Gyms in Allen

Fixr's January 2025 national figures split gyms in two: basic memberships at $15 to $40 a month, and gyms with more advanced equipment at $50 to $100. Forbes Health, citing Statista, gave a US average of $28.58 a month in 2021, with prices running from about $10 to $300. Ask an Allen gym for its full price sheet in writing so you can compare it with these ranges.

The monthly fee is only part of the price. Ask about initiation fees, annual fees, the minimum term and how the gym bills, because these terms also decide whether the gym has to post security for you.

Most membership gyms are "health spas" under Texas law. The exceptions are tax-exempt nonprofits, member-owned private clubs, dance- or aerobics-only studios, rehab providers, state-licensed activities, school programs and government hospitals and clinics.

A covered gym cannot operate or sell memberships without a Secretary of State certificate of registration for each location. The certificate costs $100, lasts a year, must be posted conspicuously, and its number must be in your contract. Check it two ways:

1. The SOS online health spa search, which also shows whether security is posted.
2. The SOS PDF list of registered locations, updated every Wednesday.

A contract is void if the gym was not registered when you signed, or if you relied on willfully false or misleading information.

Security an Allen gym may have to post

Unless exempt, each location posts $20,000 to $50,000 with the Secretary of State, rising with prepaid memberships from $20,000 (up to $20,000 prepaid) to $50,000 (over $45,000 prepaid), as a surety bond or certificate of deposit. A gym is exempt if it never requires contracts or prepayment over 31 days, financing, automatic bank drafts or initiation fees, or if it is established: assets over $50,000 per location, five years under substantially the same ownership and no closure complaints, sworn every three years.

• Within three business days: written notice by certified mail by midnight of the third business day for a full refund. Your contract must explain this in conspicuous 10-point type.
• Death or disability: a member who becomes totally and permanently disabled, or the estate of one who dies, can cancel and recover unearned payments.
• Closure or move: if the gym closes without offering a site within 10 miles, moves more than 10 miles away or stops providing advertised services, you can cancel and get back unearned payments.
• Long terms: contracts cannot exceed three years, and financed ones cannot require payments beyond five.

If a natural disaster or other event beyond the owner's control shuts the gym for 30 days or more, it must add the lost time to your contract.

A Texas gym must post notice inside and outside each entrance at least 30 days before closing or relocating, and tell the Secretary of State, except after a fire, flood or act of God. Members can claim against its security by mailing their contract and proof of payment to the SOS within 90 days of the closure notice appearing on the SOS website. Presale members have extra cover: payments must sit in an FDIC-insured escrow until 30 days after opening, unless exempt, and if the gym does not open within 180 days or stay open 30 days, they are generally owed a full refund.

The SOS only files registrations and security, so a dispute over an Allen gym's sales practices belongs with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, (800) 621-0508. More on the Texas gyms guide; nearby options are on gyms in Plano and gyms in McKinney, and local services are on the Allen city page.