Family fitness: Couple, son take over Marshall gym with focus on inclusivity
Published 5:44 am Thursday, December 11, 2025
The new owners of a Marshall gym have brought a family atmosphere and a focus on making the facility “more family and women-oriented.”
Becky and Doug Dotson, along with their son, Chase, bought Legacy Gym – previously Alpha X – when it became for sale earlier this year.
They said they decided to change the name to signal a more inclusive facility that welcomes anyone to start his or her fitness journey.
“Our goal coming in, for me, was to soften it up so that more women would feel better coming in here,” Becky said about the name change.
Doug said he used to train in the gym with his two sons when it was still called Alpha X.
He said the family wants to create a supportive fitness community.
“We are extremely focused on our membership and how they’re doing. We know most of them on a first-name basis,” he said. “We get to know them. We want them to know we care and make sure everything’s OK.”
The decision to buy the gym felt right for the couple, they said.
“We’ve always wanted to have something of our own,” Becky said. “I really enjoy the communication I get to have with the members and the people that come in, and then when you see them out in public, the clients are excited to see you. They like to know the owners, and we make ourselves very open to them.”
Legacy Gym is a 4,500-square-foot facility that gives members 24-hour access with a key card. Regular membership rates are $40 a month with a one-time registration fee of $20. Discounts also are available
“When you come in here and sit down and talk to Becky, she’s going to work hard to find you a discount,” Doug said. “That’s what she does. Because we give tremendous discounts to students, teachers, coaches, health care workers, military, first responders.”
The Dotsons said they pride themselves in creating an old-school gym atmosphere at their business.
Their gym focuses on weight training with a variety of machines so members don’t have to wait for a turn at different stations.
“We concentrate on all the free weights and machines,” Doug said. “You come in here and you’ve got probably half a dozen choices when you walk in the door of how to approach (your specific workout) and how to do it and how to do it properly.”
The couple said they already have doubled their membership expectations since they took over in February.
“I just want people to come in, get healthy and feel good to do it,” Doug said.
Becky and Doug said they also are excited to be part of the business community in Marshall and to see where Legacy Gym takes them.
“We both like the fact that we are running a business in Marshall and helping the community. We love Marshall, we love the surrounding area, Harrison County, and we’ve just been a big part of it for a long time,” Doug said. “And this, like I said, it just fits. It suits us, and it’s a really exciting opportunity for sure.”
The gym is at 2520 S. Washington Ave. For information, call (903) 702-8126.
