Gold's Gym

Richmond has a lot of exceptional gyms. I love this gym. It has everything you need and lots of good people around. Can't speak for other times, but 4 am has great ambiance and people. Hearing "yes lord" will pump me up every time

WARNING: Systematic Billing Fraud & Security Bypass Avoid this facility. I have documented proof of predatory billing where they overcharged me on the day my bill was due. When I tried to cancel, they blocked it behind an illegal $59.99 fee which is a direct violation of the Virginia Health Club Act § 59.1-297.1 (B), which prohibits requiring billing info for cancellation. Most importantly: Blocking your card will not stop them. I have a formal letter from Capital One confirming this merchant intentionally uses non-standard billing codes to bypass bank-level merchant blocks. Even after I got a new credit card number, they bypassed security to continue unauthorized charge attempts. 4 CFPB complaints and a state regulatory investigation are currently active. You have been warned.

I’m not from the area, but I’m in town and decided to stop by this Gold’s Gym location. The overall environment and facility are nice, but my experience in the women’s locker room was extremely uncomfortable. When I entered the sauna, there was a woman sitting inside wearing only underwear and a bra. I immediately walked out because it felt inappropriate and disrespectful in a shared space. I also felt bad for the other women who had to deal with the same situation. This is something the gym should be enforcing or clearly addressing, because a locker room sauna should be a comfortable and respectful environment for everyone. Unfortunately, this experience completely took away from an otherwise decent facility.

I go here for the sauna, tanning, and cheap rate. The gym part is awful. The machine circuit is always overcrowded so it's hard to go through my routine (even switching it up). Many times the machines are taken by people who are just sitting on them reading their phones. I realize they may be resting between sets, but proper etiquette is to get off during a lengthy rest phase so someone else can slip in a set. No employees are walking the floor to help reduce this kind of thing. (Edit: I upgraded this to 3 stars because it's still a good value for about a dollar a day. If you use free weights it's great -- plenty of equipment and room. Classes are also free. However, for a newbie like me who wants to use the machine circuit it's so busy I can't get a full workout in. I wish they would provide some free training with free weights so I could switch.)

I'll start with the bad. It's way too expensive. If you want to bring a guest just forget it because depending on your plan its $20. The 24hrs is cool, lots of equipment and variety, its actually pretty spacious minus some of the machine areas being a little crammed but no biggie. Honestly I love this gym, I came from crunch because I wanted a 24hr gym and more equipment, but since then rates have gone up twice, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they went up again. It's just too expensive to justify at this point. I'll most likely be going back to crunch soon. Hopefully they can work with us on either the rates or other benefits like free guests again.