When a budget gym was scheduled to arrive in Leeds, it bridged a gap for me. It was offering an…read morealternative to paying upwards of £40 a month in other city centre gyms, whilst also eliminating the possibility of failing my personal fitness quest by going running independently. At £9.99 per month, I was impressed at the value of my contract, but reserved judgement on the quality of the gym, as it had not yet opened. The chain is able to offer such a price because it provides a 'no frills' gym, with no pool, sauna or steam room. It is staffed from 8am-8pm, with CCTV monitoring the place 24-hours a day. Six other friends had joined at the same time and we hoped that a pact-like agreement would apply positive peer pressure to our motivation! Plus, anything to prevent me from having to hear Davina McCall's not-so-dulcet tones on her fitness DVD was a welcome addition to my life. During opening week, Friend #1 was our pioneer in testing out the gym. On his much anticipated return, his report was not entirely satisfactory. "It's quite good, but it does have the feel of a correctional facility." Not a great account, but I remained hopeful. Perhaps this merely revealed more about Friend #1's chequered past rather than the quality of Pure Gym. Nevertheless, this intrigued Friend #3, Friend #5 and myself into going later that day. On entering the gym, I saw that the previous description was a pessimistic one. Although the space has a functional appearance, there is an impressive array of exercise machines. As well as the usual suspects of running machines, bikes and rowing machines for cardiovascular training; there are also some great strengthening machines, both individual and multi-station. A circuit training area, a space to use medicine balls and a free weights area complete the layout. Of course, the gym does get extremely busy at peak times, but as a 24-hour gym, you can plan your visits to avoid this. This serves as proof of the great value and variety of machines. A timetable of classes are available which range from Circuits to Spinning, and Kettle Bells to the ominously titled Military Body Blast. They are very accessible to view and reserve places on, as each member has their own account on the Pure Gym website. The classes are priced from £1 to £3 and there are up to 10 places available for each class. The smug sense of superiority when booking a 7:30am class is unbeatable. The reality of shivering down to the gym on a dark Winters' morning with a make-up free face and exchanging morning pleasantries with the milkman, is another matter entirely. Needless to say, I only attempted this once and will perhaps try it again in the Summer months. As well as the classes, there is also a small fee for the use of their sunbeds. It is these extra charges that suggests Pure Gym is to other gyms, what Ryanair is to other airlines. At such a cheap rate however, I see this as no hardship. With fairly spacious showers and changing room facilities, Pure Gym more than fulfils my fitness needs. To summarise, if you are at the gym to actually do some physical exercise on a budget, rather than pose in the steam room and chat to friends, then I would highly recommend Pure Gym.

I've rated it as 'Meh, I've experienced better,' but I'm feeling a bit generous. I used to be a…read moremember of the Marriott gym which was rather nice, but I couldn't afford to keep going. So, happy was I when PureGym appeared. I've now been a member for almost a year. On my first day, I booked an induction. No-one turned up to induct me, and the staff kept walking past, giving me dirty looks. In the end I had to go and find the gym manager, who passed me onto a rather young looking, non-gym-experienced teen. The gym serves it's purpose. there are machines. You can also book classes. I booked a power plate class once. I stood around the power plate at the allocated time for about 20 minutes. The staff just kept walking past, glaring at me. No-one stopped to help, not one of them asked if I was Ok. in the end I gave up and left. You just have to take it as it is. It isn't great, but you're paying at least £30 less than other city centre gyms. Unfortunately, this means that less 'nice' people frequent, and the changing rooms are pretty awful. The machines are also usually littered with well, litter, and aren't that clean. If I could afford to go elsewhere, I really think I would. But I can't. *sigh*.

I've been working with Mark now for 4 weeks completely online. After our initial Skype call where…read morehe asked me what I was trying to achieve (lean muscle, strengthen lower back and improve posture); he created 2 workouts (full body / lower body) and gave me guidance around the amount of calories & type of foods I should be eating to help me. The ones in his recipe book have given me loads of ideas and I'm cooking more now as well. I downloaded myfitness pal and Trainerize where Mark uploaded my workouts, and have used these to track my workouts and my food. Mark is on hand to give me encouragement or tell me I'm eating to many jaffa cakes.. I'm really impressed with the apps and even though we're working remotely I feel like Mark is by my side encouraging and supporting . 4 weeks in and I've lost 2.7kg and my back feels so much better and my core is a lot stronger. Got another 8 weeks of this and I can't wait to see the results cheers Mark!! Highly recommended

