Gold’s Gym

Free Wi Fi
Manager walks around with a white glove checking for dust
Small locker room is clean
Crowded with all kinds of equipment and weights
Dumbbells go up to 130 lbs
Two Smith Machines
Three sets of Cross Cables
Upper and Lower Back Cables
Limited Back Hammer Strengh Equipment
Staff is very helpful
Nice selection of pre and post workout drinks/​food
Easy Parking
Three sets of dumbbells on three walls easy to find what you are looking for
Lots of extra benchs not bolted down so you can move them around
Small strech area
Smaller Exercise Room but has punching bags
Cardio equipment has private TVs
Good Gym

The staff and trainers at Golds Gym are amazing. Not only are they knowledgable and professional but they are some of the kindest and big hearted people I have ever met. I feel blessed to have found Golds when I moved back to Marin!

I love this Gold’s.
It is the perfect size for me, nice space you won’t get claustrophobic, the machines are recent, they are well maintained as the rest of the facility, the decoration is simple but trendy and nice. Staff is friendly, and most of all, customers are not rude as in some other places.
The way they raise the membership fee even for current members can be disproportionate though.

When I went to Gold’s Gym on the free 7 Day pass I was treated like straight royalty. I came in after a hard day, the front desk guy knew I was irritated and asked me how my day was. The next day a personal trainer gave me a thorough session, as if I paid for it.
What I’m getting at is, this is the best gym in Marin by far, and the people are nice.
Check it out.

I joined this gym about a year ago and I’m happy I did. Staff is friendly, place is clean, and equipment well maintained. Surprisingly, this gym is not crowed and I rarely have to wait to use a machine. I’ve worked out at several gyms in Marin and feel this one is the best.

We’ve been members at this gym for years. Primarily, we take the «Body Pump» class 2x per week. It has been outstanding. Toni Dee has been our primary class leader and she is THE most professional (and fun!)
coach /​motivator we’ve ever had. Sadly, we are moving away soon and we will need to find another gym. That is one our largest regrets about leaving Corte Madera. We highly recommend Toni’s «Body Pump»!

One star for convenience and price — cheap. Second star for the amount of classes. Other than that, I find the front desk as irritating as ever. I have been a member of golds — both Corte Madera and elsewhere — several times over the years. I moved back to town a couple of years ago and thought about joining again, but the thought of dealing with the salespeople has always kept me away. I finally talked myself into going there again, made it a whopping minute and thirty seconds approximately, and was again so irritated at the front desk staff that I remembered why I don’t go here anymore. Smart comes in a lot of different forms, but even if you weren’t blessed in this department, would faking it for the rest of us really be so much to ask?

I need a gym for just a month while in town and decided after reading Unilocal reviews that Gold’s was ideal. I just joined and may have to update this review later, but here are some things I immediately noted and liked about Gold’s
— lots of overflow parking available
— staff is friendly and helpful. The guy who signed me up went over several short-​term membership options that would serve my needs, comparing pricing and number of visits.
— nice, clean locker room areas with showers if you need it.
–they have their own on-​site maintenance techs to immediately attend to anything that breaks down
–some machines are not the latest and greatest model, but they are all clean and work well
— varied and diverse clientel makes it comfortable to work out
— lots of machines, lots of free weights, very professional atmosphere, but never condescending.
Thanks Unilocalers

I just joined Gold’s a few months ago could not be happier. The staff is friendly, the equipment and locker rooms are clean and I almost never have to wait to use a machine. In addition when something breaks down it gets fixed right away.

1) Everyone who works here is really friendly
2) The monthly, month-​to-​month membership is extremely affordable
3) The classes are great
4) The machines are clean and working
The only downside that I’ve found is that they don’t have a lot of spin bikes for the spin classes, so they usually fill up really quickly. Besides that, I’d say it’s a great bang-​for-​your-​buck gym!
P. S. If you’re into yoga, go to Yvette’s classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays… she’s great.

I love my local Gold’s! It is very small, but the machines all work and the precor has its own TV. There are normal people too, no sleazy guys or hooch girls. Makes you feel comfy when you work out. Staff is nice.
It has a sauna too :)

So far so good! I have been a member at another gym nearby and always struggled to find a machine that was available and in working order. That is not the case at Gold’s.
I have always been able to find a machine to work on. The gym is clean and equipment is high end (live the tvs!!). My only concern with the summer is that I have no where for my little guy to go since there is no daycare. Oh well. I guess I will have to work around it.
Very happy with my choice.

