Fitness Gym Review: My House Fitness in Plano

The questions I’m asked most often is, “What is your favorite type of workout”? My answer is always going to be strength or high intensity workouts. I can’t get enough of it. Being Deep Fried Fit, I need efficient workouts so I can go eat more. When I learned My House Fitness, a boutique gym, opened near Frisco and wanted to work with me, I couldn’t say no.

My House Fitness is a franchise from Florida and franchise owner Bud Terrell opened Texas’ first location in February. This boutique gym offers a more personable approach to fitness. Unlike big box gym memberships, My House Fitness offers a space for private personal training, small group training, and group fitness classes with personal trainers.

How It Works: To check out the gym, you can purchase one of their personal training or small group training packages or get a monthly membership. Family plans are also offered. It’s not an open gym where a person can come in anytime they want, and workout by themselves. Their packages offer a combination of workouts, wellness assessments, nutrition and even meal planning plans.

They also offer a handful of group fitness classes, if one-on-one isn’t your thing. Single classes are $20 and range from 45-60min gut buster classes and it becomes cheaper if you purchase multiple class packs.

My Experience: After doing so many group fitness classes, I was in need of a change. Doing more strength exercises and lifting weights was a refreshing change of pace. I enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere and was able to just focus on my one-on-one workout with my trainer. I also had fun bringing in friends for small group training sessions. I loved that the trainer was able to modify the workout to accommodate a group of us and definitely making us all sweat.

The Space: It’s brand spankin’ new. There are two entrances to this gym. The front is very unobtrusive and the lobby blocks the view into the gym, giving members more privacy from passerby’s. The back entrance isn’t very disruptive, but I do like that it lets in more sunlight. It’s also easy access to the back parking lot. Tons of space back there for outside workouts.

The Sessions: Each session is only 30 minutes. It’s recommended to come in about 15 beforehand to warm up on the treadmills so that you can make the most of your 30 minute sessions. The trainers like making you do compound workouts, or movements that work 2 or more muscle groups. Think lunging with a bicep curl or a squat to overhead press. It’s meant to be efficient. There gym offers all the basic equipment you’ll need for almost any workout. From dumbbells, cable machines, medicine balls, boxing gloves, and more. I’d love to see more variety.

The Trainers: There are currently four instructors, 2 men and 2 women. I had the pleasure of working out with Nick and Mark. Nick has a very cheerful demeanor with some great circuits and movements I enjoyed. I really had fun with Mark for the small group classes. After a long day, I need to vibe off of someone else’s high energy to get me going. Plus, he genuinely has fun kicking my butt.

Favorite: I loved that each workout, whether it was a solo workout or with friends, was different. I crave creative challenging workouts that are also fun. I need the small distraction. I also appreciated Mark’s attentiveness. I had one of those days, where the energy wasn’t there. Before I even realized it, he called an audible and changed the workout from the usual weights with lunges and squats and took me through a boxing circuit to get me moving while having fun. I also LOVE the area. It’s nearby plenty of restaurants, with a decent amount of healthy options nearby.

Feedback: The general feedback from my guests is wanting longer sessions. Forty-five minutes would be great for small groups. I can see 30 min one-on-ones being more feasible with less rest time in between sets. But with groups of 2 or more, it can easily go over if everyone is not on the same level and/or more breaks are needed in between. I would like to see packages/options for longer individual workouts, perhaps 30 minute sessions and 60 minute sessions. The shorter sessions may be great for people who are in a hurry or have never trained before, but personally, I don’t mind putting in more time. They did inform me that you can customize packages too. So that’s an option if you want more in time in the gym.

Difficulty Level: With one-on-one training, it’s going to be created for your fitness level. With friends, it’ll push you to work harder, especially if the exercise is meant to be done as a team. It may only be 30 minutes, but it’s a very productive 30 minutes.

FYI/Costs/Parking: Parking is plentiful. It’s right off Headquarters and Preston, next to the Matador. Sweat towels are provided, and there’s a fountain to refill your water bottles. The gym is very clean and the trainers are good about tidying up and sanitizing the equipment. I’d definitely recommend coming in 15 minutes earlier to get in your warm up to make the most of your session. Pricing for training starts at $99 for newbies. When you break it down, the cost per 30 minute session depends on the package (whether it’s 1:1, group or family) and frequency per week.  The cost per session varies from $24/person/session for family, $30/person/session for group, and $40/person/session for 1:1 (these are all 2x per week, and the 3x per week is less per session).

Below are the specials they’re having:

• TNT Program – $99 special for one month of group training (2x per week)
• Starting May 2nd kicks off the 21 day drop a dress size challenge – three intense weeks of training to jump start ahead of vacation season ($99 – one group personal training per week, unlimited classes, meal plans, and fitness plans to do at home).
• Get prepared meals from celebrity chef Tre Wilcox (as seen on Chopped, Top Chef). His new concept is right next door to My House Fitness. How cool is that?!

The Takeaway: There aren’t many boutique gyms that offer what My House Fitness does. I’m a huge advocate for more strength training and weight lifting. Most of the classes I take are more cardio based or low weights with high reps. I come into places like this and want to become stronger. Their goal is to make the experience less intimidating, more personable, and to provide accountability with great trainers. The focus is on personal training (whether in a group or solo), so as a member you aren’t treated as number or a way to meet a quota at the end of the month.

My House Fitness is still new and they are open to collaborating with nearby businesses and open to feedback. Can’t wait to see where they are further down the line.