Gold's Gym — Local services in Richmond

Summary: Gold’s in the Fan: most convenient to the neighborhood, plenty of equipment, quirky space suitable of The Fan, usually clean, reasonable rate*, friendly staff and members, super knowledgeable and helpful training staff. Overall, very happy with it! *(Just be aware of the extra $20 assessed twice per year.)

Details: I joined Gold’s in the Fan because it’s the only gym in the neighborhood for non-VCU students. Since I joined just for convenience I wasn’t expecting much, however, after 8 months as a member I’m still pleased with the facilities and impressed with the staff! Yes, it’s smaller than the other Gold’s in the area but the membership rate is smaller too. It’s well stocked with plenty of equipment and usually clean. (Show me a gym that isn’t occasionally messy and it’s either brand new or about to go out of business.) About the only thing I’d wish for is a second Olympic-style lifting station -- since Gold’s is a real gym, real Olympic-style lifting is popular there. As for the staff, I splurged and signed up for the personal training -- best money I’ve spent in years!! With the expert knowledge from my trainer (the amazing Dakota Palmo!) I’ve met and exceeded all the goals I set 8 months ago. No small feat considering I have a mod-sev scoliosis; not to mention the torn supraspinatus (shoulder) he helped me rehab. Now my back has never felt more strong/stable, my shoulder is almost back to normal and we’re working on taking me beyond my goals. I’m in the best shape of my 55 years! The only down side is having to buy new clothes since none of my old (fat) clothes fit anymore. (Yes, it’s one of those ‘happy problems’.)

As for the membership rate/tricks some have complained about: Gold’s charges an extra $20 twice a year (for account maintenance?) apparently it’s their way of keeping the monthly rate from going up (Other ‘gyms’ sucker you in with a low rate then raise it on you after a while.) Nobody mentioned this fee to me when I joined so I was surprised when it showed up on my bill; I can see how people would get mad about it. If the sales staff would just make this clear up front I think people would be fine with it. Maybe Gold’s should make this an item in the contract the member AND the staff person has to initial. Or just charge an extra $3.33 per month instead.

Overall, I’m very happy with this gym and have no problem giving...

DO NOT SIGN UP! It’s a trap!!! This was the worst experience with Gym Memberships that my husband and I have had. They try to draw you in with tons of false promises. We are both retired military and when I say this gym was a NIGHTMARE, it is! They will do everything to make it impossible when it’s time to terminate the membership. We cancelled our services with them because of relocation and this was back in October. Up until this month, Golds gym was not only trying to charge our cards for membership payments even though we PERSONALLY went to a location to cancel everything and were given a piece of paper, Compel Fitness was charging both my husband and I $160 bi-weekly each for personal training we never got and cancelled the very next week. We dealt with a “personal trainer” by the name of Laurel and her customer service was HORRIBLE! After she assures us everything is all set and says goodbye, now we are in Florida and I had to close both cards of my husbands and mine because I they literally tried to pull out money every other day with diffeeent amounts, etc. so once I provided both banks with all documentation and proof of cancellation the banks BLOCKED compel from being and to pull anything out anymore and launched FRAUD charges. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GYM, THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS THEY TELL YOU TO GET YOU TO JOIN, but it’s a MISTAKE!!!!! Go do boxing or martial arts or something. This gym is a joke and SCAM to take money from people!!!! If they’d have a ZERO rating option, this gym has it!!!!! I’ve never had a gym experience like this, so terrible. Please, I’m trying to save people...

So Gold’s is already known for being kind of a weird scene, and I’ve been warned against it so many times. But when I visited this particular location, since it’s closest to where I live, I was actually angered. 1). The staff never payed any attention to my sister-in-law and I (who went to workout together). From the moment we walked in, through the multiple times that we accidentally wandered by the front desk (over and over again) the staff was entirely unhelpful and extremely lazy. 2). The place is a literal maze. We wandered around for a good half hour, just looking for their free weight room. When we finally found it, we were met with judgmental stares that were so unpleasant and so uncomfortable, that we left after only 5 minutes of finding what we were looking for (and by that time, we’d already been there a good 45 minutes, and had wasted all this time just looking for the weight room). 3). It was SOOOO insulting when we found the “Women’s Workout Room” somewhere between leaving the weight room and finding the exit, and the only things in there were a bunch of cardio machines and no free weights... as if women don’t lift weights. As if we’re nothing but cardio bunnies. That was the final straw. After an hour of wandering around in this maze, we finally found our way out, got in the car, and drove to the Willow Lawn location for an actual workout. Not worth it. Don’t go here. If you’re gonna insist on being a Gold’s member, at least go to...