Does anyone have any thoughts or input on Gold's Gym?

Currently I go to LA Fitness which is fine. The one nearest my house has a pretty decent free weight section and a fair number of cardio machines. I've rarely had to wait on a machine or on weights. But there's still an element of ... I dunno ... frou frou ness (yea, very scientific of me, I know) going on there. And the trainers tend to be more of the "barbie weights" type.

OTOH, I know that Golds has a reputation for being almost the other extreme - almost gym-****-ish.

There's a new one on the corner by my place. It's a little closer to my house than the LA Fitness I'm going to now, and it's offering a special that's no initiation and $5 less a month than I'm paying at LA.

I'm going to go this evening to take the tour and get the sales pitch and we'll see what happens. But I'd love to know what you guys think.

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I don't mind either type of gym. Gold's does seem like it would be less of a meat market. I'd go for the one closest to me. But, take into account what time you usually go to the gym and how busy they get at that time.

Let me know what you think of Golds.

I used to belong to a Gold's, I thought they were great. They generally do attract the "serious" weight lifters, but I never had a problem with that. Those guys and girls were still very friendly and frankly made fantastic eye candy. Also, I felt like their dedication made for a great work out atmosphere.

Well I went in this evening and joined.

The guy who came out to talk to me started out talking about this class and that class and I smiled and said, oh-so-sweetly, I'm really not interested in the classes ... here's what I want. And I laid out my list of what I was looking for, in addition to price. I basically said "Here's what I'm paying now, I won't pay more than that, I won't pay an initiation fee, I'd prefer to pay less than that."

He was, I think, a little shocked. And then he dropped the sales spiel, gave me the facts and offered me a rate that was $5 less than what I"m paying at LA Fitness.



I can put my LA Fitness membership on hold for up to 6 months. I have 30 days to decide if I want to cancel at Gold's w/out penalty. So I'll go for the next couple of weeks and see what I think.

First impressions are: In feel, it's a much more basic gym. LA Fitness is light and airy and has lots of machines and lots of classes and lots of people. Gold's is dark (lots of dark purple and gray), fewer machines, smaller. No basketball court, racquet ball court, or pool. The cardio machines are not as "fancy" with all the bells and whistles - they support the Precor bands, but it's not super high-tech.

But ... in choice it's much more diverse. Not only are there 3 classrooms that can be used during non class time for mat work, there are a ton (TON) of free weights, barbells, a huge kettlebell area, a huge mat area, an entire rack of swiss balls in various sizes and shapes, bosu balls, 2 punching bags, a rack of resistance bands. I was also impressed to see a good number of trainers out there WORKING with their clients - one guy was teaching a girl to box (a girl about the size I used to be when I started). Another trainer, a woman, was working with the resistance bands with a client. And so forth.

I still want to go for a while to see if it's going to work for me. Part of it is just a comfort level, too. I know my LA Fitness. I know where all the machines are and where all the weights are and so forth. I'm ever so slightly resistant to change (*grin*) so this pushes me out of my comfort zone.

OTOH, I'm with ya, Tyler, on the eye-candy. There was one guy there tonight ...whoa.

So we'll see ...

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I never belonged to a Gold's but the original Bally's I joined was a Gold's turned Bally's and it was the best gym I ever went to. I really miss it. It had a nice weight section, a nice pool and had an overall decent floor plan. I miss it. Oh I said that already.

Photo, the new gym sounds great. I can understand that you want to think about it a little (good thing that you can put your LA membership on hold) but it looks the new gym is exactly what you want, plus you save $5. Five dollars a month doesn't seem like much but it's $60 per year.

Good Morning,
I'm not currently enrolled in Golds but was 2 years ago. I do plan to join again soon. Here in NY our Golds Gym's are IMHO great. There are other gyms available for a little bit less but Golds does offer so much more. Ours had a huge renovation done to it a few years back and the hard core weight lifters tend to lift in what we called "The Pit." There is so very much offered at Golds, water aerobics, yoga, spinning, stretch classes, cardio theater, etc. I can't wait to get back! Your Golds I would think should have about the same offerings & thats great because even though you are not interested in those classes now you may be at some point. I hope you enjoy!

I'm enrolled at Gold's Gym and I love it. There are two within 20 minutes of me. One used to be a 24 hour fitness and doesn't have all the amenities the new one does. I love the pool/cardio theater/free weights area, not to mention the abundance of cardio machines. I've never once had to wait for anything. There are your typical muscleheads and gym bunnies, but I bet every gym has that... I'm glad you like it and hope it works out for you!

DH was a member at Gold's for a long time and loved it.