FARMINGTON – Depending on your fitness goals, Mike Hickey is ready to help point you in the right direction.

Hickey recently opened a core circuit training course, Fitness Express, that offers individualized programs even though everyone works through the same circle of 12 to 15 exercise stations, he said Monday.

While the 449 Farmington Falls Road facility has been the home of several past businesses, including candy and pizza shops and most recently Professional Computers, Hickey has renovated and created a light, pleasant workout space.

There are no mirrors in the space and no free weights or treadmills and bikes, but that’s by design, he said. Living in Maine, cross country skiing, biking and walking provide a better opportunity for that type of exercise, he said.

His equipment uses weights and is geared to getting muscles in shape, he said. As a natural fat burner, more toned muscles burn more fat taking the excess off naturally, he added.

The circuit includes strength exercises completed at each station with a set number of repetitions and weight for approximately 45-seconds, he said.

A community health graduate from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2005, Hickey gained knowledge of how to help people become more fit through five years spent working at the college fitness center and an internship “with the wonderful ladies at the Rangeley Rehab Center,” he said.

For the past couple of years, he has run Nitro Fitness in Lewiston, but realized between the travel from his home in New Sharon and Lewiston every day and his desire to own his own place, it was time to do a “hometown thing.” His sons are into sports, and he wanted to get back home to spend more time with his wife and children, and become more involved in the community, he said.

Hickey, 37, grew up in Industry and graduated from Mt. Blue High School in 1990. After serving four years in the Marines, he opted to go to UMF while serving in the Guard. His college studies were interrupted when his Guard unit spent a year in Iraq in 2003, he said.

A friendly, family-type atmosphere is what he wants to develop at Fitness Express. A place where couples and families can work out together at any time. The facility will be open to members 24 hours a day, he said.

After an initial weigh-in and measure, Hickey will train members on the machines based on their goals, he said. He will recheck, answer questions and change workouts every couple of months, he added. But, he plans to be there answering questions, cleaning the machines and mostly creating an atmosphere that will help keep members motivated to keep a routine of exercise, he said.

“All you have to do is move. We’re not training athletes, but getting people back into shape by moving the body and setting up a daily routine,” he said.

Members work their way through the circle twice, stopping at each station for about 45 seconds, he said. The whole routine takes about 30 minutes. Members will have their own cards to enter the facility when they choose.

Hickey can be reached at 778-0022 for more information.