Friends join forces to open independent gym in McHenry

Working at corporate gyms over the past decade, Jared Schnulle and Jonathan Yousif saw the good and the bad in them.

The bad parts are what the former high school classmates kept in mind as they developed a business plan for their new independent location, Battle Crew Gym. It is set to open June 21 at 1792 N. Richmond Road in McHenry.

At those national gym chains, members “are just a number,” Schnulle said – with the chains signing people up for memberships then hoping they never actually show up.

Then, at the busiest times, when those members want a workout, there is not enough equipment for everyone.

“At some of the places that I worked, there were lines for the equipment” at peak hours, Schnulle said.

That is why Battle Crew Gym will limit the number of memberships to adults age 18 and older, ensuring their clients won’t have to fight for time on equipment.

Schnulle understands that for some people, getting healthy at a gym can be a battle – hence the name. He battled for his own health starting in middle school, when he was diagnosed as borderline diabetic.

“I was a super overweight kid,” Schnulle said.

His doctor told him that he had to fix himself, and he did, first going to a gym with a friend, and later to a boxing gym with his brothers as the three of them got healthier together.

“In eighth grade, I started lifting with my brothers,” Schnulle said.

The change in just one year “was insane,” said Schnulle’s wife, Olivia Schnulle.

She will be helping with marketing, which she earned a degree in.

“I was so scared of being told I was borderline diabetic,” Jared Schnulle said. “That is the origin story of all of this. After I was able to start working out and gaining muscle, I saw this as a gift to help other people.”

One of the people he helped was Yousif. The two met in auto class at Cary-Grove High School, when Yousif asked Schnulle, “How do you make your back look like a V?”

Although Yousif was in club lacrosse, he didn’t hit the gym to build muscle.

“I asked to work out with Jared” to get that shape, Yousif said.

Since then, both have gotten certified as personal trainers, working in those corporate gyms and building clients and their knowledge of running a workout gym.

Once they decided to go out on their own, they found a location at the McHenry Plaza on Richmond Road. They are in the process of taking what was a 13,000-square-foot Fashion Bug store – closed in 2013 – and repurposing it as a gym.

The center checkout counter remains, and the changing rooms for trying on clothes have been repurposed into changing rooms for their clients. The friends are working on getting workout class space ready, as well as a sauna and cold plunge tub.

The plans are to provide clients with a 24-hour gym, with cameras to protect clients and access allowed via a phone app.

“We are going to know each person who walks in that door and their birthdays. We are going to be a welcoming environment, not a corporate franchise. We want to build a community here,” Yousif said. “We want everyone to be comfortable.”