Little Elm gyms

The Texas Health Spa Act treats any business selling memberships for exercise instruction or the use of exercise facilities as a "health spa". That is most gyms. The Act leaves out tax-exempt nonprofits, member-owned private clubs, studios teaching only dance or aerobics, rehab providers, state-licensed activities, school programs and government hospitals and clinics.

A covered gym needs an operator's certificate of registration from the Secretary of State for each location before it can sell a single membership (SOS health spas). Two ways to check one in Little Elm:

• The SOS online health spa search, which also shows whether the gym has posted security.
• The SOS PDF of registered locations, refreshed every Wednesday.

At the front desk, the certificate should be posted where you can see it, and your contract must carry the same number. Registration costs the gym $100 and lasts one year, so ask about a certificate that looks out of date.

Start with national figures, then ask each Little Elm gym for its own. Fixr puts a basic membership at $15 to $40 a month and better-equipped gyms at $50 to $100 (January 2025), and Statista, via Forbes Health, put the 2021 US average at $28.58 a month in a range of about $10 to $300.

The monthly rate is only part of it. Ask for the initiation fee, any annual fee and the total over the full term in writing. Texas caps a gym contract at three years, and a financed one may not require payments for more than five. The Texas gyms guide covers the rest of the Act.

The first three business days. A certified letter to the gym's home office, with proof of payment, postmarked by midnight of the third business day after the contract date, entitles you to a full refund within 30 days. The contract must print that right in conspicuous 10-point type.

If the gym closes or moves. It has to post notice inside and outside each entrance at least 30 days ahead and tell the Secretary of State; that notice isn't required after a fire, flood or act of God. You can cancel for a partial refund if it closes without offering facilities within 10 miles, moves farther than 10 miles, or stops providing advertised services. If a closed gym posted security, members can claim against it by mailing their contract and proof of payment to the SOS within 90 days of the closure notice appearing on its website.

Problems. The SOS registers gyms but doesn't police how they do business; so a dispute with a Little Elm gym belongs with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, (800) 621-0508.

Pair a membership with a checkup at one of the Little Elm dentists, see the Little Elm hub for town services, or compare gyms in Prosper to the north.