Youthful Weslaco entrepreneur Juan San Miguel knew it would take a fierce determination when seeking to start his own business.
“I had to do my best to make it impossible to say no,” he said, recalling the days of needing startup capital.
San Miguel’s ambition was to own and run his own gym. Sitting behind his desk, he smiles and recounts how he went from the framework of an idea to a Mid-Valley gym that today has hundreds of members. Top Gym is a popular spot along Expressway 83 for area residents and commuters alike.
San Miguel’s gym is an ideal Valley midpoint to stop for a workout. It was a different story over five years ago when San Miguel found an abandoned 14,000-square-foot building near the Mercedes/Weslaco boundary line and knew it was the spot to open a gym. Now he needed the funds to make his vision a reality. San Miguel went before the board of the Mercedes Economic Development Corporation to seek the startup capital he needed.
“I stood there and I was really nervous,” he said in recalling his sales pitch.
It worked. San Miguel got the startup loan he needed.
“I thought, OK, I made it this far. Let’s open,” he said.
Overcoming Early Challenges
San Miguel had the concept of a business before he had anything to go with it.
He traveled to Florida seven years ago with his father to purchase gym equipment at an auction. On the trip home, he recalled his father saying, “I know just the place,” as they talked about where to locate San Miguel’s would-be business. The location was at 3039 W. Expressway 83 in Mercedes, just east of FM 1015 in Weslaco. The building’s owner was McAllen businessman Hasmukh Patel, who took a liking to San Miguel.
Acting as a mentor, the elder business owner encouraged the young entrepreneur to pursue his dreams and ambitions. Patel’s patience and guidance, when combined with the much-needed loan from the Mercedes EDC, got a gym bearing the Top Gym in 2019. Then another obstacle emerged and it came out of nowhere.
“COVID hit and we had limits on when we could be open and how many people were allowed in the building,” San Miguel recalled of the first half of 2020.
San Miguel was still renovating his building at the time. The challenge of those circumstances did not shake his faith or confidence in what he set out to do. San Miguel always knew what he wanted in a gym. The Top Gym website describes it as “a no-nonsense training environment for those who really want results.”
“No group classes, just raw, intense workouts and a community that pushes you to be your best,” the website description continues to say.
Paying Off The Loan
San Miguel’s big picture goal was to make Top Gym a go-to destination for serious lifters and athletes in the Mid-Valley.
San Miguel has a staff of coaches to offer customers insights and advice. Quickly fixing broken equipment and seeking and following through on customers suggestions are core Top Gym values. There are also two sauna rooms and a spacious store area up front that’s stocked with lots of merchandise.
And that loan secured from the EDC years ago? San Miguel as a now 28-years-old businessman paid that note off in mid-2025. There are new customers who find it hard to believe that he owns the gym given his youthful appearance. But he does and San Miguel is eyeing possible locations for a second gym in the Edinburg/McAllen area. He says there’s always the pursuit to improve and build up from where you are.
“The gap between good and great is getting better at small details,” he said. “People remember how you make them feel.”