Sunderland AFC stars Luke O’Nien, Lynden Gooch and Leon Dajaku, officially open new Blaze studio at David Lloyd gym and praise city's newest fitness suite

The Blaze studio is a new addition to Sunderland’s David Lloyd gym, on Camberwell Way, and combines mixed martial arts, intense cardio and strength training, to create a high intensity interval training (HIIT) boutique-style class, synced to upbeat, motivating dance music.

The new facility has been officially opened by Sunderland AFC stars Luke O’Nien, Lynden Gooch and Leon Dajaku, as well as coaches Mike Dodds and Allesandro Barcherini, who all had a go on the new equipment, which includes treadmills, punching bags and weights.

The introduction of new fitness facilities like this is a huge benefit to the area, according to Black Cats star Luke O’Nien.

He said: “We’ve just been looking at all the new equipment and had a little go as well. It’s a great set up and really good to see. It’s hard work but really good! You can see how you’ll be able to exercise as a group and community and I think they’ll be a really good energy in there.”

Lynden Gooch added: “We popped along with a few of the lads for the opening of the new Blaze studio and I know there’s a lot of these all over the country so it’s good for the area to have one now. It looks good in there and looks like a lot of fun so I’m sure everyone will enjoy it.”

The purpose built studio, which took six weeks to construct, will open to members of David Lloyd Sunderland from Saturday, October 22.

Julie Reynold, Blaze supervisor at David Lloyd Sunderland, said: “Blaze is a bespoke David Lloyd product and we train in the studio through three zones, strength, cardio and combat. We use my zone technology so we can monitor your heart rate and effort levels throughout. Having things like this is super important. Working out as a team is really good for mental health and social well-being. We have fun and get fit all at once.”