JD Gyms - Newcastle Benton Reviews 

Signed up today

First visit and love the place, kit is great and loads of it.

Love the layout and atmosphere and the staff were really helpful.

Only down side is the Internet and wi fi are not great but that's something minor. Overall great first impressions and looking forward to getting back to training regular in here

The staff and the environment make it a great place and the overall place is always tidy and a fun place to attend

Mint gym top class machinery and excellent magnement everything you need in one place lovely atmosphere

A very well equipped gym meaning not usually any problems accessing the required kit, even during busy periods. 24hrs access is ideal when needing to workout at irregular times (i.e when the kids are asleep)…
Some problems that need addressing:
- Weights left lying around all over the gym is a real problem. More ann issue of the clientele than the gym, but is extremely annoying.
- Cardio equipment often not working (e.g one rower and one fan bike out of order for at least a few weeks now). Maintenance needs to be better in my opinion.
- There is a need for more fractional weight plates. As far as I can tell there is only one pair of 1.25kg plates in the entire gym and they are often impossible to locate. 5kg jumps not ideal when trying to follow specific % based workouts. A handful of 0.5,1,2,3kg plates would be great
- A wooden box for box jumps needed. The soft boxes are worse than useless as they’re so unstable and dangerous

Great gym!

The only downfall is there is no spray or wipes to clean that I can find so bring my own.

JD Benton has great facilities and the equipment/machines are plentiful and clean. If you want to join and get 1 on 1 or group training, I'd highly recommend Claire Thomas. I have trained with her for years and she's knowledgeable, patient and has given me so much confidence in the gym. Her Spin classes are great too - open to all and always so fun!!

Claire Thomas Personal Training - I am not a gym person BUT I absolutely love going to JD in Benton not only because the space has a great vibe but mainly because Claire is such a fabulous PT! She makes it fun, understands my body and needs. She’s such a positive person and makes my sessions enjoyable hence why I’ve trained with her for over 5 years! I would not go to the gym on my own, I literally go because of this amazing PT/person! If you need someone to show you the ropes or for long term sessions I absolutely 100% recommend Claire!!!

Like the instructors and the buzz of the classes.
Dislike the poor quality spin bikes.

Gym not too bad
A lot of the cardio equipment is broken so limits the use
When you cancel you have to give 30 days notice. They then take another full months subscription within that 30 days forcing your membership to last a further 30 days . Daylight robbery considering they take a full month on day 1. I suggest if your cancelling to do it on the day of your direct debit otherwise the 30 days notice is extended.
What a rip off

Loved JD gym and its vibe . The equipments are very effective and modern . You have a wide range of setups to do all kinds of fitness training one would want to . Boxing , hiit , cardio , weights , all sections are well equipped. Also huge shout out to Claire Thomas who does a double Spin on Saturdays and also Tuesday mornings . She is great and has a great energy and her spin class is very very effective plus a nice spin playlist she has . I can personally vouch for her as she has also been my personal trainer for 2+ years . The other instructors are good too . Check out Connor’s combat classes & Si Evan’s box fit .
The barcode scanner at entrance does take some time to get familiar to while entering & leaving the gym but you do get used to it .
I don’t understand the poor reviews as there is nothing poor about it . The classes have a high energy plus the vibe in the gym is awesome and the playlist is very upbeat to give more boost .

Honestly I didn’t think it could get any worse! You let go the best (in my opinion) instructor and now your cancelling classes without even 5 minutes warning.
I have been at this gym since it opened as x4less. Since October the place had gone down hill. In November one of the best instructors was let go due to no fault of her own. However she was she sole reason a lot of members attended. She had a class everyday and I mean everyday, sometime more than once a day. She created a fun and engaging fitness routine that made you work hard! However no she has gone, he classes have been completely removed or cancelled. This is shocking! When expressing my feelings on a social media platform a member of staff from the gym called us minions and childish Id*ots, to say I was insulted is an understatement! I reported this and I heard nothing back ! So much for caring for your members and holding your staff accountable!
The place need looked at by high management and bring back the amazing trainer ! They know who she is !

Very modern gym. Absolute dream if your workout consists of deadlifts and squats. Probably one of the few gyms in Newcastle with more than two proper squat racks! Plenty of deadlift stations also.

Not been at a peak time yet as only signed up in December but lots of equipment so I'd be amazed if there wasn't something you could be doing. All gyms suffer from the evening rush unfortunately.

Overall very impressed.

I use the Newcastle Benton gym. It's a great gym with plenty of equipment. However, it does get very busy at peak times. I have been to the gym 6 times now and have yet to see a member of staff, which isn't great if you have issues or queries. The male toilets are very small for such a large gym only haveing 2 urinals and 2 toilets. Changing roo is large but again not much bench space to get changed at. Overall it is a great gym and i am happy with my membership.

Attended bodypump on Saturday morning at 8.15am and the room was freezing. Members wearing coats during the class as it was so cold. 7 members turned up for this class compared to 20-25 a few weeks ago when Flo was taking it.

Thank you JD for reply to this review. The temperature was anything but comfortable and every gym member complained about how cold it was. It made the class dangerous and not enjoyable in anyway.

Great gym - really well equipped. Only issue is the changing room and showers closing at 8pm at the weekend. The only facility then is the disabled toilet which has a shower. When someone is using the shower there are no toilets available for 20minutes or so!!!

Saturday's used to be great.
Double Spin then Body Pump with an experienced instructor.

Now the timetable means that you can't do Body Pump if you do Spin. Where's the sense in that?

Maybe that explains why the class numbers were so low this morning... well that and the change in the class instructors.

9 in Spin and just 10 in Pump. Usually Spin would be full (26 bikes), with 25 to 30 people in Body Pump.

These classes are normally rammed and I usually know most of the people who attend. Today there were just 3 regulars I know. Such a shame.

Jo did well as a stand in for Body Pump today...but its not her favourite class, and it wasn't anywhere close to the quality of classes ran by the previous instructor. Jo you did great standing in...I got a workout...thank you.

Regrettably 😔, that's me signing out for good from this gym.

Classes that I like at this gym are very few and far between these days. It's a shame really because the location of this gym is fairly convenient.
You do still have some classes that I enjoy but nowhere near as many.

Fantastic gym with great facilities, and positive atmosphere. Good range of machines and free weights available as well as an area of empty floor space, in addition to the separate class studio and spin studio. The gym is extremely clean and has very approachable staff - I have been training with Claire Thomas since September this year, and have also had the pleasure of attending her spin classes. Claire’s energy is infectious and she brings such positivity to everything she does! Highly recommend both Claire’s classes and her as a PT - she’s a real asset to JD Benton.

Overall a great gym, and with it moving to 24/7 access it’s even more accessible.

Sad to see my last review of the management at JD Benton was removed, I wasn’t asked for documentation to prove the meeting I had with the manager and maybe because it was my word against his about the GDPR breech, who knows
I have heard that classes are being dropped last minute or with very very little notice, still struggling to understand this when it could have been avoided quite easily
Such a shame as the spin classes were amazing

I moved to this gym a few months ago from PureGym because my PT switched gyms. This is a much bigger gyms, there are plenty of machines and weights available for cardio and strength training and I love the amount of floor space available for your workouts. Compared to the PureGym it's massive and has got loads of energy. Also Claire Thomas is an amazing pt, I've been with her for 2 years and she's really fun and effective. Check out some of her spin classes.

The barcode scanners at the gate takes some getting used to though. I spent the first few days at this gym spending five minutes fiddling with the scanners trying to enter and leave the gym.