JJB Fitness Club

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Clean and good facilities
Disadvantages:	The takeover may have an impact

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The prospect of a summer spent hiking in the Andes and rainforests of Venezuela inspired me last October to do something about my general level of fitness following two years of teaching and being largely inactive had not done wonders for my waistline or stamina, friends were already a member of the JJB fitness centre in Northampton and I had used the facilities a couple of times so instead of rejoining my old gym Cannons I went for the newer JJB one, partly because it looked clean and well equipped but also on a like for like basis it was the cheapest one in town.

Just one point to note, JJB have been taken over and moving forward this chain of gyms will be known as DW Fitness Clubs after their new owner, and the original founder of JJB, Dave Whelan who is also chairman of Wigan Athletic. I will use the new name for the rest of the review and will ask the Ciao bots to change the category title.

DW Fitness Clubs are the type of club where you can get a varied workout due to the wide range of facilities that are housed all under one roof, another perk with this type of gym is that the one in Northampton is located beneath the sports shop which is real useful if you get to the gym without a towel or socks as you can pop upstairs to buy the missing item, as a member you also get 10% off any purchases. When I joined there was no joining fee and paying for the whole twelve months n advance meant you only actually paid for eleven, the monthly subscription is £27 per month for off peak hours and £37 for peak membership, as I have to attend after 16.00 in the evening I needed to opt for peak membership. Prices do vary from club to club and your membership is only valid for the club you join and not any of the other ones. Opening times are from six in the morning to ten at night weekdays and they have slightly shorter opening hours on a Sunday and Bank Holiday.

For me the facilities are excellent. There is a large open space that is roughly divided up into three distinctive areas; it is rectangular in shape and at one end looks out over the swimming pool, at the other there is a Japanese style exercise room which is used mostly for yoga and other stretching types of classes. At this end is the warm up mats which also have a number of abs-crunch machines and Pilate’s balls as well as some other strength equipment like medicine balls and dumb bells.

The centre area is the largest and is where all of the cardio machines are located, what I like about this gym is that there are plenty of machines so only at its busiest times would you struggle to find something to use when it comes to the cardio workouts, there are plenty of treadmills and cross trainers as well as rowing machines and both upright and seated bike machines. These are all pretty standard bits of equipment found it all gyms, in addition to these there are some step walking machines that are split in two and move up and down independently like one of those funhouse obstacles you get at the fair, there are also some vertical step machines that replicate climbing stairs and some leg machines that sort of replicate a skating action, lots of variety and interspersed in this area are cardio weight machines.

At the far end of the gym there is the free weigh area where all the “roid” abusers and meat heads are located, needless to say that is not somewhere my puny body belongs or wants to venture. Still it is very well equipped and given the gym is only just shy of its third birthday everything is in good working order and most machines if out of order are fixed quickly.

Music is piped in and there are plenty of TV screens showing different channels, some of the cardio machines have their own screens as well, you need to bring in your own ear phones to get audio or like I do opt for your own music on an MP3 player. The temperature in the gym is pretty constant and well air conditioned, not too cold you risk muscle pulls but not over heated either.

Other facilities include two exercise rooms for classes which are all free and very varied with a full time table; I have not opted for any of these at present but will do in the future. The other facility I use a lot is the swimming pool, it is a 20m pool and very blue, all the tiles are different shades of blue, it is a constant depth to allow walking and running in, one lane is roped off and the rest of the pool is open with wide steps to allow you easy access. On pool side there are two hot tubs and a steam room both are which are great to relax tired muscles in.

One of the things I really like about this gym compared to my old one is how clean it is, the cleaning staff are on the go all day and night and it is very clean, especially the shower area and poolside, the lockers are large and spacious and require £1 which is refunded when you leave. The changing rooms are well designed with plenty of space in them and there is a separate family changing room for when people take their young children swimming.

Finally the staff are pretty friendly and helpful although there are a couple who work in the café area who could maybe crack a smile every now and again but the others are always pleasant and able to give advice, you ca also book a private session with some of the trainers as well which looks like jolly hard work.

Overall I would definitely recommend the gym, it has quite a big membership and there are the usual mix of gym bunnies who spend lots of time flashing flesh, guys who spend lots of time looking in the mirror and flexing and then the rest of us who look knackered most of the time and regret that cream bun we had at work earlier that day. Most of the regulars I see I now have names for which explains the title by the way, needless to say I do not plan to share most of these names as they are not always complimentary.

Thanks for reading and rating my review.