When Tom and Tammy Sliney decided to open a gym in Bend, they chose to use a different concept than most workout facilities in the area. Instead of being open all day and having people come and go, the couple schedules one-hour appointments with clients throughout the day. During the appointment, the client gets the equipment and the trainer all to themselves. The Slineys do everything from selecting the proper weights and setting the height of the equipment to providing water and giving encouragement to their clients.

There is no initiation fee or monthly dues, just a flat rate for each one-hour session.

Central Oregon Resistance Education (CORE), which the couple opened in late December near the Old Mill, also uses a special kind of strength training equipment called MedX.

Just three months after opening, the Slineys are already thinking about expanding the facility.

What is so special about the equipment you use here?

Tom: This is the first strength training line that is biomechanically correct. It does not put any stress on your joints. And the strength curve is as exact as you can possibly get. It only has 1 percent drag, while everyone else's equipment out there has 15-16 percent drag. That means if you are lifting 200 pounds you are really lifting 232 pounds. When you are lowering, you are lowering 168 pounds.

The best part of the exercise is the negative. So if you are lowering less weight, it is very unproductive.

Tammy: This is the same equipment that Tiger Woods, Tom Kite, Davis Love (III) use. They all work out on this equipment— so if they ever came to Central Oregon, they would come here.

Why don't other gyms have this kind of equipment if it is the best?

Tom: For one, it is more sophisticated than anything else on the market and most people wouldn't know how to use it. Two, if you want a fitness facility, why would you put a lot of money into equipment when less will do?

Give me an example of how much one of these weight machines costs.

The leg press machine, it costs about $5,500 to $6,000. When you get into a leg press machine ... do some reps and get up, you can feel it in your lower back. That machine there works from your hips down. There's no pressure on your lower back.

How does that price compare with a different brand of leg press?

Tom: We could have bought three (of a different brand name) for the price we paid for it.

Tammy: We could have bought three of everything in here. We had to back up and ask ourselves, "What are we doing this for?" We are doing it for our clients. We could have had three pieces of equipment for one of these pieces, but we wanted MedX.

When you decided to start your business, did you always have the idea to train one person at a time, one-on-one?

Tammy: We were actually going to open a whole gym. But we kept doing our homework and we went to the gyms and watched how people worked out. And they weren't doing it properly. We wanted to train personally. We teach you how to do it properly.

Tom: Most people don't work out right. When you're working out, you shouldn't be able to sit there and have a full conversation about your kids with your trainer.

If you want change, you have to force it. We watched personal trainers and (their style) didn't have to do with results. It has to do with selling you a protein powder and getting your money.

They don't really care what happens.

Besides training on the machines, what other services do you offer here?

Tom: The first day they come in, we go through the workout. We set up the machines to actually fit your body. We get an idea of where we are starting with the weight. Then the next time you come in is when we actually do a body composition. We weigh you, we do a "fluffy test" with the calipers. And then we talk about your diet, how you should be eating. Then we generally ask people to write down what they eat for a week. Then we make a program for them.

Does this type of training work for anyone who wants to get into shape?

Tom: I have one client that is over 300 pounds and I've got a young kid who is 15 years old and goes up to Mount Bachelor and snowboards. The key is balance. ... There really isn't a special training program. If we strengthen your tricep, we want to strengthen your bicep. If we strengthen your quad, we want to strengthen your hamstring.

About how many people do you see in a week?

We are averaging 3-4 a week.

How much does a session cost?

Seventy-five dollars. That is for one hour of training with us. That isn't 10 minutes of warm-up, 20 minutes of training with us and 30 minutes of cardio. You come in and do 10 minutes of warm-up. When you warm up we make sure of what you've been doing. And then we do 10 minutes of stretching, which we can measure your progress and record what happens. Then we go through 40 minutes of strength training with the circuit.

There have been some problems in Central Oregon with gyms closing and equipment being repossessed. Is that a concern?

Tom: You pay as you go here.

Tammy: And we own the equipment outright. There are no liens against the equipment.

Do you think you will eventually expand your Bend location?

Tom: We've already got plans to go bigger in two years. This area is 1,500 square feet and we will be going into 2,500-3,000 square feet.

Tammy: We will have showers and we will get extra everything.