You know the feeling. Nothing beats a great workout. Whether you get your heart racing with yoga, cardio, or weightlifting, many of us want to feel our best in today’s health-conscious world. In fact, in 2003, roughly one out of every five Americans had a fitness club membership, according to a study from U.S. Health & Fitness Consumer Report.

In Chicago’s Roscoe Park neighborhood, there is a boutique gym with a mission to transform how people approach their fitness journey. Ethos Training Systems, co-owned by Tim Cohen and Cory Lester, distinguishes itself with a holistic approach that nurtures the mind and the body.

“Our clients and our team really lean into making sure that people are cared for at a higher level,” noted Cory. “It’s not only when it comes to getting strong and getting fit, but also from the mental perspective and making sure that they feel safe emotionally and feel confident when they walk out into the world away from this place.”

“It’s also designed to make you want to come back the next day,” interjected Tim with a laugh. “There are a lot of fitness businesses that now run people into the ground. They (customers) are so sore when they wake up the next morning that they can’t imagine coming back the next day. We don’t want to be that kind of business. You’ll see former college athletes that just graduated a couple of years ago to 70-year-old people in our classes. So, accessibility and sustainability are a big part of what we do.”

Cory explained that he believes people are not taking care of their health in a way they should, and he wants Ethos to shift views about fitness for their body and mind.

“We did make a conscious effort to be different here and create a space that speaks differently to people than what they’ve seen in the past,” said Cory. “We talk about Ethos being a vessel to help people understand their potential. I think that people don’t necessarily understand everything that they’re capable of, and they need people to be a third party and another set of eyes to not only see that, but to explain it to them and show it to them.”

Tim then explained how the name of this business, Ethos Training Systems, fits perfectly into the fresh perspective of this brick and mortar that strives to elevate clients and community.

“Ethos is a representation of one’s character, beliefs and ethics, and especially as a business responsible for taking care of the people who walk through the doors,” explained Tim. “That was a really strong word that connected with our ideals for wanting to change the communities around us in the first place.”

Building the dream one workout at a time

Ethos launched as an answer to a void that Tim and Cory identified in the fitness industry.

Cory, a former college wrestler at The University of Michigan, spent years as an elite athlete with a lifestyle aligned with rigorous exercise. After moving to Chicago after college, Cory said he found himself struggling to reignite that fitness fire in a conventional big-box gym.

“I was having honestly a hard time feeling that level of passion that I had always found and loved about training,” Cory conceded, while noting his mindset changed when he discovered the tight-knit fitness community at Ethos, which was originally located closer to downtown Chicago in the River North in a 4,000 square foot basement.

Tim, already a seasoned trainer, had worked with Cory’s sister before teaming up at Ethos. When Cory joined Ethos as a founding member, their connection deepened.

“When Ethos opened, Cory was one of our founding members. He became a part of our kind of cultish 5 a.m. class following, who was here every day,” said Tim as he looked over at Cory. “We just started to connect more about our past histories and passion for training.  I felt the community had become strong and Cory was looking for a little more community in his life. We started to talk about what it could look like to grow the original Ethos space into something larger, with bigger community impact.”

“The original Ethos was a small community, but it was a community that I loved,” recalled Cory. “As Tim said, I would work out at 5 a.m. and then I would sit at my desk all day, and find myself sitting there waiting for 5 a.m. to come back around. I just couldn’t stop thinking about ways that we could expand the impact.”

Cory said Ethos inspired him to approach Tim with an idea for a bigger and elevated club, with integrated co-working spaces, recovery clinics, and personalized training.

“I reached out to Tim and dropped this idea about opening this place and expanding what we do at Ethos,” said Cory with excitement in his voice.

Tim said he realized Cory’s vision of a reimagined Ethos was in line with his own aspirations.

“Ethos was a small business coming up on its five years, at its current lease. I had to make a decision as a business owner,” explained Tim. “We had just gone through two years of COVID, and that was a really difficult time. So, to think about taking on a new partner and a new business venture again was really a little daunting. I always felt that this is easier to do with a team.”

“We realized that there were injuries that were not being taken care of for individuals. People didn’t have the contact with coaches that they wanted to have. Fitness became such a big business that there were just quick ways to get it done. We felt that the best way to get people to talk about their goals, to talk about how they wanted to feel in the gym was lacking, and we wanted to give them a space to do that, and it was something that we were really passionate about doing.”

Together, Cory and Tim reintroduced Ethos in 2024 as a holistic hub where fitness, recovery, and innovation intersected. The facility features group and private training, a co-working space, a 12-person dry sauna, three cold plunges, locker rooms, showers, a retail shop with Ethos gear and healthy snacks, massage therapy, physical therapy and a treatment clinic with sports, acupuncture, and chiropractic medicine.

Healthy minds and bodies

Cory and Tim have built a space where training, recovery, and connection seamlessly blend together, creating an experience that keeps members coming back for more than just a workout.

“I think people like this community, because we offer good training,” said Tim. “At the end of the day, you have to have a solid core competency and as a retail business, we sell training to people.”

But Ethos is far from a transactional gym. Instead, Cory explains it is a place where members can spend a day training in the morning, recovering in the clinic, showering up, and then settling into office hours at the co-working space at Ethos.

“There’s definitely a lot of resources around, not only from a business perspective, but from a human perspective, too,” observed Cory about the vibe that permeates Ethos. “Having a community and people that truly care for one another here is something that’s super important to both of us.”

“People are different after a few months of being part of this business and community,” Cory added. “They carry themselves differently. They have smiles on their face that they didn’t have when they started here.”

Every member uses Ethos in their own way. Some clients are there daily, fully immersed in training, recovery, and co-working.

“For other people, it’s a stop once a week or once every other week,” explained Cory about how their clients use Ethos. “They come here and they leverage either what we have from a training perspective or from a treatment clinic perspective. ”

What truly sets Ethos apart from other fitness centers is its full body approach to fitness which is a dynamic that the team refers to as integration.

“When we say integration, it’s really holistic care. There’s obviously training,” said Cory. “But we have a treatment clinic. You see our acupuncturist and then she refers you ten feet away to our training space, and to a trainer that she works closely with. It allows for this setting of holistic care where people are really looking out for your best interests. I think that that’s something that kind of differentiates us here.”

It’s okay to not have an answer

When asked what advice they would give to someone launching their own brick and mortar venture, Cory and Tim emphasized a crucial point about small business.

“You need to be okay with the fact that you’re not going to know everything. Life will unfold and give you the answers that you need if you continue to press on,” said Tim with confidence. “Don’t waste the psychological time thinking that you have all the answers.”

“As badly as you want it to be this not a seamless process, where everything just falls into place beautifully, like dominoes, it doesn’t happen that way,” chuckled Cory. “You have to be accepting of the fact that when something doesn’t go right, you gotta pivot and try to make the best of every given situation. It’s this unique blend between being stubborn and being flexible and adaptable.”

It’s the Ethos way

Cory and Tim say they share a vision that Ethos can transform lives. For them, good business does not hyper focus on dollars and cents but providing foundation for wellness in the community.

“We sell community. We sell connection to other individuals. We sell smiles,” said Tim with a warm grin. “Truthfully, this is a place where people come in at all different times of the day and they come in and all different moods and energies. We sell attention, awareness and a place for people to be seen, felt and heard.”

“Maybe the dollars and cents is what allows us to build a foundation to
continue and expand and move toward the future,” described Cory about what he loves most about the business. “But the level of care that we bring, and the impact we have on people through those sales, is really what it’s about here.”