Joe Gold (born Sydney Gold, March 10, 1922 in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California, died - July 11, 2004 in Marina del Rey, California) was the founder of Gold's Gym and World Gym. He has been credited with being the father of the bodybuilding and fitness craze that swept the US.
Joe Gold was the son of Max and Jennie Gold, a Russian Jewish family residing in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles .
Joe Gold began his interest in bodybuilding at the age of...
More
Joe Gold (born Sydney Gold, March 10, 1922 in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California, died - July 11, 2004 in Marina del Rey, California) was the founder of Gold's Gym and World Gym. He has been credited with being the father of the bodybuilding and fitness craze that swept the US.
Joe Gold was the son of Max and Jennie Gold, a Russian Jewish family residing in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles .
Joe Gold began his interest in bodybuilding at the age of 12, when he saw his sister-in-law's design for strengthening her arms. She had attached a filled bucket to each end of a broom handle and was using them as lifts. Joe and his brother, Robert Gold, got the idea for building their own equipment from scrap obtained from Roberts scrap yard.
As a teenager he headed for Muscle Beach in Santa Monica.
A machinist, he served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II where he was injured in a torpedo attack as well as serving in the Korean War.
As a professional bodybuilder, he...
Less
