Although Gold's Gym started small it didn't stay that way for long. Starting with one location in California, the franchise attained status as the largest global co-ed gym in the world and includes locations with up to 12,000 square feet. The gyms contain with free weights, machines, cardio equipment and, in select locales, even movie theaters. The original Gold's Gym, dubbed "The Mecca," has been updated and is still operational.
Founder
Bodybuilder Joe Gold, who died in 2004 at the age of 82, was the mastermind behind Gold's Gym. He opened the original Gold's Gym in 1965 in Venice Beach, then sold the rights to his name in the early 1970s. The new owners turned Gold's into a franchise. Gold got back into the gym business in 1977 to take the brand worldwide. As a machinist, Gold's claim to fame was his skill at creating more effective weight lifting machines, providing an option to free weights. Arnold Schwarzenegger trained at Gold's Gym in the late 1960s. The two had a long friendship, and Schwarzenegger ran Gold's World Gym for about a year when Gold fell ill in 1991.
Locations
Gold's Gym has more than 500 locations in the United States, as well as others across the globe. You'll find gyms in Europe, Australia and Egypt as well as Indonesia, Peru and Ecuador. Only Alaska, Hawaii and seven states in the continental U.S. are without at least one Gold's Gym as of April 2011. States without a Gold's Gym are Vermont, Ohio, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Mexico.
Membership
Gold's Gym lets you take a week-long test drive before you put any money into a membership. You can sign up online through the Gold's Gym website (goldsgym.com) for a free 7-day VIP pass to use gym facilities and attend free exercise classes. If you like what you get, memberships start as low as $30 per month, depending on the plan you choose.
Notable
"Fitness" magazine ranks Gold's Gym as the chain with the best sculpting studio in the nation. Gold's body sculpting and strength training amenities include a wide range of free weights, personal trainers and exercise classes with names such as Body Attack and Body Pump that can tone and strengthen your muscles. Other gold stars go to Gold's for free child care services during your workout. Gold's larger locations even offer Cardio Cinema, which features cardio machines in a room with a movie screen, smoothie bars and physical therapists on the premises.
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