A woman who comes from a sporting family has seen fit to install a gym in her Co Wicklow home, writes Robert O'Byrne

As is ever their wont, statistics vary on just how many of us pay large sums of money to join a gym and then delude ourselves that we're going to become fit and healthy by a process of osmosis.

What's not open to question is that you're as unlikely to meet a poor gym owner as you are a builder who knows no politicians or a farmer who's not grumbling about inadequate EU subsidies.

Gyms make their profits from the triumph of sloth over ambition, from our inability to keep resolutions and from a universal reluctance to get out of bed early on a cold winter morning.

And that's not to mention the disincentives found on those rare occasions when we actually resolve to take advantage of that expensively purchased annual subscription: the pervading and distinctly fungoid odour common to all gyms; the humiliation of being so much smaller and punier than everyone else in the place; the queue to use the one piece of equipment we know won't result in a ruptured spleen; the regulars who insist on preening and flexing in front of every mirror.

Twenty minutes on an exercise bike, a faint glow of perspiration and we retire defeated to the changing rooms.

How much nicer, more fragrant and less mortifying to get fit in the privacy of our own homes.

This is what Miriam Tina does, because she's installed a gym in the Co Wicklow house she shares with her partner.

Three years ago Miriam moved to Ireland from Germany where her father is a a football trainer and her mother has had a lifelong interest in health. In other words, she wasn't born into a family of television-loving, crisp-eating, exercise-loathing couch potatoes.

Though never a competitive athlete, "I've always liked working out," she says, before outlining a life replete with swimming, running and dancing and then casually mentioning how she completed a 10km so-called 'mini marathon' in under an hour and recently jogged from Sandyford to Greystones in just two hours.

At the same time, Miriam is keen to stress that she's no fanatic. Some months ago she started her own business, The Runaway Pancake, selling fresh savoury and sweet crepes at farmers' markets and children's parties. And she's not averse to sampling her own product.

"I eat whatever I like," she remarks. "I'm not a size zero woman. I'm not skinny but I try to have a reasonably healthy diet and I exercise to burn the fat off."

Miriam exercises most days, with a work-out lasting on average two hours, including a 45-minute run.

Other than the latter, the rest of her programme can be done in a large room to one end of the house which was built just a few years ago. It's a big property with more than enough space to allow one part be transformed into a gym that, thanks to the equipment with which it's filled, bears more than a slight resemblance to the kind of torture chamber once deployed by zealots in the Spanish Inquisition. If Torquemada had been an interior decorator, he would have come up with something like this.

But while terrifying for the rest of us, Miriam displays no fear when faced with these machines and is happy to demonstrate how they work, even though she does grumble that few of them have been designed with a woman's physique in mind.

Every opportunity to lift and stretch and pull and pump is present and it looks as though no part of the human anatomy has been neglected.

The room has been fitted out much like a professional gym, with a sprung oak floor - very important to minimise risk of injury. That's also the purpose of the full-length mirror running the entire length of one wall.

Contrary to popular belief, the gym mirror isn't there simply to pander to narcissism (or at least, not entirely); as Miriam explains, particularly when working out alone, it's very important to watch what you're doing.

"You have to check your posture's right and correct yourself when you're lifting weights." Otherwise you risk injury.

But for those times when the exercise involves something as elementary as using the treadmill, there's also a large flat-screen television and a sound system installed to provide distraction.

Suspended in one corner of the room is a large punchbag representing Miriam's latest enthusiasm: kick-boxing, which she originally practised at a school in Stillorgan, Co Dublin.

What's so special about this particular sport? "Martial art," she corrects. "This isn't just about boxing, you have to show respect for your opponent and learn how to take hits. It's also good for your legs, for stretching and flexibility."

Miriam proceeds to demonstrate just how very limber kick boxing has made her. At which point, gentle reader, your correspondent subsided onto the nearest chaise-longue with a large box of soft-centred chocolates.

Home gym: six essentials

1.Put in a proper sprung floor, otherwise you risk doing damage to your back (and giving a chiropractor the money you've saved on gym fees)

2.Mirrors: you'll be able to admire yourself and, more important, check you're doing that exercise correctly

3.Good ventilation, for obvious reasons

4.A television because while exercise is good for you, it's also awfully dull and repetitive

5.Invest in gym-standard equipment and make sure you know how to use it properly. Set up a few sessions with a private trainer to work out the best programme for you

6.Accept that this is one room in your home never destined to be a thing of beauty. Form definitely follows function