Gold's Gym — Attraction in Dundalk

This gym has the potential to be one of the best gyms in the area, however management and ownership fails to capitalize . The biggest thing that keeps Gold's Gym Dundalk from it's full potential is the lack of proper management. The two managers focus mainly on signing up new members and not properly maintaining the gym. If a gym wants to be successful it needs management that actually understands fitness and actively uses the gym themselves. The two managers here rarely if ever leave the front desk area and police the gym. The other employees, while friendly, just hang around the front desk and rarely walk around the gym. As a result, there is absolutely zero fear by the members of what will happen when they just leave the dumbells, barbells, and benches wherever they happened to move them. The free weight area looks like a bomb went off after busy times. As far as cleanliness goes, it is average at best. There is usually at least one sometimes two people from the cleaning staff there all day. They mostly just push a cart around emptying trash cans. The bathrooms are a bit cleaner now than in the past. For some reason management/cleaning staff decided to drastically reduce the amount of paper towels and spray bottles that are used to wipe down equipment. As a result most people don't bother wiping benches and machines off because they don't feel like walking across the busy gym to get the products. Management needs to quickly come up with a plan to mount and make available more cleaning products. For a gym of this size and the amount of people using it it is pure negligence to not have more supplies available for the members to wipe down equipment. As far as the equipment goes, the gym has a good variety however many machines are often broken because the owner has opted to buy used equipment which is probably older than some of the members. Then when it breaks the time to get replacement parts places the machine out of service for weeks and sometimes months. There is only one repair man who also handles several other gyms. You may only see him one time a week if that. There is absolutely no preventative maintenance done. Machines are not checked until they are broken. I do love that there are so many different areas to workout, however there is not enough equipment to go around. People remove items from one area and take them to another area. What was in one area one day is often gone the next. It is hard to pyramid when sets of dumbells are missing from where they are supposed to be. Instead of buying a 15yr old leg press that nobody uses, the money could go towards another set or two of preloaded barbels since they are always missing or left laying around the gym. I had high hopes when Matt(DoWork) took over training for the whole gym instead of just his personal gym upstairs. I had hoped he would of had more of an influence on management to improve the entire gym and not just the area that only his clients use. However that didn't happen. Nothing has improved in the general gym area. I guess the owners and management are content being the Walmart of local gyms. Until someone with an actual interest in working out and is serious about fitness takes over running the gym nothing will change. You go to the current managers with issues and they just shrug their shoulders. They might be nice people but neither one of them really has a clue of what a 5 star gym is really like. For the money I guess the gym is adequate at best. But it is missing out on being one of the best with the stagnant management and...

I want to love this gym, I really do. But there are so many things that need to be fixed. Literally. Starting with the stair climbers. Out of the 6 that they have, 2 were broken and the one I was using felt like it was about to break. I don't think they can go a whole week without one or more breaking. Walk around the gym and there are numerous machines collecting dust with out of order signs on them. The infamous repair guy was there but honestly he can't keep up. He is seen maybe once a week and walks in to so many things that need to be fixed. I was using a machine and I wanted to wipe it down afterwards. I look around and can't find any paper towels or cleaning bottles. It seems like they have all disappeared of late. Later on I did see that they installed a new paper towel holder and bottle holder on the wall but then proceeded to put a weight tree directly in front of it so you literally break your neck trying to get to it. Makes a lot of sense right? I do like the lady's gym. It has ample equipment to get a full workout in. But I also like to use the main gym. Unfortunately it is a mess at times. Things are just thrown around everywhere with no rhyme or reason. I love the two back rooms to get away from the crowds but the equipment is never the same two weeks in a row. People move stuff around and don't return it. You would think management would have some sort of inventory list of what should be in each area and make sure it stays there to the best of their knowledge. Obviously you cant police a gym 24-7 but it seems like nobody at all cares about what goes on at this gym. I know management has taken a beating in other reviews but as a somewhat seasoned gym goer, I have to agree that the overall management of this gym is deplorable at best. The two managers spend most of their time in the office or talking and laughing at the front desk with other employees. The staff casually strolls around the gym but really doesn't do anything. Occasionally one of the younger staff members is tasked with returning equipment where it should be. But if management actually had control of their own gym then maybe people might actually respect it. I know the owners are aware of the complaints about management. The gym has been stagnant or in decline for the past 5-8yrs in my opinion. Something needs to change . It's Gold's Gym!!!!! This particular gym doesn't deserve to carry the name of one of the pioneers in the fitness industry the way it is currently being run. Do better owners and management. Some of your members have been loyal to a T and have stuck around while others have taken all they could and left for other gyms. Are you happy just signing up new members or do you actually want your members to be happy? It seems as though as long as people keep signing up you could care less how your dedicated members...

I was a member for a few years and then left in 2012. I joined again in June 2015 and everything looks the same but it's not as crowded like I remember. Two things I'm big on are cleanliness and customer service. Unfortunately, this gym is lacking both. I've walked in the gym and have been met with some nice front desk folk but that is very rare. I feel like if you can't even smile and say hello, a customer service position is not the right one for you. The gym is not very clean; it’s not disgusting but its nasty enough. I understand my clean may not be everyone’s clean but it’s a gym and they should have workers walking the floors keeping areas tidy. The carpet looks and is old. I’ve gone into the bathroom but I have never used anything except the sink to wash my hands. Everything just has an old feeling to it. I normally seem to pick equipment that doesn’t work and since I’ve joined the same equipment has been broken. I normally stick to cycling or free weights in the ladies area. I worked out at home and sometimes I find myself at the gym doing my home routine which makes me a little sad because I instantly feel like I could be home doing this however the thing I couldn’t do at home is group classes. I finally did the cycling class last Sunday and it was cool except the lights were on. I was really looking forward to the strobe light. I’m going to try every cycling instructor to see which one fits me best. I wish the evening cycling class was held at 7pm and that would give me time to get there. Overall, I will stick with the gym because it’s not horrible. There are areas they can improve one which would be equipment, customer service, and cleanliness. Again, it hasn’t been such an issue that I’ve wanted to cancel my membership and I love the fact that it is rarely crowded when I go and I’ve been during peak hours.

**I wanted to add that a turning point I had was when my sister and I were approached by a woman who we thought worked for the gym during our workout. Turns out she was a member too and was really into the cycling classes held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. That conversation really changed my views about belonging to the gym. I can’t really put my finger on it but this woman was so friendly and she really engaged us when usually we go into the gym and the people seem a little cold for lack of a better term. It was just really cool to talk to someone who had the same interests and she actually prompted me to get myself to a cycling class, though not the...