About Gold's Gym

Because traffic is horrible and Gold’s is closer, I’m considering switching gyms. I’ve got a free pass for one day so I’m goin to check it out. Does anyone here workout at a Gold’s? What’s it like? I don’t want to drop the $350+ and be stuck with a soft ass gym that I hate so any feedback is appreciated.

First hook up with a girl. Now smell your fingers. That is the scent of Gold’s Gym.

There have to be other options.

If you are here on T-mag you do NOT belong at a Golds “Dare I say” Gym

jsal33

I’m going to disagree with the other guys. My Gold’s is a great gym. There are several competitive BBers there, and the trainers seem to really know their stuff. I heard one guy giving pre/post workout nutrition advice today and it was spot on, great advice, and I wondered if he was a T-Nationer. There’s even a chick that was doing front squats today, and several others that squat, DL and bench. Great place, although this is probably not the norm from what I’ve heard about other Gold’s. Go there and check it out, see if they have what you need and see if there are people that look like they’d make good spotters if you need it.

The Gold’s I went to when I was in Virginia (about 2 years ago) was pretty decent. If I remember correctly it had a few squat racks, but no actual closed in power rack.

There was also a lot of space, filled in with equipment of course but it never felt over crowded, though there were a couple of times when I had to wait for a latpull machine, but that was before I could do enough bodyweight pull-ups.

I have seen better though.

If it has what you need, and if you can ignore people well, then I’d say go for it.

Gold’s Gym sucks, plain and simple. They don’t have much for free weights and the one here doesn’t even have a squat rack. It wouldn’t matter if they did anyway, everyone would just curl in it.

Let me just say that when you’ve seen one golds gym, you’ve only seen one golds gym.

I’ve now seen about 6 golds gyms, and 2 were hardcore, and 4 were wussy. Check it out and make up your own mind.

About half of the 6 had anything I would want in a gym. Plenty of squat racks, benches, and so forth. The other 3 gyms were mainly for aerobics and stuff :frowning:

[quote]graphicsMan wrote:
Let me just say that when you’ve seen one golds gym, you’ve only seen one golds gym.

I’ve now seen about 6 golds gyms, and 2 were hardcore, and 4 were wussy. Check it out and make up your own mind.

About half of the 6 had anything I would want in a gym. Plenty of squat racks, benches, and so forth. The other 3 gyms were mainly for aerobics and stuff :([/quote]

I’ve noticed that what you said is simmilar to Powerhouse gyms too.

I love the one I go to here in Upstate NY, but I’ve been to 2 others that weren’t as good, and seemed more cardio/machine oriented.

I think it depends a lot on the owner.

I go to Gold’s . . . it sucks.

There are literally ten times as many 45s in my old high school gym as there are in the Gold’s I go to. I think I’ll head back there next summer.

I dont mean to troll, but is Powerhouse Gym better then Golds?

I guess I’m totally wrong. I always thought Gold’s Gym was pretty hardcore. I’ve never been or anything but I’ve heard from some ppl. (I train at home). O well, gold’s sucks then lol.

dl-

Golds in chico, california: 2 or 3 600 lb squatters and 2 or 3 500 lb deadlifters (including myself haha). Guy named Ken Brown who once competed in the Worlds Strongest Man was there one day, shrugging 7 plates each side! Old school looking (kinda) and the blare rock music

Golds in rancho cordova, California: mike hara (sp?) : often time world record holder in the bench press 165 lb division works out there(think hes done 520 in competition, 550 in gym, saw him myself double 405 raw at 165!!!) couple other 400 lb benchers and big squatters, saw one guy squat 800. Its got a deadlift platform with a bar to pry it off ground to load it. Both these California golds i mentioned allowed lifting chalk.

Golds in Washington D.C. : GAY A$$ S$%( I asked the employee guy there while visiting if there was a deadlift platform i could use or at least some rubber things i could put under bar so it wouldnt crack ground, he honest to god didnt know what it was and pointed to cardio step up platforms old women use in jazzercise, “maybe those”. I stared at him and told him me and 500 lbs wouldnt work on that.

So in other words: some Golds kick ass, some suck, its really dependent on the place.

Anyone know what the “famous” Gold’s at Venice Beach is like these days?