I used to work across the parking lot from this gym and go here on my lunch break.
I like Gold’s a lot!
The strangest class I used to take here was «Stripteeze» taught by Ms. Toni Dee. Pretty interesting. We used to tape up the windows. No boys. LoL!

I just joined this gym. It’s a bit small (lockerroom is super tiny) and the co-​ed sauna is akwardly in front of mens and womens locker room next to the Gym water fountain, aerobic room is super small, but overall great gym, very clean, top notch state of the art equiptment and freeweights. 30 bucks a month and I can go to any bay area Golds Gym, and no initiation fee! Wow! If you’re thinking ’bout joining a gym in Marin, this is the place to be. If you want a huge gym with pool and other amenities, this is not the gym for you. Professional staff here and members seem to be serious about their workout. Wish list: Build a second story and add space, but this is a longshot. haha.

I get a little tired of having men ask me out while I’m sweating. I mean it’s flattering and all, but I’m not one of those women that go to the gym to get picked up. I go to keep my ass in shape, to sweat my balls off (if I had any, but I’m speaking proverbially of course), and to raise my endorphins, so I can finally get some sleep later and don’t stare at the ceiling all night. Which happens frequently, trust me on that one… I don’t sleep much…
This Gold’s Gym has better machines than 24 hour, and I don’t get bothered while my Ipod is blasting. My thighs and hips were burning last night on the abductor machine, while J kept looking at me doing the aductor, and loving the burn. «Burn bitches, burn!», she kept saying as our faces cringed in loving pain.
«Must make totopos burn off of my ass!» That’s the punishment my body gets after feasting on guac and chips for a week while exploring la selva tropical in Mexico. Burn those bitches off!
It’s cheap, open til midnight, and they have the dope precor machines that are so much better. If you’re totally Marin, and need you «bayclub-​esque» surrounding, they even have the fancy one with the tv for those who don’t like to focus on the fact that it hurts, and that it’s good when it hurts.
I left overworked (dope), exhausted (dope), starving (dope) and felt like a million bucks. They offer some great yoga classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that I’ve gone to a few times with Sherri. Not the «nazi» yoga, the good stuff, but hey, to each their own right?

I’ve only gone to the Corte Madera Gold’s to take the stripteeze class. Toni D. teaches the class and she’s a very cool lady. She’s also a personal trainer and does private lessons outside of the Gym.
You don’t have to feel intimidated by the other women in the class. If you look stupid or think you look stupid, they won’t judge you. The class is offered every other Friday from 6:30 — 7:45pm. They tape up the glass windows with newspaper so the men who are working out can’t peek in and get turned on.
You don’t actually strip in the class… it’s a class where you do yoga and pilates moves. You learn to feel sensual with your body and there’s one part where she even does a little «shower» scene that you can do for your lover/​boyfriend/​husband. Hehehe… she teaches you other moves as well that will make the opposite sex drool.
You will have fun taking this class… I really did. Too bad it’s only for the ladies though… but hey, if you’re a man… maybe your girlfriend/​wife will do some moves for you.

I just joined Gold’s, and I was pleasantly surprised.
I always thought of Gold’s as a «MAN GYM» and that much is true– there is definitely a lot of testosterone and free weights and gratuitous flexing and copious sweating in there.
However, my girly self feels very comfortable too. The ratio is about 50 – 50 in here. Lots of cardio machines, a clean environment, and a great class schedule These people are serious about their workouts, it’s not meat markety at all, as far as I can tell.
A big plus for me– you can get travel passes for other Gold’s locations. Even if they’re not in the Bay Area, as long as you get a pass beforehand, you’re set. So when I am travelling, I have no excuse not to go to the gym!
Oh, here’s some incentive and/​or a warning– if you go to the gym on your birthday, a royal fanfare plays when you swipe your card through the scanner. It scared the bejeezus out of me.
I’ve dealt with some amazing employees– Chris, who signed me up, is a total sweetie, and even helped me choose classes that I might like. I was also really impressed with Marisa, who is behind the desk. She hooked me up with an awesome new trainer, Zach when my initial guy turned out to be a flake.
Some negatives– there are definitely peak times and slow times, but any gym is like that. This place is obviously designed to squeeze in as many machines and amenities as it can, so the locker rooms are pretty cramped (as other reviewers mentioned.) Also, if you’re taking a class, there’s pretty much no room to wait outside. There are some barstools in the front lobby, however.

