Gold’s Gym

I joined Gold Gym when I moved to West Des Moines, and moved to Des Moines within a few months so I could no longer use the services. I had to wait for my contract to be within 30 days of my year to cancel, which I did, both accounts, in writing, and kept copies of all my docs back with cancellation being October. The charges continued, I contacted them promptly and they assured me it would resolved. The charges continued. I contacted them, again, again was assured, and charges continued. Contacted them the 3^rd time and they claimed I only cancelled one account. They told me I would have to have proof, which I did, and promptly sent AGAIN, and again after several phone calls, they promised me fees would be returned in four days and it would be fixed. I was just charged another annual fee to add injury to insult. Week two, no fix. I will be filing a complaint with the BBB at this point, because clearly, they want my money more than they want to stop stealing from me. BEWARE!

The employees are pretty nice.
They don’t really bother you much from behind the check-​in counter.
Their «free consultation» isn’t really worth much when you initially sign up, unless it’s your first time in a gym ever.
Their equipment is pretty nice honestly. It’s not the newest, but i’ve been in A LOT worse gyms. So i’d give their equipment a ⁴⁄₅.
I will say, there seem to be a lot of serious gym rats here. Most everyone i see is massive… even the females.
— Not a lot of cross-​fit /​plyometric style work outs going on, but they do have a decent room in the back with some of that stuff if you’re into that… just don’t yell from the back room how much you love Crossfit please.
For the ladies, they have a couple classes a day, but they don’t seem to have any dynamics in the style or level of them. I believe they are all in the same genre, and advanced… but what do i know, i’ve never been to one, I just judge by the people who walk in and out and the amount of swass going on.

I tested Gold’s Gym for a full week so I have a pretty good idea of this place.
First, the employees were all easy going and friendly.
The place isn’t as busy as I was expecting. I made sure to go Monday night and workout from 430pm-​630pm to see if all hell breaks loose. To my surprise, the place was busy but wasn’t packed to the brim. The place is also A LOT smaller than I was expecting.
The Gold’s Gym members in the weight area were friendly and not intimidating. Everyone was courteous when they unsure if you were using a particular bench/​machine. They only have two squat racks and they usually are in use from 4pm-​6pm. So please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD… no curling, barbell rowing, Pendlay rowing, or dead-​lifting in the squat rack. There’s an area between the Smith machines (assisted barbell) and leg-​press machine where you can do those exercises.
There are about 30 cardio machines that are made up of treadmills, elliptical, bikes, and stair-​masters. They also have a «movie theater» area which I never bothered with but that’s cool if cardio is your thing. Also, from what I was told on my initial visit, they have quite a few cardio/​aerobic classes. Again, I never tried them, but if that’s your thing check this place out.
Something that’s icing on the cake is that a majority of the members have amazing physiques. Most of the guys physiques were inspiring and I was definitely ‘mirin. Even the women have phenomenal physiques. The women here do more than just cardio and squats! I’ve never seen a woman bench press actual weights until I had my week trial at Gold’s Gym. It was awesome!
The only gripe I have about this place is the men’s locker room. There is a huge imbalance between changing the changing area and the showers. The showers make up 70% of the men’s locker room. Even though the shower area takes up 70% of the locker room, THERE ARE ONLY SIX SHOWERS. Each shower has TWO areas: a shower area and a towel drying area. I’m guessing the locker room is set up this way to prevent the old married «straight» dudes from cruising the locker room for sexual encounters/​voyeurism/​exhibition. Oh, and you have to bring your own towel if you do plan on showering.
The actual changing area of the locker room are three «cubbies» that are 4 feet wide, 6 feet deep that have slim lockers. So basically… you will nearly be on top of someone if they happen to be changing in the same «cubbie».
The sauna was a dry sauna, quiet, and very awkward. You could hear the kids at the on-​site daycare playing, giggling, screaming, and banging objects against the on-​site daycare wall which is shared with the men’s sauna. One time in the sauna was enough for me.
In the end, I didn’t go with Gold’s because I’m very wary of their billing plan. You have to «sign» a year contract. It’s $ 20 a month but there’s a $ 35 sign on fee AND 3 months later another $ 35 «maintenance» fee. I plan on moving to a different state in 8 months, and I told the employee who showed me around this information. He told me I would need to give a 60 day notification and show proof of my new «out of state» address. Hearing him say this gave premonitions of the nightmare it would be to successfully cancel my membership. After reading these reviews online, I can tell I was spot on.
PROS:
Friendly non-​judgmental atmosphere
Easily accessible from the interstate
Inexpensive
The other member’s physique are inspiring that’s for damn sure!
CONS:
Men’s locker room
Sketchy billing
No bench or shower towels
Overall, if you are looking for a cheap place to work out and can handle a possible billing issue, I’d recommend Gold’s Gym.

