. "Gold's Gym is your average gym. Founded back in 1965, on the beaches of Venice (California, not Italy), Joe Gold created a franchise that helped bring fitness and physique into the mainstream. Since then, you can find gyms ranging from massive resort-style (like the Village Health Club) to specialized (like Gilbert Crossfit). This Gold's is right about in the middle.\n\n-Inexpensive membership fee. Mine is about $10/mo with an annual \"keep your same rate\" fee of about $40. Compared to LA Fitness (where I have a $25/mo membership), Gold's wins on price. Wait until one of their deals comes around to sign up.\n\n-Location is great for me. Right off the 101/Raintree is easy access and along my commute.\n\n-Not too busy. It never feels as packed as LA Fitness, even during rush hour.\n\n-The weights and machines are average, but exactly what I need. Good assortment of cardio equipment. I particularly like that they added a TRX, kettle bell set, punching bag and heavy rope. There's also foam rollers available to massage away knots.\n\n-One of their policies used to irk me: Bring a towel. Now, I'm NOT the kind to leave a machine a mess. At LA Fitness, with no policy of this kind, I used paper towels and sanitizer. Since that's not very environmentally friendly, I'm now on board with the whole bring-your-own-towel thing.\n\nAll around bang for your buck gym."^^ . "3"^^ . "4"^^ . . . "0"^^ . "0"^^ . "2014-01-27T00:00:00"^^ .