This is great: a gym for people who hate normal gyms. Tops is small and friendly with chatty,…read morehelpful staff. It offers a range of different services including physio, massage and spray tans, and gym itself, which is located upstairs. As it is small, it doesn't have quite the same range of equipment as the big chains - there are 2 cross trainers, 2 rowing machines, 4 bikes, 4 running machines as well as an assortment of other machines I don't know the name of! In short, they have everything you need and I've never had to wait to use anything. Everything's always clean, including the 2 changing rooms which are small but have everything you need - including showers and a sauna! One of the best things is that they have ladies' days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and mens' days (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) with Sunday as a mixed day. I found this (and the small size) made the gym less intimidating, whilst still leaving you with plenty of workout options. The staff and very happy to design you a workout free of charge, and you can also book personal trainer sessions or join a range of different excercise classes. It's also great value for money - £5 a session or £25 a month when I was a member during the summer.

From the owner: Tops Fitness and Rehabilitation have been providing physiotherapy, health and fitness services to…read morethe people in our local community of Wakefield, as well as Yorkshire and beyond since 2005. We provide the highest standard of personal service, with experienced instructors and therapists, to give an overall holistic view to fitness and rehabilitation. We are passionate about what we do and believe we can and do make a difference to our client's lives. Our hands on, personal approach, enables our clients to achieve their personal goals. We have won numerous awards for our centre. Our wheelchair accessible facilities with specialist equipment, enable all our clients to achieve their potential. We care about the future you want....

I've been working with Ben approximately 12 months now and my physique is the best it ever has…read morebeen. Not only did he help me with a personalised diet plan, which he changed whenever changes began to plateau, he also pushed me to train harder and ensured any weaknesses were targeted to create a more symmetrical aesthetically pleasing body shape. I can't wait to see what the next 12 months working with Ben will achieve!

From the owner: Valiant Aesthetics prides itself on the quality personal training and service it provides both in…read morethe gym and online. Nutritional plans are tailored to each individuals goals and needs. All aspects of your health & fitness needs will be covered..

Probably the best personal trainer in Manchester. I started to train with Liam and he gave helpful…read moreadvice, motivation and a exercise plan which saw me lose weight and gain muscle definition within a month.

Extremely disappointed with the trainer Marco, it started off alright but he kept cancelling the…read moresessions and seemed struggled to manage his timings. At times I had to wait outside his private gym in cold as he was easily 5 to 10 minutes late and not very professional about it and showing little to no care attitude, once even he cancelled the session in the last minute when I was waiting out side his gym and waiting for him to let me in and only then I received a text that he is out of town and couldn't inform me before as his mobile battery was low, he told me this in a very unapologetic and as unprofessional way as possible. I had a plan for a holiday which i discussed with Marco from the very beginning and in the end he told me that lots of sessions has been missed because of my holiday plan. I still have two session left with him which I wanted to have a refund for as I was literally feeling not motivated because of Marco's work ethic and also there was no contract signed, and he told me that he wont refund any money, instead asked more money to book more sessions with him. Extremely unprofessional attitude overall and seemed unconcerned about the clients progress and motivation. If anyone wants to waste money and lose any motivation then definitely Marco is your guy.

This is a great facility. I used to live not too far from here so this was our local Leisure…read moreCentre. My children had swimming lessons here, and the swimming pool is really good. They also have a gym, a snooker table, badminton courts etc. It's a really good facility. There is even a local library and a cafe. Often they have special children's parties at Christmas but you have to book your place early.

The Rainbow leusreu centre is attached to the rainbow leisure centre, accessible via the Tesco…read morecarpark or the main Rainbow carpark. Parking is completely free around the centre, though beware of rolling trolleys in high winds! There's also a good bus service and for anyone walking in, I wouldn't recommnd the walk alone but all footpaths are safe and a way from the road. The Rainbow leisure centre has a main hall, squash courts, a pool room and bar, a library, a cafe, a gym, pool and a smaller hall usually used for aerobics classes or bouncy castle parties. It's open 7 days a week and offers pretty much any sport you can ask for. You can hire it out for quite a few things, I've been to Bouncy castle parties here and I have been to an 18th here once. The library isn't always open though so look up the times before you go. The cafe is situated above the hall so any parents can look down and watch their children in various sports. Prices are moderate, but you can only start to book cours 24 hours before unless you're a member at the leisure centre. By joining you get to go to a number of places around Middlesbrough. The staff are all really polite and I only have one small annoyance about this place that because of the balcony you're often subject to people leaning over and wolfwhistling as you play badminton or sqaush.