Getting tired of water getting cold half way through my shower or occasionally not having hot water at all and having men in the women’s locker room between 7:30−9am to fix or clean something. That’s the busiest time when we are getting ready to go to work! I don’t know why they can’t do that at less busy hours or after hours. The locker room and showers are less than clean! Don’t know if they have a night time cleaning crew, but they do a poor job. I’m looking for a new place.

Lied about the contract commitment when signing up. Charged me hundreds of dollars when canceling. Threatened me with collections when I disputed. The only place I can think of where the people actually seem delighted by being hostile to customers. It’s like the Pop Copy skit from Chappelle’s Show in real life.

They have enough equipment for everyone to use.
They have a nice sauna.
Staff was good for me.
Lot of space, not too crowded.
Has a good parking lot.
It was fine for me, got my workouts in.

Compared to the other Gold’s Gyms I’ve been to, this Gold’s might be the worst… but then again, the other Gold’s I’ve been to were in LA.
The equipment in this gym is rather old. They have a great amount of elliptical and treadmills though. I can’t say much about this gym. Membership is a lot cheaper than the ones in LA, but the ones in LA have movie theaters in their gym.

The gym was fine — I got a $ 10/​month deal so I never thought I’d be doing much complaining.
While I personally hated the vibe — women did their hair and make up before working out and wore expensive fitness clothes that were way too low cut to be comfortable while working out and men tanned regularly to show off their bodies (hey guys — you live in Iowa… not California… no one here cares) — I was willing to overlook it because the facility was decent, they offered a few classes (though not at very good times) and it was cheap. Plus I could avoid most of this by running on a treadmill in the dark movie room, which was only about half the time because there are only about 6 and they are usually full.
But then, after I cancelled my account and moved cross country, I was notified that I had «late fees» and that they had no record of my cancellation. As soon as I saw similar reviews here I knew I had to share — save yourself the hassle, this place is NOT worth it.
By the way, the head of the gym told me on the phone that I was being «ridiculous,» among a few other choice words. Not professional in the least bit. Very disappointing.

Read the last review and decided I wanted to type this up as I have had no such issues. Been a member for 3 years (maybe longer) and I think its a great gym. I have been a member at 7flags and fitness world west as well. I like all 3 but the price of Golds with child care drew me in. I like the classes and separate woman’s area. Not crazy awesome but not one star bad for sure… imo.

This is a decent gym if you want a place where you cant get a treadmill because of the 25 people who need to walk at 2 mph for 20 miles a day or can’t get on a machine because of the 50 people who don’t have real jobs and are trying to be like Arnold here in Iowa take up every machine. Locker rooms have not space because the 50 before mentioned people like to sit around and chat. Management is extremely rude and useless.
On another side though the girls working the front desk are always friendly and helpful.

I joined this place right when it opened and stayed for 2 years. The original managers were really great and made you feel welcome. They made sure the place was clean and were respectful to me. I even saw the original manager somewhere in public after he left and he remembered me! That’s a great manager.
As management changed this place got really crappy really quickly, not to mention very crowded. There are only 5 tvs and they are set on all sports stations basically. You have to bring headphones and tune in to their selected stations. No choices. The cardio theater was cool but they reran movies constantly and kept the door shut so there was no ventilation. This resulted in a pretty smelly room.
The short bald manager with the little man complex was a total douche. The last straw for me was when I referred a friend and not only did he not make sure I received my referral fee he was rude to my friend in front of me. Very tacky.