Exercising has come a long way from outrunning a lion until it reaches the point of exhaustion so its sleeping carcass could be bench- pressed and shot putted. Build muscle using non-living weights with today’s Groupon: for $99, you get a three-month membership (a $149 value), one personal-coaching session (a $60 value), and a body-age assessment (a $50 value) at Gold’s Gym (a $259 total value). Membership is good for two locations in Williamsville and Lancaster.

Gold’s Gym began more than 45 years ago and today features an impressive array of next-generation fitness gadgets, a results-oriented focus, and clean facilities. With today’s deal, one of Gold’s Gym’s staff of certified personal trainers will test each client’s strength, flexibility, and body-fat percentage, among other metrics, to determine their biological age before designing a personalized fitness regimen. Then, neophyte iron-workers can follow up with regular attendance at the gym, where they can hop on a cardio machine, pump up in a controlled manner on strength-training machines, tighten up in the abdominal and functional stretching area, or stick with lifting huge, heavy pieces of metal and commercial chest freezers.

Reviews

There are few online reviews for the Buffalo-area Gold’s Gyms, but testimonials are available on the gym website. > * Sure, they have modern equipment and nice facilities…but more importantly they have a staff that truly wants you to succeed, and have fun along the way! – [Matt Wukovitz]