Jodie I looked like a lumbering hippo. “Move your right leg to the side, and again,” Lisa told me, after we had placed the discs under our feet. “Now do the same at the other side.”

It wasn’t as easy as it looked, and at first I struggled to maintain a good posture and not push the disc too far to one side or to the front. “Try to keep your shoulders back,” says Jodie, “And only take your leg as far as you feel comfortable.”

The activity, and the level at which you work, relates to your body weight and fitness.

“It is low-impact, but the intensity levels vary,” says Lisa. “You use the weight of your body to work the glide and you can judge for yourself your level of intensity.”

We were moving to music and I soon got into the swing of it. In only a short time I could feel my thigh and calf muscles tightening.

“You can really feel the effects even after ten minutes,” says Jodie. In the USA, a ten-day Gliding course promises to drop you one whole jeans size.

“You are pushing the disc down and dragging it back,” adds Jodie. “So the harder you pull it back, the harder you work.”

Being so light, the discs can easily be incorporated into a range of movements. Jodie and Lisa demonstrate squats – standing with the heel resting on the glider, then, while keep