[quote]John K wrote:
Anyone know what the “famous” Gold’s at Venice Beach is like these days?
[/quote]

I was just there today. It’s crowded and hot as hell. With lots of women who look like transvestites with canteloupes for tits. But there are some hotties there too. And I saw Lou Ferrigno, who looked amazing.

I’m thinking about joining just so I can see some big mutha’s lift some iron. I’ve been a member of Powerhouse and Equinox, both of which have a bunch of wanna be model boys. Sick of that.

[quote]dl- wrote:
I guess I’m totally wrong. I always thought Gold’s Gym was pretty hardcore. I’ve never been or anything but I’ve heard from some ppl. (I train at home). O well, gold’s sucks then lol.

dl- [/quote]

You really can’t make that statement. People usually say 24 Hour Fitness sucks, yet the one I used to go to is basically the best gym I have ever been to. The Gold’s in my area is the worst gym I have been to considering they decided to gear it towards “family fitness”…which means no heavy weights, no loud noises, no really muscular people pushing weight bigger than average, no chalk, no complaining about Alanis Morissette playing on the loud speaker in a continuous loop of “Isn’t It Ironic”, no testicles, and finally, no dumbbells over 80lbs.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
no complaining about Alanis Morissette playing on the loud speaker in a continuous loop of “Isn’t It Ironic”[/quote]

HA. So true.

The Prof is right, some Gold’s are alright, but if this one is newly built then odds are it has a “cardio amphitheater” an oxygen bar, and other such wussy stuff.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
You really can’t make that statement. People usually say 24 Hour Fitness sucks, yet the one I used to go to is basically the best gym I have ever been to. The Gold’s in my area is the worst gym I have been to considering they decided to gear it towards “family fitness”…which means no heavy weights, no loud noises, no really muscular people pushing weight bigger than average, no chalk, no complaining about Alanis Morissette playing on the loud speaker in a continuous loop of “Isn’t It Ironic”, no testicles, and finally, no dumbbells over 80lbs.[/quote]

This is pretty much spot-on. I trained at a Gold’s in Utah that had a platform and bumper plates for Olympic lifts. And an L.A. Fitness in Orange County that was not half bad: clean, empty power cages, squat racks, a basketball court, pool, etc. Who needs a grueling 30 minute run on the treadmill when you can play an hour’s worth of pickup basketball, burn twice the calories, and have fun while doing it?

On the other hand, I’ve heard numerous posters tell horror stories about both those chains, so reserve judgment until you actually give the gym a try.

The Gold’s I’ve been to on Long Island are all right equipment - wise. DB’s to 170 or 180, 4 or 5 squat racks/cages, one has an Olympic platform, and another has a reverse hyper, and all allowed chalk and deadlifting (been thrown out of places for that).

The biggest problem in them are the social lifters getting in the way of the serious guys and doing shit like curling on the strength/power equipment, or pulling your shit off when you’re taking extra rest and go to get a drink of water (c’mon, like anyone leaves 500lbs on a bar to sit there!!!. Others that I’ve been to off the island don’t always come close. They definitely cater to wherever they’re set up, to get more business (sucks for us, good for the owners!!!)

[quote]kroc30 wrote:
(c’mon, like anyone leaves 500lbs on a bar to sit there!!!. [/quote]

They would at my gym–if anyone ever put 500lbs on anything.

Golds and others mentioned is a franchise that seems to have few standards other than paying fees. I have been to good ones and really sorry ones.

The gym I currently go to is a horrible yuppie gym. 90% of it is freemotion cable thingys and the rest is yoga rooms. But, absolutely nobody ever uses the free weights, except when one of the trainers loads up the big 25s on the bench for a client (and leaves it there).

It is good because you can use the free weights with no competition, even if they don’t have lots of stuff you would like to see. You see some and hear some great things there, like when the trainer told a client that they were going to move over to the “curl rack”.

[quote]carter12 wrote:
Because traffic is horrible and Gold’s is closer, I’m considering switching gyms. I’ve got a free pass for one day so I’m goin to check it out. Does anyone here workout at a Gold’s? What’s it like? I don’t want to drop the $350+ and be stuck with a soft ass gym that I hate so any feedback is appreciated.[/quote]