Shin-Gi-Tai may sound like a new Asian cuisine item or the name of an up-and-coming fashion designer but it’s not.It’s one of the newest physical training programmes to hit Bermuda, and is aimed at getting people fit and healthy in less time than traditional exercise regimes.The new core conditioning programme is offered by Reuben Bean at the Jiketsu Centre in the old Berkeley building.Shin-Gi-Tai Autoflow is described as a combination of Tai Chi, yoga, Gigong and physical movement. Mr Bean said it was designed to protect people from injuries, while serving as a complete conditioning system “rather than building one particular posture and breathing technique”.It increases oxygen flow to the body and stimulates the internal systems, including the nervous, lymphatic, circulatory and respiratory systems, he said.It is also supposed to optimise lean muscle gain and minimise your fat retention in as little as a few weeks.“We like to think locally and act globally and offer Bermudians and others cutting-edge information and also training techniques for overall wellness.“This particular system is not in Bermuda and we thought we would be able to create an interest and also offer it as an alternative to fitness and wellness.”The programme was launched earlier this year to private clients, but he said the results have so far been “overwhelmingly positive”.“The benefits and results come within a week or two of training and continue as the person progresses. We don’t reach the dreaded plateau because we work with three fundamental principles we magnify the intensity, the volume and the duration of rest.”Mr Bean said he is also able to introduce new postures or increase the intensity level to make the exercises more challenging for the practitioner.He said he was always an athletic child, but wasn’t introduced to martial arts until 15 years ago.“From very young I enjoyed doing every sport. I was naturally gifted. Whatever sport I put my hand or foot or body to I excelled without much effort and it came to a point in time I was doing so many sports and physical activities and I wanted a new challenge.”While living in Canada, he began studying under Sensei Okazaki. Since that time he has be “fortunate enough” to benefit from Japanese, Chinese and other combative systems of martial arts.He said his primary aim for bringing Shin-Gi-Tai to the Island is to offer people an alternative to health and wellness.He said it was a complete fitness system that didn’t just teach the body to become more free, agile and elastic but expanded the “mind, body and spirit” as well.“I wanted to offer people an opportunity to benefit from a system or set of systems that compose Shin-Gi-Tai that they may not have had the opportunity to understand or practise before. And because of the success of the private sessions for the last six months I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to now offer it to other Bermudians as well.”Mr Bean offers classes on Mondays and Thursdays from noon until 1pm; and Thursdays from 7pm until 8pm. For information on pricing and other details please call 705-7541.