Gold's Gym Lifetime Membership?

March 12, 2009 5:46 PM

Has anyone heard of lifetime memberships at Gold's Gym? They don't list it on their website, and I can't find any reference to it online, but I thought I heard something about it recently (on TV?)... Ideally, I'd like to buy a membership that doesn't expire and allows me to use any Gold's Gym. I don't care if it is transferable. I would appreciate any information you might have on the matter.
posted by cdemay to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

Gold's Gym is a franchise operation, so independent operators don't have to honor memberships or promotions offered by other operators. For example, there's are three Gold's Gyms near me. Two of them are owned by the same operator, so your membership is good at both locations. But they do not share promotions or honor membership with the third location, despite it being five miles away.

This doesn't stop you from purchasing a membership like you describe, but it puts the kibosh on the "use any Gold's Gym" idea.

More likely, instead of a "lifetime" membership, you can purchase several years worth of membership up front at a reduced annual rate. You would need to talk to someone actually at the club to get the details or wrangle a deal like that.

And DO negotiate the rate. Selling memberships is like selling cars. The "sticker price" is not written in stone, and certainly not in this economy!
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:12 PM on March 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

They made lifetime gym memberships illegal in Ontario because too many gyms sold a bunch of them and then shut their doors. Just something to consider when shopping for a "lifetime" membership, that the lifetime in question is the shorter of yours or theirs.
posted by FishBike at 7:40 PM on March 12, 2009

Cool Papa Bell-- for what it's worth, I just tried my hardest to negotiate my monthly fee at my Gold's Gym, even threatening to go with a specific deal at their rival gym which was 25 dollars a month less than what I'm currently paying. And they still said they couldn't help me, wouldn't budge an inch. I got the feeling that unless there is some written-in-stone new lower fee sale going on, their sales agents couldn't negotiate.

This was at the Venice, CA gym if that makes any difference.
posted by np312 at 11:35 AM on March 13, 2009

This was at the Venice, CA gym if that makes any difference.

Well, that is the first Gold's gym, and is famous among bodybuilders. It's been referred to as "the Mecca of bodybuilding." They're probably going to charge much more than other Gold's gyms.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 11:39 AM on March 13, 2009