After a year of training through the CrossFit program, Jennifer Murzyn, a former chiropractor, decided to open her own facility offering the specialized fitness concept to the South Side’s booming population of young people looking to challenge themselves.
In 2010, the new CrossFit Athletics opened in a 1,800-square-foot space. Ms. Murzyn and her partner Gabriel Trbovich thought that would give them enough room to run classes and let people work out independently on machines.
Pretty quickly, it wasn’t. Two years later, they expanded to another, 5,000-square-foot facility.
Then, last May, they went really big — 21,000 square feet in the former Duquesne Brewing Co. plant on the South Side. With a massive interior, almost like an underground cavern, the space holds not only the gym’s equipment but an enormous amount of open area for classes.
“Each time we grew out of each space, it limited the numbers of members we could fit in these locations. Therefore, we just kept expanding onward,” said Mr. Trbovich, co-owner and vice president of the South Side location.
Ms. Murzyn, the facility’s president, had heard about the CrossFit program from one of her mentors. She decided to apply for an affiliate program.
“You apply for an affiliate license, fill out an application, and then [CrossFit] notifies you whether they approve the app or not,” Ms. Murzyn said. “It’s kind of a franchise, but there aren’t that many restrictions on what you can do, so you’re sort of your own entity.”
Based in Washington, D.C., CrossFit has more than 7,000 affiliated gyms in the U.S.
While someone from the CrossFit franchise checks on the gym every so often, Ms. Murzyn and Mr. Trbovich independently plan the business’ future.
“One thing that’s difficult is that, with the affiliate models, it’s not really a franchise,” Mr. Trbovich said. “So when things need to grow, Jen and I are making it up. There’s not like, ‘Hey, there’s someone above us to help out from Step A to Step B.’ We’re mostly on our own.”
At its current location, the franchise has just under 200 regular members.
“People want aesthetic change in their body, either losing body fat or increasing lean muscle mass,” Mr. Trbovich said.
New members go through a two-week foundation program, followed by a free consultation with a trainer. During the consultation, the two sit down and talk about personal goals, as well as the details of when to rest and train. Afterward, the member can attend any number of classes for the rest of the first month.
Membership fees range anywhere from $150 to $175 per month, depending on the contract members signs at the beginning of their training.
To create an intimate feel of a workout, the facility maintains a ratio of 1 coach to 10 athletes per training session.
“I think that the main thing we do differently from the competition is to try to help people understand what they want to take away from their fitness, and try to help them along that journey, dependent on what they’re looking for, instead of forcing a mold on them,” said Mr. Trbovich.
At the 21,000-square-foot facility, the gym holds enough space to have three separate classes running simultaneously, each with a coach dedicated to that class.
“We’ve had some good problems, like growing out of space. Obviously, when you make a jump to a larger facility, costs rise slightly,” Mr. Trbovich said. “But our prices are still typical for most training gyms.”
A product of the neighborhood demographic, the majority of trainees at the South Side location range from their 20s to their early 30s.
Ms. Murzyn said the facility brings in a chiropractor two days a week, and they hope to offer a massage therapist in the future.
“Obviously, we haven’t done everything perfectly … it’s more trial and error,” Mr. Trbovich said. We don’t know what will exactly work, but we’re just going to try it.”
First Published: May 25, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
