Gold’s Gym Debuts Hone, a Training App With Designs on Non-Members

The storied gym operator is launching an app that will eventually offer coaching to non-members — an early move under new sole CEO Brad Reynolds

Gold’s Gym made its name on iron and Venice Beach vibes. Now it wants a place on your phone.

The gym chain has unveiled Hone, a training app built with development partner Demotu that assesses how a member moves, plans and tracks their meals and analyzes body composition. It syncs with Apple Health and Whoop, with more wearables promised in the future, but the app is just one part of a longer plan.

The launch is one of the first big moves of Brad Reynolds’ tenure as sole chief executive, a position he assumed in July after nine months under a co-CEO model.

Gold’s, which filed for Chapter 11 in 2020 and was acquired by RSG Group, which also owns brands including McFit, John Reed and Heimat, still counts more than 550 locations worldwide.

“It was a necessary no-brainer next step to continue to evolve the Gold’s Gym story,” Reynolds said of Hone, adding that the fitness brand did a lot of listening within its personal training and franchise communities.

The app is in pilot across all 46 company-owned Gold’s Gyms, plus a large franchise group in the Northeast that is about to go live. Over the next 60 to 90 days, Gold’s will watch usage rates and workouts completed on the company side before pushing Hone out to franchisees.

“We view this as a new access point for our existing and future members to engage with the Gold’s Gym level of serious fitness, and by proxy, almost have the trainer in the palm of their hand,” Reynolds said. 

As Hone rolls out more widely, the tools for personal-training clients and coaches come first. Next, the app folds into standard membership, giving any Gold’s member a base version with body composition analysis, movement assessments and entry-level coaching and nutrition features. Then, next year, a premium tier lands on the App Store as a standalone product, available to anyone — member or not — with what Reynolds described as uncapped access to the app’s tools.

And while any tool that automates part of a coach’s job invites obvious worry, Gold’s Gym director of fitness Alex Knies said the brand’s trainers quickly found it stripped out time-consuming tasks and freed them to coach more.

“It really gives them the time back to then deliver that exceptional experience,” he said.

Reynolds said he believes the app will translate to more training hours and training clients for its personal trainers.

What’s Next for Gold’s Gyms?

Beyond Hone, Reynolds shared what else is in the pipeline, including new company-owned and franchise builds in the U.S. and abroad, including a “next evolution” flagship opening in the Dallas area in January that will serve as a test kitchen for equipment and member experiences, and recovery amenities like saunas and cold features. 

Gold’s is also pursuing new markets. Its first locations in Brazil are due later this year, part of a broader push into Latin America alongside targeted growth on the West Coast, in the Mid-Atlantic and Florida.

“I think Latin America is a huge opportunity for Gold’s,” Reynolds said.

He sees room to grow across all of it. “We have a ton of life space out there, and the fitness landscape right now is absolutely on fire,” he added.