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 $39, you get a two-month multi-pass membership to Gold's Gym ($149 value). The multi-pass is good for four Houston locations: Woodlands/ Magnolia, Conroe, Kingwood, and Bear Creek. For current members (anyone under contract during the month of January), today's deal can be redeemed for two personal-training sessions ($139 value).

Gold's Gym began more than 45 years ago and today features an impressive array of next-generation fitness gadgets, a results-oriented focus, clean facilities, and certified personal trainers. Hop on a cardio machine, possibly including a built-in TV, 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. Facilities and classes vary by location; weekly classes include Zumba, BodyCombat, yoga, Pilates, group cycling, and lion punching.

The two-month membership also includes 14 passes good for entry at any of Gold's Gym's more than 600 worldwide locations, ensuring that a business trip doesn't result in muscle cells converting into less strong muscle cells.

Reviews

Google Mappers are impressed with Gold's Gym and give Woodlands/Magnolia and Kingswood a 4.5-star average, and the Bear Creek location a four-star average. Insider Pagers give the Conroe location four stars. More than 700 Facebookers like Gold's Gym Houston.

• The staff is friendly and always seem to have a smile on his or her face. – Megan, Bears Creek location, Google Maps
• The classes i have experienced so far have been very upbeat and beneficial to my overall workout goals. – Gym R., Insider Pages