LABAN Martial Arts and Fitness Studio will be expanding their services with the opening of a new fitness centre in the Thompson Regional Community Centre (TRCC).

The announcement was made official at a June 18 regular meeting of city council when the resolution was passed to award the allocated space at the TRCC to LABAN.

Better Body Fitness had also put in a proposal for the space, but through an evaluation process and a specialized scoring matrix, LABAN won out in the end.

Chris Byrne, owner of and director at LABAN, has been working in Thompson for seven years and says that he hopes to create a general fitness centre that can be family friendly.

“We’re looking at cardio equipment, things like treadmills, stair-masters, some bikes,” said Byrne, “we’re looking at today’s cardio equipment, things that have been scientifically proven to be the best.”

Byrne has his lease at LABAN Martial Arts in the Thompson Plaza for another year, until August 2013, and hasn’t made any long term decisions as to what he will do when his lease is up, but his focus at present remains solely on establishing the fitness centre as well as a food service at the TRCC called Bodyfuel by LABAN.

“We want to serve healthy things like sandwiches with roasted vegetables or smoothies, something quick and easy and good for you” said Byrne, “I want all of our foods to be prepared and ready to go, I’m not really looking to hire a cook or anything, I don’t want our menu to be too complicated.”

Byrne’s vision is aimed at health and wellness and says that Bodyfuel by LABAN will be a great alternative to fast food for students.

“I look around town and there aren’t too many places that serve these types of healthy menu items,” said Byrne, “with the high school right there and with the new UCN campus it’s perfect for students and I’m looking in to setting up things like meal plans with students where they can pre-order a week’s worth of lunches and come in and pick them up.”

LABAN fitness centre will offer an array of programs, ranging from yoga to Pilates to Zumba, keeping the focus on healthy, active living rather than what might be seen at a gym with a lot of weight benches and intimidating machines.

Byrne is looking to connect with fitness leaders in Thompson to help make the city a more healthy and active place.

“This is kind of an open call to the fitness leaders in Thompson, and I know there’s lots of them out there, to come hook up with me and get some classes going,” said Byrne, “I know a lot of them want to get their own businesses going and this is perfect, so bring it on and we can work together.”