More Than Muscle
Location and range of services gives new Yorkville CrossFit gym a competitive edge
During meetings related to his other ventures, Dr. Sheldon Levy can look past his business-attired clients and their drab PowerPoints, through a glass wall, and see the rig for his latest project, CrossFit YKV.
This bright, 6,000-square-foot gym spreads over three levels, sitting in plain view on the corner of Avenue and Davenport Rds. (Levy’s office is tucked in a second-floor corner.) The location is geared to make those who work hard zip out to sweat hard.
Levy, a former physician who “landed in business,” works in venture capital and private equity. He also likes to stay fit. He met his future business partner, Blair Lyon, at the Adelaide Club in 2011.
Personal trainer Lyon’s workouts “changed me completely,” says Levy. “I had plateaued.” Lyon was not just a superb trainer, he was also entrepreneurial, and brought a CrossFit rig into the club. Levy was hooked right away on the often challenging and now very hot exercise system.
The two also became friends, and started talking about launching a CrossFit gym together about a year ago.
Levy had the general business experience. Lyon had been working as a general manager at gyms for 11 years, and had things such as scheduling and hiring well in hand.
They put this place together with a clear agenda: they wanted a central Yorkville location that would not rival suburban clubs in size, but would compensate by being well-rounded. “We wanted to give the whole package,” says Lyon. “We want to have it all.” That meant great coaches; a clean, bright space; new equipment from Rogue Fitness; and long hours, including lots of weekend classes. There are lockers and showers for both men and women, a mezzanine stocked with treadmills and rowing machines, and a personal training space in the basement that’s also kitted up with treatment rooms. Partnerships with the Barbell School (weightlifting) and Primal Function Health and Rehab (chiropractic) round out the services.
(The vowel-less YKV name is an invention made of necessity; there’s already a Yorkville CrossFit in Yorkville, Ind.)
As hoped, the range of services and community-building approach of YKV are already working, with nearby professionals and condo dwellers already regulars.
Sadly for the business partners starting a new venture, they often stare longingly at their new equipment, too busy to partake as much as they’d like to.
“We’ll get into a routine soon,” says Levy.
“I can see it on the horizon.”