A gym in Charleston is offering revolutionary type of fitness training developed by a former Navy Seal.

TRX training uses resistance bands suspended from the ceiling and walls, and the user can adjust to the angle of elevation to make the workout more or less intense to fit their preferred level of workout.

James Dinaso, owner of The Body Club on Jackson Avenue, said his gym is the only one in Charleston that offers TRX training, and the next closest place it is offered is in Champaign.

“We’ve been running classes up here for the past two months,” DiNaso said. “We don’t like fitness fads. We don’t necessarily jump on the fitness fad bandwagon, but we realized there was value in the training because we try to base our training programs here on exercise science, and there was value in doing this.”

Since TRX provides such a thorough workout, DiNaso said The Body Club has scaled back the sessions to 45 minutes at a time to provide some cardiovascular as well as anaerobic workouts.

DiNaso said The Body Club offers classes for adults in the community as well as Eastern students, who get a discount on sessions with an ID. Adult classes are $10 per session, DiNaso said, but college students with an ID are only charged half that.

“We’ve tried to make it economical for the college students,” DiNaso said. “We offer free trails; all they have to do is give us a call. We realize that a lot of (students) are not working yet, so we try to give them a little bit of a break.” DiNaso said what really sets TRX apart from other fitness programs are the full body workouts and the lack of intimidating weights and barbells.

“A lot of (the participants in TRX sessions) say just by looking at it you would never know the exercises would work you in the unique way that they do, especially in the core,” he said. “People who might be intimidated by weights or barbells (aren’t intimidated by TRX).”

DiNaso added that most participants find the workouts to be enjoyable, not threatening.

“It’s not intimidating, and the group sessions make it fun, especially for the women, so there’s a social aspect to the training,” he said.

The Body Club is located at 618 Jackson Ave. on the Charleston Square. They offer group TRX sessions from 5 to 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 9 to 9:45 p.m. Saturdays.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-2812 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu.