Lake View CrossFit Gym Expands to Lincoln Square

Noal DuBois used to be fat.

He was overweight and depressed until high school, when a combination of dieting and martial arts put him on a healthier path.

In 2009, he discovered CrossFit, a new type of exercise that combines long-term strength and conditioning with group personal training.

That interest led to a career and now, DuBois is using his energy to help others. 

DuBois, 31, along with partner David Sutor, 34, is opening a CrossFit gym in Lincoln Square, at 2750 W. Lawrence Ave.

The facility will be the second location of CrossFit Defined, which the two started in 2011 with 10 members at a 2,000 square-foot location on Southport Avenue. In April, DuBois and Sutor moved the gym to 1235 W. Belmont Ave. for a bigger space.

Now, that location is at capacity with 400 members.

“We needed a bigger place and now we found a building that’s going to sustain us forever,” DuBois said. “I liked the neighborhood small-town feel of Lincoln Square, it reminded us of Southport when we first started.”

The new 9,000-square-foot building is three times bigger than the Lake View location. It’ll have all new equipment, changing rooms, retail room and body spa. The spa DuBois plans to rent to masseuses, an acupuncturist or physical therapist.

The owners were originally looking at a March opening date, but because of delays with city permitting, it’s now scheduled for May 1.

DuBois described getting the city’s OK as, “awful,” sometimes waiting weeks to hear back on permits.

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What is CrossFit?

“It’s scary, it’s intimidating, but it’s for everyone,” DuBois said.

The most common people who join CrossFit are people that aren't sure what to do in a gym, want to lose weight or were athletes in high school or college, he said.

Unlike most fitness gyms, a person can’t walk off the street and join a class. Members of CrossFit Defined must do a nine-session, 3-week Onramp program that leads up to the regular workouts. During that time, coaches get to know members and build from a zero conditioning level to a CrossFit workout.

The first Onramp in the new Lincoln Square location is almost full and another 100 people have expressed interested once the gym opens, DuBois said.

Workouts change from day to day, but every one is scalable for different strengths. Each session works the entire body and combines techniques from gymnastics, kettle bells, lifting and endurance. There aren’t a lot of machines, mainly barbells and exercises that use a person’s body weight as resistance.

Aside from the regular workouts, the CrossFit offers specialty classes. Those include variations of yoga, running, boxing and Olympic lifting cross training.

The cross training is what drew Cara Sabin to CrossFit. Sabin is a dancer with The Seldoms, a Chicago-based contemporary dance company. As she got more involved in the workouts, Sabin expressed interest in coaching and now works full time at the gym.

“You don’t just show up to teach a class after your full-time job, this is my job,” she said. “It’s similar to dance in that it constantly asks you to push yourself.”

Aside from personal fitness, Sabin said she likes seeing the change in people she works with. While teaching an Onramp class, she spotted someone who took to the workouts right away.

In four months, he lost 60 pounds and now also works as a coach at the gym, she said.

The personal connection comes with a price; DuBois said that CrossFit is more expensive than a average gym.

His membership ranges from $175 to $195 a month. The Lincoln Square location will start off at a lower rate, $159 to $175 a month, with discounts for teachers, students police and firefighters.

“It’s more expensive than a gym, but people budget for it,” DuBois said. “Coaches get involved with the athletes.”

If someone is gone for a week, they’ll get an email or call from a coach. Members can ask nutrition questions, or even talk about job stress.

That’s what DuBois said he likes the most, helping people lose emotional weight, as well as physical pounds.

“If you’ve ever been obese, it never goes away,” he said. “Feeling that, I felt like I needed to help other people.”

Like Lincoln Square, CrossFit Defined aims for a sense of community. DuBois said the gym does multiple fundraisers a year, with their last raising $25,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project.