By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

For two decades, Wild Basin Fitness has been more than a place to work out in Steiner Ranch. It has become a neighborhood gathering spot where longtime members know one another by name — and, occasionally, where a workout leads to a love story.

“I just think the relationships here are just so deeply rooted, and it’s a family,” said owner and trainer Julie Leavell. “When I try to explain this gym, I call it ‘Cheers.’ Everybody knows your name.”

Leavell and her late husband, Kirk, opened the Steiner Ranch location about a decade after launching Wild Basin Westlake. As Steiner Ranch’s commercial property began developing in the early 2000s, Kirk saw an opportunity to bring a fitness center to their own neighborhood — a place to exercise and connect with neighbors.

For general manager and trainer Ryan Helms, the Wild Basin community changed his life forever. 

During the gym’s first year in business, an accomplished 30-year-old named Holly Carey joined. It was 2007 and she just bought a house in Steiner after her first medical residency.  

“What single people live in Steiner, right?” Holly recalled. A self-described night owl, she worked out on the treadmill every night, while Helms was always at the gym in the morning. The gym’s staff intervened a bit and started to talk to both of them about each other. Helms eventually called and offered Holly two free training sessions.

“I thought it was a boot camp. It was not a boot camp,” Holly said with a laugh. It was a private training session, and she was falling for her trainer.

“Then he said something that made my heart drop,” Holly remembered. “He said, ‘I can’t train you anymore.’ And I almost cried, and then he said, ‘Because I want to date you.’”

And that they did. They even maintained a long-distance relationship between Dallas and Austin for three years while Holly was finishing her second medical residency. They married the week after she graduated in 2011. Today, they have two sons, Luke, 12, and Henry, 10.

Owner Leavell said that same sense of connection has endured at Wild Basin. At least six or seven founding members are still working out at the gym. Longtime instructors and front-desk staff who care about the neighborhood help maintain the welcoming atmosphere.

For people who work from home, Wild Basin provides another benefit: a reason to get out of the house and connect with neighbors.Its setting with large windows make members feel as though they are exercising outdoors.

After 20 years, the friendships — and one family that began with two free training sessions — remain part of Wild Basin’s story.

“We’re all family,” Leavell said. “It’s a great neighborhood gym.”