Gym news

Check out 4 state-of-the-art fitness centers newly opened in Dallas

Pilates

Photo courtesy of O2 Dallas

As summer approaches and the weather gets too hot to workout outdoors, Dallas is seeing an influx of new gyms vying for your attention — and membership fees. Whether you’re looking to get your "summer body" ready (insert eye roll) or just wanting to feel stronger and healthier in whatever body you exist in, these four new state-of-the-art fitness centers have recently opened or are about to open in the Dallas area.

Alive and Well
Wellness center from Austin will open an 8,500-square-foot integrative wellness center in early May at The Terminal at Katy Trail at 4205 Buena Vista St., taking up the majority of the condominium complex’s second floor. The center will offer a range of integrative wellness and functional medicine services, such as cold plunges, intramuscular shots, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and a meditation dome.

Membership fees run from $150 to $400 per month, depending on how many services you use.

Alive and Well has two other locations in Austin and Boulder, Colorado. The company was founded by Michael and Liz Swail; Michael is a former Wall Street investment banker, and Liz has a history of chronic pain and fatigue that inspired her to pursue a path in holistic healthcare.

02 Dallas
Wellness, yoga, and pilates studio from Aspen is opening a location this spring, also at The Terminal at Katy Trail. The Dallas studio will offer a variety of fitness classes, including power yoga, vinyasa, hot mat pilates, yoga sculpting, stretch and meditation, sound healing, and power pilates. O2 Dallas will partner with beauty brand Knockout Beauty to provide skincare and holistic wellness services, and it will also offer spa treatments such as massages, waxing, and spray tans.

Class prices start at $38 for a single yoga class to $55 for a pilates class, to monthly memberships starting at $225.

O2 Life was founded by Brittany Van Domelen, who wanted to create a “transformative” brand that caters to all aspects of holistic well-being, including the mind, body, and spirit.

Life Time
Health club chain will open a new 109,000-square-foot facility in late April in Las Colinas at 7320 N. State Hwy. 161. It will feature state-of-the-art amenities, including an expansive workout floor, indoor and outdoor pools with a water slide, a kids academy, pickleball courts, a cafe restaurant, and spa.

Life Time was founded in Minnesota in 1992 by Bahram Akradi, who wanted to redefine the fitness industry by improving the customer experience. Membership fees run about $200 a month, although they differ slightly from location to location. The Las Colinas club is the company’s 33rd location in Texas and 14th in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Solidcore
Pilates-inspired chain opened a new studio April 20 in Addison at 5455 Belt Line Rd. #120. Solidcore is a high-intensity, low-impact, full-body workout on a pilates-inspired reformer that uses slow and controlled movements designed to break down muscles so they build back stronger. Class sizes are small so each participant gets individualized attention; the Addison studio will allow a maximum of 19 clients per class.

The company was founded in 2013 in Washington, D.C. and has locations across several states. Fees run about $15 to $30 per class, with various package deals that help lower the price. The Addison studio is their third in the Dallas area, in addition to locations in Knox Heights and Preston Hollow.

Hottest Headlines of 2025

The top 10 stories that defined city life in Dallas in 2025

Southern Methodist University class of 2029

SMU/Facebook

Southern Methodist University is the 103rd best college nationwide, and it ranked No. 5 in Texas, Forbes says.

Editor's note: Stories about city life were some of our most-read headlines of the year in Dallas. Readers devoured stories about suburbs, schools, and transportation, curious to see what made the best-of cut for scores of rankings. And, of course, we all needed to check in with the world's richest people and see which ones live in Texas.

Here's a look back at the most-read Dallas city life stories of 2025:

1. 5 Dallas high schools rank among America's best in 2025, per U.S. News. Five prestigious Dallas-area high schools are living up to their reputations for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings.

2. 27 Dallas billionaires land on new Forbes list of world's richest people. More billionaires have made it onto the 2025 World's Billionaires List than ever before, according to Forbes. This year, 27 Dallas billionaires are among the richest people in the world, including Elaine Marshall, Lyndal Stephens Greth, and Jerry Jones.

3. Techy Dallas suburb is No. 1 hot spot for remote workers in U.S. A SmartAsset survey of cities with the biggest remote workforces has revealed Frisco is the No. 1 city with the highest share of remote workers in the nation. The study found over 40,000 Frisco residents work from home, which is more than a third of all of the city's workers aged 16 and older (117,193 total workers).

Person working from home Working from home comes with its own challenges, like picking which part of the couch to work from. Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

4. 3 affluent Dallas neighbors dominate new list of wealthiest U.S. suburbs. Three well-to-do Dallas-area communities — University Park, Southlake, and Colleyville — are among the wealthiest suburbs in America in 2025, a report confirmed. The three affluent Dallas neighbors were lauded in GoBankingRates ranking of the 50 wealthiest U.S. suburbs, based on 2022 and 2023 average household income data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.

5. 4 Dallas-area universities make 2026 list of world’s best schools. The University of Texas at Dallas, University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, and University of Texas at Arlington are among the top 1,200 schools included in the QS World University Rankings 2026. The Princeton Review agreed, also naming SMU, UTD, TCU, and University of Dallas to its best-in-the-U.S. list, while Forbes named six DFW universities to its list of America's top colleges.

6. 11 cities around Dallas make list of best places to live in the U.S. Nearly a dozen Dallas suburbs, including perennial favorite Flower Mound, have landed among the best places to live in 2025, according to U.S. News & World Report.

7. Dallas middle school ranks No. 1 in Texas for 2026, per U.S. News. More than a dozen Dallas-Fort Worth elementary and middle schools have excelled on U.S. News and World Report's just-released list of the best K-8 schools in Texas for 2026, with one that's first in class: The No. 1 best middle school in Texas is Dallas ISD's William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted.

8. North Dallas suburb lauded as 5th best U.S. city for working parents. Frisco already has a reputation as a great place for families and a top spot for remote workers, so it's no surprise that the city has clocked in as one of the best places in the country for working parents, too.

Frisco Frisco ranked No. 5 nationwide in a 2025 study. Visit Frisco/Facebook

9. City of Dallas to put a pause on curbside trash collection issue. In October, the city of Dallas put the curbside trash collection debate on hold. According to a release, the Sanitation Department temporarily paused implementation of an alley-to-curb program that was approved, in order to evaluate additional options for continuing alley service where residents strongly prefer it.

10. Dallas suburb proclaimed 8th best U.S. city to drive in, per report. Dallas roadways are no picnic, but in one neighboring town, it's easy street: A report by WalletHub puts none other than Plano on its list of the top 10 best U.S. cities to drive in for 2025.