How often do you find yourself wondering how you can fit in a 10-hour working day, a lengthy commute, a healthy home-cooked meal and a trip to the gym within normal waking hours?

As the home-work balance shifts further away from eight hours in the office, it can be tricky to fit in the exercise which is a key element to a healthy lifestyle.

Swindon does have an answer for its residents in the shape of the 24-Hour Gym, in West Swindon.

Vernon Montgomery, pictured below, and his brother Vince, are proud of the clientele they have built up at the gym, and moody pictures of real life gym-goers adorn the walls to provide inspiration to those working out.

And Vernon is keen to dispel any myths that the gym is a haven set up only for those obsessively serious about their work-outs and who want to enter body building competitions.

"We are not like the mass gym groups, and it's not body builders and weight lifters," said Vernon.

"Instead, we focus on training and diet, it's a one-stop MoT for the body.

"Gyms have evolved and a lot of it is about marketing now, selling a look and a shape, as people want to look fit rather than be fit."

The brothers have created their own eating plan, the Sundiet, which is promoted at the 24-Hour Gym alongside their work-out programmes, through which they aim to educate anyone who will listen about the power of the calorie.

"Whatever diet you follow, it comes down to reducing the calorie intake," said Vernon.

"All these things you see on TV, all have that line in conjunction with a calorie-controlled diet.' "Once you have the numbers of calories in any food item you can then make the decision. "What's wrong with a pint of bitter? It's 200 calories.

"The calorie is king - It was 100 years ago, and it always will be."

"We give people the knowledge, and that's the difference between us and the corporate gyms.