SCROLLING through a certain tabloid newspaper website over the past year and a half I have regularly come across pictures of celebrities limbering up in exercise leggings.

Zaggora workout gear is supposed to burn up to 18 per cent more calories than wearing normal kit. So, when I was invited to try it out at the popular King's Road Sporting Club in Chelsea I literally jumped at the opportunity.

The launch at KRSC signified the 18-month-old company's first venture into a sports-specialist retail partnership and comes after the brand's popularity has boomed, with over half a million sales online in more than 120 countries since they started in July 2011.

It was not your average launch to say the least. We were all given our pre-ordered Hotpants, Hot Tops and Body Blazers which I strapped myself into and was surprised about how flattering they all were.

All Zaggora's 'hot' products are made from neoprene on the outside and have a special Celu-Lite Technology on the inside which makes you sweat and therefore burn more calories. And no, this is not a delicate feminine perspiration but a full on S-W-E-A-T.

Along with a host of other journalists I listened intently to celebrity trainer Dylan Jones of Twenty Two Training as he took us through our paces with half an hour of muscle toning exercises.

It was not long before I was pretty warm, not just because of the squats and lunges - the Zaggora gear really made me feel I was working hard.

I was determined to keep my Body Blazer - a long sleeved zip-up hoody with the Celu-Lite Technology - on for the entire session to experience the full warming effect.

The end result? Well, I felt like I had just been running through a hot, humid jungle, but in a good way. I definitely felt like I had had a better work-out than if I had not been wearing the Zaggora products.

I also did not realise how much of a sweat I had got on until I peeled my leggings off at home. Admittedly, not the most pleasant sensation but it showed how much my entire body had benefitted from wearing the products and I also had not felt uncomfortable while wearing them as it really does have a cooling element to the technology hidden in the inner fabric. So, all in all, despite being intially slightly dubious, I am officially a fan.

What makes Zaggora's exercise wear so great is obviously the technology behind the sweat inducing material, but its Facebook page is where you get a hint of how it is more than just clothing, it has actually changed some women's lives.

Almost 400,000 people have liked the page and hundreds of women from all over the world have written about how the products have helped them lose weight, so the testimonials really do speak for the product.

One of the questions many people have asked, is where did the idea come from? Well, it's all down to ex-investment banker Dessi Bell who struggled to find an effective way to lose weight and tone up for her wedding.

After trying many different products and methods (including wrapping herself in cling film) she decided to design her own exercise gear which would look good, be easy to use and give genuinely effective results for all women.

So, after many trips to the library and extensive research and experimentation, Dessi came up with Zaggora, and she has subsequently been named as one of Management Today's 2012 35 under 35 and the company won E-Commerce Strategy of the Year 2012 at the National Business Awards. They're doing pretty well to say the least.

Following my sweat inducing work-out, I have decided to take on the Zaggora two week challenge which has recently been launched by the company. They are challenging women who have bought Zaggora products to weigh and measure themselves then wear their products every day for at least 30 minutes while exercising then weigh and measure themselves again after two weeks to see how much weight they have lost. Watch this space!