Paradigm Fitness first gym in our Best Gym 2026 competition

Judith Russell set up Paradigm Fitness on Chestnut Street, Darlington just two years ago – and in that time her customers’ love of the gym has seen her nominated for the Echo’s Best Gym competition two years running.

Offering everything from rebounding, bungee cord, boxercise, clubbercise and aerial hoop, the 52-year-old believes variety and fun help keep people fit.

Judith told The Echo: “Getting this nomination two years in a row is just fantastic. To get it two years on the trot is amazing.

“I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing people smile, and it’s tremendous to celebrate their success.

“It’s really rewarding. Everything we provide, whether that’s for a middle-aged woman or a teenage boy, we are setting them up for success and want to continue.

“Because we make people feel psychologically safe here, we are able to help them all the way through their fitness journey.”

Despite being size 26 at her largest, the civil servant has always enjoyed fitness and running – but lost eight stone thanks to a gastric band.

But it’s not just fitness that helps Judith when it comes to Paradigm – she believes the gym has a positive impact on her neurodiversity and helping others “belong”.

She added: “I come to the gym at 6am every day and then come back here at night. I have ADHD, and the gym helps me and others with my neurodiversity.

“To have this impact on the community makes me feel proud. Before I started running this gym, I felt like a square peg trying to fit through a round hole.

“Every person that comes here doesn’t feel like that – they feel like they belong no matter what their situation is.”

The full list of nominees to be crowned best gym can be found here.

To vote for your favourite gym, simply complete the form in The Northern Echo this week and return it to: The Northern Echo Best Gym 2026, Local IQ House, 1 Dalston Road, Carlisle, CA2 5NP, before February 4. Votes will be counted