Irene Estry is putting her fitness class of lycra-clad ladies through their paces, swinging her leg onto a barre to show off her flexibility as she trills out words of encouragement. Irene may stretch and strut like a teen - but she is actually aged 81.
She can still do the splits - and many of the women here she's training can too - seemingly proof that the exercise techniques she's been teaching for the past 40 years really do work. Irene herself aims to be living proof that a healthy lifestyle, staying fit and flexible and "a bit of bloody common sense" can help you stay youthful whatever your age.
The proof that it works? Well, I'm agog when I ask the ages of some of the sprightly and lean women who are taking part in this class in Irene's home fitness studio in Whitefield - finding out they're all in their 70s and 80s.
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The two oldest - Rhona Aizenberg, 83, and Ruth Balkin, 89, have been attending Irene's fitness classes for the past 40 years and swear by them. And guess what? They can both do the splits as well.
I'm so staggered at just how good they all look - and how they move, bending their bodies like teenagers - that I half think I've wandered into that Cocoon movie, rather than into a converted garage in Whitefield. But no, this is what you get for a lifetime's commitment to stretching your limbs "and a bit of common sense", it would seem.
Irene, who is a petite 4' 11", has been a fitness guru not only to the women of Whitefield, but to showbiz stars from across the world over the past 40-odd years since she became, as she says, the "first teacher to put an exercise class on in Manchester back in 1981".
The biggest factor in staying so fit? Irene says: "Don't think about age. I have no desire to be eternally youthful, just eternally healthy."
Rhona, 83, and also from Whitefield, agrees. Her secret to looking so youthful, she laughingly tells me, is: "Never grow up".
Grandma and mum-of-two Irene adds: "I've always liked that saying that growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. Nobody denies their age here.
"But I'm very much a believer that you've got to use it or lose it, you've got to just keep going."
Irene grew up in Cheetham Hill with her mother who was a meditation teacher and her father who was a boxer - so was always around fitness from a young age. But it was not until she was 37 that she would learn the Lottie Burke techniques that would form the basis of the exercise classes she continues to run twice weekly.
She was famously the resident fitness guru at Granada Studios after the legendary Pat Phoenix approached her after attending one of her classes. That would lead to lifelong friendships with many of the stars that she trained at ITV over 40 years, including Helen Worth, Michelle Collins and Denise Welch.
She says: "I’ve had a wonderful career. I had to sign a confidentiality clause at Granada, but I didn’t talk about the stars, in fact it was more they would end up talking about me!"
Irene is well known for hating the idea of diets - and famously throws your scales out if you ask her to help you with weight loss. She believes in 'fit not thin' and that exercise is something to be enjoyed.
"I don’t do any of that weighing business, I’ve got five scales that I took off Corrie stars upstairs in my loft! Because if you get on the scales and you have been good and don’t lose weight it’s terrible - but women's weight fluctuates and the scales isn't helpful for that," she says.
In terms of her own diet, Irene says: "I eat a bit of everything. I’ve devised an eating plan called BCS."
BCS, I ask? "Yes, it stands for bloody common sense," she laughs. "I write it down for busy women because diets don’t work - it’s not sustainable. I discovered if you cut out caffeine and sugar between meals then that works.
"I don’t cut out fat - you find low fat products are padded out with sugar so I don’t think it’s healthy. I allow myself a bit of brown sugar in my tea, and I eat everything else I feel like."
She adds: "A lot of it is genetic, we can’t get away from that, I’ve always been slim but I’ve never been stronger than I am now at 81.
"I think it’s very important when you get past 60 you need good fats in your life. I have two tablespoons of olive oil every day, I put it on my face, I put it on my hair, I can tell a woman who cuts out fat a mile off. I embrace wrinkles, I don’t care about wrinkles, but a healthy skin tone is from what you eat."
Irene and her husband Phillip have been married for 62 years, and moved to Whitefield back in 1976. They are parents to son Steven, 59, and daughter Fran, 55. When baby Stephen first came along, medical experts told the couple he'd 'never walk or talk'. But Irene was determined to prove them wrong and spent all his early years supporting him as a full time mum - and prove them wrong she did, defying their prognosis.
When Irene got to the age of 37, she got her career "awakening" when she attended the "crazy fitness class" in London from famed instructor Lottie Burke, who was loved by A list superstars. It left such an impression that Irene realised immediately it's what she wanted to do for a career.
Irene spent £2,000 being trained by Lottie in her techniques for the following two years - to become the leading exponent of the 'Lottie Burke technique' in the north west. Irene said: "She taught me you have to watch everyone, make sure spines are lined up and that you have to be strongest of anyone you teach."
She continues to practise those techniques - and never takes more than 15 people in a class so that she can still watch each student like a hawk to make sure they stretch properly. She says the warm up and cool down are the most important things to keep the body in good condition.
"However long you do this class for, it never feels easy - you are extending a bit further and it’s mindful; you are toning, strengthening, stretching, you're perfectly in alignment. It’s about taking care of your body," she says.
Irene has even got her own YouTube channel to enable more people to get involved. She also adapts classes to older people who may have more limited range of movement, and says she would "love" for her videos to go into more aged homes.
For Irene, the key thing is to keep active in some way to stay youthful. She says: "It doesn’t always have to be fast and furious, you have to reach other parts of you.
"You can harm yourself emotionally by giving up, it’s not very easy to always have a positive mindset, but if you can, reach within, find a bit of magic in your day, because the alternative ain’t so good.
"My basic start point is confidence, especially someone with negative feelings about body shape. I say you’re not broken, you don’t need fixing. If you can walk, then walk a little faster.
"Gravitate towards what is good for you, and smile a little bit.
"Be thankful even if you don’t like your body, it serves you well, it’s the vehicle that drives you around. Some people say 'don’t show your arms' but why? These arms have hugged and loved, why judge? Treat people like you’d like to be treated and be kind.
"I think if you move and eat right and have good friends that’s your positivity in your life."
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