I’ve been a member since 2000, so I guess it doesn’t suck.
I like all the cardio machines and the staff are usually pretty helpful, like when I lost my little keychain ID card. The younger ones are a little preoccupied with visiting friends and whatnot but so was I when I worked my first job at the mall. Actually I was a lot worse, so I’ll let that slide. What goes around comes around.
The self-​flushing toilets freak me out. There is nothing like having cold water splashing your ass unexpectedly. Not a fan.
The only real complaint I have is that sometimes they turn the fans and TVs off like, 15 minutes before they close and it gets too hot in there. I wish they would wait until oh. I don’t know… FIVE minutes before closing before turning off the fans? Do that last please! It feels like you’re shoving us out the door. I promise we will all be out of there not a minute past closing!

My go to gym from 2000 through 2006 when I moved to New York. Definitely the only place in Marin that I can find a girl that can shoulder press more than me and say hi to 5 friends with 20+ inch arms in less than 2 minutes.
Certainly not a meat head gym, although I can see how some would be intimidated as there are a lot of BIG dudes here. Personally, I always viewed that as a plus as I was never lacking a spotter.
Equipment wise, Gold’s slaughters every other gym in Marin. Tons of cardio machines of every kind, weight stacks up to 300 lbs, abundant attachments including a couple of dipping belts, 3 racks of dumbbells up to 160lbs, 2 squat racks and 2 smith racks, an olympic lifting platform with a full set of bumper plates as well as everything else you’d expect out of a self-​respecting gym. Never had to wait for anything except the bench press or a squat rack occasionally during peak time.
Minus one star for the exceedingly annoying, ubiquitous clubzone (name?) music programming installed in 2005. Much, much preferred satellite radio with the opportunity to request stations when it was less busy. Seriously guys, do a survey and see how many people there actually want to listen to top 40 hits or commercial rap while they work out.

Gold’s Gym fired me in 1994, and yet I still show up every day. Of course, they don’t pay me $ 6.50 per hour anymore, and I can no longer charge people guest fees and deposit said fees directly into the slush fund in my shorts pocket. But I leave with a fresh pump and a carton of muscle milk, so by any standards I’m still a winner.
I’ve been in a revolving door between Gold’s and 24 Hour Fitness for the past 10 years, primarily based on location. In LA I worked out at the original Gold’s in Venice, where the workout floor was filled with the meathead celebrities who lined the framed pictures hung on the wall. It was kind of a parody of itself, with industry types reading scripts on the elliptical machines and Malibu housewives testing the elasticity of their fake racks doing pushups with their younger trainers.
My membership also got me into the West Hollywood Gold’s, which may be the gayest place on earth outside of Clay Aiken’s pants. The place was basically a catwalk with squat racks, built for perfectly groomed meatheads to strut around in spandex and look each other up and down. Once I actually caught on fire while doing preacher curls. Fabio was a regular. And I was once offered 10 phone numbers (dudes) in 3 minutes at the smoothie bar.
I switched from Gold’s to 24 Hour Fitness at Larkspur landing years ago — primarily because Gold’s sucked ass and was overrun by meatheads. One could argue the latter point is still the case, but considerable improvements have been made on the former.
Gold’s has new equipment and plenty of it — rarely is the gym packed full of meat to the point that I can’t find the empty racks, machines and mats I need to complete my workout on time. There always seems to be a free bike, and there are plenty of flatscreen TVs that I can see from any cardio machine.
The locker rooms are a little tight, and there’s no steam room (there IS a sauna), but aside from those very minor complaints, I have to say I’m impressed with the gym’s improvements since the early days and I enjoy working out there. Friendly staff, clean and well-​maintained equipment, and plenty of TVs are pretty much all you can ask for. Oh — and someone else mentioned the ventilation — it’s pretty solid, and there’s none of the crotch rot /​dead body odor that’s included in your monthly dues at many gyms.
4 out of 5 stars — add a steam room, maybe a smoothie bar (I picked up some fruity habits in LA), and give me some more room to hang out with my wang out in the men’s room and we’ll bump this rating to a solid 5 out of 5.