A new sports performance gym is halfway to fulfilling its optimum membership number only three months after opening for business.

Improvements and additions are still being added to the BEAST Gym, on Dundonald Street, but the facility is already differentiating itself from the competition.

The gym’s name is an acronym of Bermuda Elite Athletic Strength Training. It has taken over some of the void left by the departure of The Olympic Club, which in January 2015 vacated the premises after a 24-year run to merge with The Athletic Club on Washington Street.

The man behind BEAST gym is Muhsin Nasir, who is Bermuda’s national bodybuilding coach and the island’s first and only male International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness pro-physique athlete.

He has been a trainer for 12 years, five of which were at The Olympic Club immediately before it closed.

He wanted to continue working for himself in the gym environment and took the opportunity to set up his own gym. For much of the past 12 months, while the Dundonald Street premises were being reconfigured, Mr Nasir worked at the SeaView Ultimate Fitness Gym on North Shore Road.

Then, in December, he was able to move into his own gym. The ground floor is occupied by dental practice Smiles Inc.

The gym opened the following month and has been gradually building its membership in tandem with ongoing improvements as Mr Nasir works to fulfil his vision.

“My goal is to help people with weight loss and to help athletes become better and stronger,” he said.

Taking into consideration the size of the gym, he believes the optimum membership level will be between 125 and 150.

“We don’t want people to have to wait to use the machines,” he explained.

The gym features mostly free weights, which Mr Nasir said are some of the strongest equipment on the island.

“While the gym is set up for athletes, we are looking to cater for everyone.”

Mr Nasir is the gym’s trainer, and he works with the likes of Nicole Tovey, who is Ms Bikini Bermuda champion, Tresca Trott, Ms Figure Bermuda, and Bernard Opoku, men’s physique champion. He also helps train Huddersfield Town footballer Nahki Wells when he is on the island.

While Bermuda has many talented athletes, from a physical point of view they often need guidance to make themselves stronger and better balanced, according to Mr Nasir. This is where having a knowledgeable trainer comes in.

With Mr Nasir’s permission other trainers can also train their clients at the gym.

A striking feature of the first floor space is a wide strip of indoor artificial turf, and it is more than a mere eye-catching aesthetic. Mr Nasir believes it is the most important component of the gym.

“It gives us an open space where we can set up hurdles, push sleds, do lunges and other exercises. It mimics the surface that many athletes perform on.”

The gym is bathed in natural daylight from a set of floor-to-ceiling windows at one end. There are also showers available for gym members.

Mr Nasir is pleased with the initial response to the gym, and said more improvements are on the way.

“So far, so good. There’s some work I still want to do. I try to do something each month and I’d say at the moment it is 75 per cent complete. There are a few more things I want to add.”

The gym is open seven days a week. Its opening hours are 5am to 8.30pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 2pm on Saturdays, and 9am to 2pm on Sundays. There is a website at www.bermudaelitegym.com