Gold's Gym — Local services in Arlington

Cheaper than other gyms nearby with nearly everything you'd could ever need to exercise. Management is insanely cheap and will not fix anything.

No staff enforcement of rules, it's a free for all, and we all suffer

Equipment is in bad shape. Benches are so worn out that the adjustment to lay them flat is wallowed out. It's a decline seat or incline, no in-between. There are never enough weight plates and you have to scrounge to find plates. A ton of ellipticals that are never in use. Treadmills with wonky belts. NEVER enough squat racks

Way too many vehicle parking spaces, the gym is surrounded by high rise apartments but I'm dodging cars like it's 1962.

Bike parking is a joke. They installed the cheapest wave rack and gave no effort into properly mounting it. It's very lose. Also the bike parking is in a very tight space. It's horrible, use a car parking space to build a large rack and be done with it.

Mens bathroom is gross, as expected. Pee, hair, smell, etc. I could go on, but i'm sure you can imagine. It needs to be deep cleaned weekly and light cleaned daily. It's currently cleaned monthly

EDIT POST RENOVATION

You’ll never find a gold gym manager cheaper than the dude who runs this place. Mohamed is never around, and runs this place on a razor thin budget.

Bathrooms are revolting, most lockers are broken, urinals out of order for weeks, and so HOT. The sauna has next to no insulation and it makes the entire locker room hot

Nowhere to store the new equipment from the renovation

Barbell clamps bought with the renovation don’t fit the bars, they’re too small

Staff is underpaid and therefore don’t care. Can’t blame em, they work for a cheapo

Massive holes in the drywall from something? Maybe medicine balls? Idk, this place is a joke.

Place is surrounded by bike lanes, tons of people, and metro stops. However, there’s NOWHERE TO PARK MY STUPID BIKE! There’s a ton of vehicle spaces, but it clearly is too difficult for management to understand 10 bike racks replacing a car space means more people get to workout.

Treadmills are god awful, and most will injure you since they’re so worn out

Get a gym membership elsewhere,...

I am editing this review (on 8/12/2025) on account of the multiple failures of the AC system that have caused damp/musty conditions in the cycle room (and the large GGX room) due to not replacing some AC units that have repeatedly failed and instead refurbishing them. On multiple occasions, there have been puddles of water on the floors. (As it turns out, Golds only replaced 3 of 5 units before and the AC problems resurfaced as a result when this could have been resolved.) There's no excuse to exercise ever in rooms where temperatures reach 80 degrees or more; it's very unsafe and it causes heat stroke/exhaustion.

Golds Ballston uses a building on the "historic register," so it's imperative to fix the conditions immediately that have caused the damp/musty conditions or else the building will lose its "historic" status and consequently cause financial problems. One major issue is the fact that the windows can't be replaced easily due to only being able to use parts similar to the original construction. (Replacing them with the 3M type would help tremendously.) It's possible that the AC issues were.a ticking time bomb waiting to happen, but again its important to be on top of things and come up with a good maintenance schedule to prevent this from happening.

In 2023 and part of 2024, I had very good experiences at this particular location of Golds Gym, primarily on account of good fitness instructors including Kathy (of Sprint) and Chris (of step). There are other good instructors I've had, but some have left in part due to the ongoing AC issues. It's not good to exercise in afternoons any longer at this location.

I will be open to revising my rating back to the way it was once Golds has fixed the AC issues to a satisfactory level and the AC hasn't had issues for a...

I was in the Ballston area for a little over two months and decided to join this gym on a three month no contract membership. I should have known better given the reviews of this location with regards to membership cancellations, however, did so against my better judgement. The membership specialist assured me I would be able to cancel at the two month mark (with orders) and if I did so prior to the third month payment due date, I would not be charged. So I joined in September and paid for September through October and then came in three days prior to my payment due date and canceled my membership October 16. That last payment of four to meet gym access from October through November which was my departure date. Two weeks after returning home I received several text messages as well as emails stating that my account was past due and I overheard not only for gym membership dues but also a late fee. After speaking with corporate and sending them my cancellation document I was assured it would be fixed. It was not. I then contacted the gym directly with the same issue they assured me the same thing and stated that my cancellation paperwork was never sent to corporate. I have been in contact with the gym now for the past two weeks everyone I’ve spoken to has told me to say she would get resolved yet I am still receiving harassing emails and text messages stating my account is past due. The downside to this is not only the fact that this Gold’s gym, as per the reviews, has a History of doing this but also that I myself along with six on their individuals spend around six months a year in the Ballston area and are looking for a solid gym.

Update: Kristen Steverson (Manager), reaches out and did everything in her power to rectify the situation...