The History of Gold’s Gym

The History of Gold’s Gym

In 1965 a man named Joe Gold had a simple dream. His dream was to open a gym in Venice California. He did this and called the gym Gold’s Gym. Today, Gold’s Gym is the largest fitness club chain the world and is the symbol for bodybuilding gyms.

Gold’s Gym Internation, Inc. began with a single gym located in Venice, California. This gym would become the center of the bodybuilding sport in the United States. The original slogan for Gold’s Gym was no-frills gym for serious weightlifters. However, over the years they have changed that slogan so they can appeal to a more broad class of consumers. The new Gold’s Gym has a variety of classes that appeal to everyone. Classes that are offered range from group exercises, Pilates, yoga, and spinning, and of course, it isn’t a Gold’s Gym without personal trainers and pure weightlifting.

The primary income the company makes is from selling franchises and operating the company-owned gyms. They also make money off of selling apparel and accessories with the Gold’s logo. The Gold’s logo, a bald-headed weightlifter holding a barbell, was created in 1973 by Ric Drasin who was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s training partner for four years.

Since the creation of the Gym in 1965 the company has changed hands several times. Joe Gold sold the company for $50,000 in 1970. The company has just changed hands to the TRT Holdings company in 2004 for about $160 million dollars.

The reason Gold’s first gym is considered the icon for bodybuilding gyms is because of the migration of the bodybuilders from “Muscle Beach” to the Venice location. The reason many bodybuilders love Gold’s Gym in Venice, California is because Gold himself had designed and built all the equipment himself and it was some of the best equipment in the world.

The sport of bodybuilding first got its big recognition through the 1977 moved, Pumping Iron, which featured bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger and was shot at Gold’s Gym. This movie brought the sport of bodybuilding to the world, and also showed the future actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the future greatest bodybuilding gym, Gold’s Gym.

It opened a simple gym in Venice, California and has now grown to a major company with over 600 gyms in 27 countries and 42 states. It also can brag that it claims some 3 million members worldwide. Not to bad for a simple bodybuilding gym created by a man who would only stay with the company for five years.



Source by Michael Parker