A personal trainer is set to give exercise fans a shock to their systems — with a special suit that stimulates muscles using electricity.

Derek Fisher, owner of Whole-Ly Fit, a personal training studio, said his X-Body suit offered benefits to a wide variety of clients, from people with injuries and disabilities to top sportsmen.

Mr Fisher said: “Its benefits are wide-reaching — someone with a frail skeletal structure due to something like osteoporosis, mobility issues, injury rehab, weight loss, to elite athletes looking to better activate fast twitch muscles and the busy person who wants to work out, but has limited time in their schedule.”

The suit is based on electronic muscle stimulation technology, first developed in the former Soviet Union in 1971.

The X-Body suit was developed in Hungary several years ago, although Mr Fisher explained that the ancient Romans used electric eels for similar purposes 2,000 years ago.

Mr Fisher, a keen sportsman, said: “With the X-Body, the person still goes through a full range of body-weight exercises such as chest flys, bicep curls, squats and crunches.

“While the target muscle group of the exercise is working, all of the other muscle groups are still working out passively in the background, so it is a whole body workout.”

Mr Fisher, a Bermudian brought up in Canada, played hockey, was a cross-country runner, a swimmer, played football up to First Division level and cycled for a racing team.

He said: “I returned to Bermuda and recognised a population that was either obese or ageing, both putting a strain on quality of life as well as the healthcare system.”

Mr Fisher started his studio on Ord Road with a focus on one-on-one training focused on client goals, which could include weight loss, toning, mobility and strength training, as a result of seeing health problems.

He said: “Bermuda has a lot of well-catalogued health issues and it is important that people take care of themselves.”