Johnsburg native's business named McDonald's corporate fitness provider

JOHNSBURG – Chris Leathers has been running Your World Fitness in Spring Grove for the past six years. The 29-year-old Johnsburg native has trained pro athletes, including NFL players C.J. Fiedorowicz and Mike Liedtke, at his gym.

Now, he has landed an even bigger client: McDonald’s. Leathers recently closed a deal that will make Your World Fitness the official corporate fitness provider of 22 McDonald’s distribution centers by the end of the year.

“What I did is I created a corporate fitness business model that’s very unique and based on performance,” Leathers said. “And what I do is I save companies millions of dollars through my corporate fitness model.”

Leathers’ plan is customized to each employee, and plans fluctuate based on business performance.

“We do custom training for all employees, we have a registered dietitian do custom diet plans. We also have licensed massage therapists and licensed physical therapists,” Leathers said. “It saves [companies] millions of dollars, it boosts morale, and it gets people excited. We’ve been extremely successful with it.”

Leathers first started working with McDonald’s about a year ago, when it allowed him to implement what he calls a “corporate fitness business model” at two distribution offices in Chicago and Whitewater, Wisconsin. Leathers said his new deal will bring Your World Fitness’s plan to distribution centers around the world.

“I went in and did such a good job at their two facilities that we’re now going to be implemented at 20 other distribution centers,” Leathers said.

Rather than traveling to faraway distribution centers, Leathers will run online training sessions for the employees.

“I also have technology that allows me to host live, free online training,” Leathers said. “What this technology allows me to do is to be anywhere on earth, you, the consumer can be anywhere on earth. … I see you, and you can see me. So that’s a pretty cool aspect. And that’s how I’m able to train almost 1,000 people per day, is through this technology and with my schedule.”

Your World Fitness has 27 employees, so along with teaching online fitness classes and helping general manager Christine Alvarado with business transactions, Leathers also personally trains some clients, including Fiedorowicz and Liedtke. While training, Fiedorowicz gave Leathers what he said was “the best compliment I’ve ever gotten, ever.”

“[Fiedorowicz] and Liedtke, these guys work 80 to 100 hours per week when they’re in the league,” Leathers said. “When C.J. said, ‘Chris, your work ethic is disgusting,’ … that’s coming from a guy whose standards are really high.”

Leathers’ plans for the future include continuing to expand both his fitness center in Spring Grove and his corporate fitness business, as well as the overall “lifestyle brand” of Your World Fitness.

“I think the fact that I’m qualified to run corporate fitness programs for Fortune 500 companies, I think that qualifies me to train just people,” Leathers said. “Training’s expensive, and you want to make sure you spend your money with someone who’s certified, and insured, and qualified.

“I just think it looks really good on a resumé that my team and I run corporate fitness programs for some of the biggest companies in the world. And we also run corporate fitness programs for a lot of smaller companies. … It’s a unique corporate fitness business model that’s based on performance. And we can make it work on any scale.”