I Resolve to go to Gold’s Gym (Happy New Year!)
Written: Dec 31 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: reasonably priced, clean, lots of machines, many locations
Cons: no pool, not much personal attention from staff
The Bottom Line: If it's good enough for Aaaahnold, it's good enough for me!
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| beckytcy's Full Review: Gold's Gym |
The most common New Year’s Resolution is to get in better shape. Back in early November, I decided to get a head start on this goal by joining my local Gold’s Gym. With plenty of modern machines and a pleasant atmosphere, Gold’s is a great place to work out. I was feeling a little bit down as the temperature dropped, but I’ve found that exercise is the best way to beat the Winter Blues.
The Goods
The Gold’s I go to has been recently expanded and is very bright and airy. Some gyms can get very stuffy and smelly, but Gold’s has excellent airflow with its high ceilings and dozens of overhead fans. The mats on the weight machines are a lovely shade of purple.
For cardio equipment, Gold’s has elliptical machines, StairMasters, bikes (both upright and recumbent), treadmills, a rowing machine, and a couple other things that I’m not sure of the names for. If you aren’t picky, some type of machine is always open, and I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a particular kind.
Each cardio machine has an earphone hookup so you can hear the audio for the TVs they have going. Some of the treadmills have their own mini TVs attached to them, so you can change the channel yourself. If you are tall enough and ask other people’s permission, you can switch channels on the big TVs, as well. The TVs also have closed captioning, so you can listen to music and read the transcript of whatever’s going on. Gold’s plays music over the PA system, but it isn’t very loud. The batteries ran out on my DiscMan yesterday, so I wished that music was louder.
Gold’s also has a wide variety of weight machines including cable ones, Nautilus style, and free weights. For floor work, there is a room with mats, medicine balls, and ab rollers.
The locker room is bright and clean and has attractive, wooden lockers. You can bring your own padlock, but I don’t bother since the only thing I leave in the lockers are tracksuit bottoms (the red Royal Tenenbaums ones!) and sweat shirts. There are a couple of showers, but I always just go home right afterwards, so I’ve never used them, a sauna, a hair dryer, and a couple of changing rooms for modest people.
Classes
I’ve never taken a class at Gold’s because they are mainly during the day when I’m at work, but group aerobics, yoga, Pilates, spinning, belly dancing, kick boxing, and other classes are included in the membership fee.
The Bodies
Started in Venice Beach, CA in 1965, Gold’s has a reputation as being a gym for body builders, so I was a little afraid that the clientele would be intimidating. However, Gold’s attracts a diverse crowd from traditional gym-goers (skinny women with fake boobs who wear a lot of makeup and buff men with tattoos) to average folks (middle aged people with beer bellies and recreational athletes.) Every time I go, I run into old high school classmates, which may or may not be a good thing.
Gold’s has a separate gym that is for women only, but people-watching is one of the main things that entertains me during my workout, so I never venture up there. People seem to mind their own business at Gold’s. I tried to start a conversation with someone once to comment on whatever horrendous reality show was playing on TV, but the person didn’t have any interest in talking to me.
Membership
Gold’s has hundreds of locations across the US and Canada and in several foreign countries, as well. The branch that I joined is part of a group of about ten in the Metro Boston area. I can use my membership card (a little, swipey thing that fits on a keychain) at any of the Golds’ in that group any time. If I am traveling, I can go to other Gold’s locations up to five times a month. If I decide to move, they can transfer my membership to another location.
When I went to Gold’s for the first time, they let me try out the facility for free for the day. The employees were refreshingly non-pushy. As a prospective customer, I was expecting them to pounce on me and bombard me with information about the gym, but I had to ask them for information. In fact, their indifferent attitude got a bit annoying when it turned out that the woman who deals with new members was lying on the tanning beds, so I had to wait around for ten minutes or so.
It usually costs $99 to join, but they were running a special $5 initiation fee deal (I think it’s still going on) when I arrived. I had the option of signing up for the whole year, which would come out to a monthly fee of about $50 or go month-by-month for $60. I chose the latter since I don’t think I’ll use the gym in the summer when I can run, cycle, and swim outside. During the summer, I can put my membership on hold for $8 per month, which I’ll probably do since I don’t want to have to pay another joining fee when I start up again.
Hours
Gold’s is open from 5 AM to 10 PM on weekdays, which is great for working people. Weekend hours are approximately 8 AM to 6PM, depending on the location.
Extras
Gold’s has two tanning beds that one can use an unlimited amount of times for $40 a month (prices may differ at other Gold’s locations). They also sell energy bars and drinks. I was surprised that the membership didn’t include a free tutorial on how to use the various machines, but you can sign up for personal training sessions, which I believe cost $99 for six sessions. During the day, you can leave children in the childcare facility, but I’m not sure if that costs extra.
Check out www.goldsgym.com for more info.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone out there in Epinions World!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
beckytcy
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Becky
Location: Boston
Reviews written: 277
Trusted by: 236 members
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