Our story.
Gym in Chicago & Lemont, IL
Jaguar was founded in 2019 on Matt Powles’ belief that you shouldn’t have to choose between the grit of CrossFit and the science of strength & conditioning. Today that idea powers two gyms, in Chicago and Lemont, and every class we coach.
Meet your coaches at Jaguar Strength & Conditioning
Every coach at Jaguar is a competent athlete who can perform what they teach and correct technique at every level, from a first-ever squat to advanced skill work. Nobody here gets handed a program to read off. From your first session, your coaches are learning how you move and what you’re working toward, then coaching you accordingly.
I’m Matt, the owner (with my wife, Kayla Powles) and head trainer at Jag, the king of brutal jokes, and a self-proclaimed “New Age” CrossFit Coach. I found CrossFit in 2014, a time at which I was 100% meathead. I could bench 315, had some visible abs, had never done a set of squats in my life… but thought I was the fittest person alive. I walked into that gym thinking I would be amazing at this relatively new style of exercise, but fast forward 60minutes and I’d gotten steamrolled by the workout and everyone else in the class. It was right then that I realized what true fitness can be and that I wanted to chase it. As I progressed as an athlete I found that each year I spent more time nursing injuries and
more time stuck and not making progress towards my fitness goals. This sent me down every fitness rabbit hole I could in an effort to uncover what was missing from my CrossFit workout regimen. I read books, I took certifications, and I traveled all over the country learning the methodologies of everything from unconventional training, to sports performance, and traditional strength & conditioning. I founded Jag on the grounds of taking the science of the strength and conditioning industry and applying it to the grit and intensity found in CrossFit. I believe in working harder AND smarter and training with a purpose. I want to learn every single thing I can about the human body and how to make it better both for myself and all of our members.
Chris brings 20 years of weightlifting and sport performance experience and has been coaching athletes for 15. He’s a former nationally ranked powerlifter, a currently ranked competitive strongman, and a Lemont local who played field sports at Lemont High School.
Chris and the team behind him hold more than 30 certifications across mobility, CrossFit, strength & conditioning, sports performance, and speed, including certification as a Spellman Speed coach and ongoing study under Pre-Script, who prepare athletes for the NFL combine.
He’s coached weightlifters to USA Nationals and World Championships qualification, and youth athletes from age 10 through Division 1.
Ross grew up in Illinois where he was introduced to gymnastics at an early age. He started to compete in the sport at age 7 and continued through the collegiate ranks. He competed at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where he was a two-time All American on the Horizontal Bar and part of a Big Ten Championship winning team in 2009. After college Ross went on to perform with Cirque Du Soleil as an acrobat in multiple shows. He found CrossFit towards the end of his career with Cirque and has been a passion ever since. He developed a very good eye for technique with gymnastics and that has translated very well to helping athletes improve in their CrossFit Journey.
I believe that if you’re a human with a body you need to take care of it! CrossFit, in my humble opinion, is the best way you can do that. I’ve gone through many “fitness phases” from training for sports, being a “gym bro” measuring success by the mirror and size of my arms, to just not exercising at all (10/10 do not recommend). Through this process nothing has kept me as consistent and excited about my personal fitness than CrossFit. It has proven to me time and time again that you can accomplish anything if you bring grit, a handful of hours a week, to learn, practice, and master.
As a trainer I want everyone who calls themselves a Jaguar to be set up for success. Success can mean beating an old PR that hasn’t budged for years, learning a new movement, changing your body, or just gaining the confidence to work F*$&%#@ hard for what you want. My job is to offer support, patience, easy to understand coaching, plus a push outside your comfort zone… and I love my job. Come get after it with the Jaguars and find out what you’re capable of, I’ll see you there.
I feel like my story is pretty relatable: former athlete who went through a period after sports where I was relatively inactive and not at all excited about how I was looking or feeling.
I found CrossFit in 2013 through a trainer at the conventional gym I was working at. (His name was Rick James, and he lived up to the name.) He put me through the classic workout “Fran” at about 5 p.m. on a Monday while everybody else was hitting chest, and I was hooked forever after that.
Fast forward to now, with over 13 years of CrossFit experience and more than a decade of coaching, I’ve dedicated my career to helping people become stronger, healthier, and more confident. I believe fitness is about more than just working out. It’s about building habits that improve every aspect of your life, and I really mean that.
Whether you’re just beginning your fitness journey or looking to take your performance to the next level, I believe we’ve assembled the “Avengers” of coaches here at Jag to help you get there.
I found CrossFit in 2020 after retiring from a 15-year competitive swimming career. I swam collegiately at Ohio State, and after spending most of my life training for one sport, I wasn’t quite ready to give up the feeling of chasing something. CrossFit and Olympic lifting became my next challenge.
I started as a member at Jag in September of 2024 after I moved to Chicago for medical school. I was immediately impressed with not only the community but also the intentionality behind Jag’s methodology, so I was thrilled when I got the opportunity to join the coaching staff in January 2025. These days, I’m a full-time medical student and part-time coach, which means I spend a lot of time learning about the human body from both sides of the equation. I’ve spent years learning what it takes to perform at a high level, and medical school has given me an even deeper appreciation for what health and fitness actually look like. To me, fitness isn’t just about how much you can lift or how fast you can move. It’s about longevity. It’s about building a body that allows you to do the things you want to do for as long as possible.
If you know me, you know I love a heavy barbell. But what I love even more is watching someone else hit a PR they’ve been chasing, finally get their first pull-up, or unlock a skill they thought they couldn’t do. As a coach, my goal is to help you understand what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how to keep getting better. Whether you’re brand new to CrossFit or have been doing it for years, I want you to leave each class feeling like you accomplished something.
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Gym Locations
300+
Current members
332+
5* reviews
10
Passionate coaches
Our Mission
Our Values
Our values shape how we approach strength and conditioning, support our community, and help every member become stronger inside and outside the gym.
Chop Wood
It’s supposed to be hard. Don’t hide from it, embrace it.
Show Up
Just keep showing up and you’ll be capable of things you never thought possible.
Lift Others
A rising tide lifts all ships. No one goes it alone.
Break Glass
Always raising the ceiling.
How Jaguar Strength & Conditioning started
Jaguar was born from Matt’s desire to answer a simple question: how can we train harder, smarter, and with more purpose?
After years of CrossFit, Matt went down every fitness rabbit hole he could find to understand what was missing. He read the books, earned the certifications, and traveled the country immersing himself in everything from unconventional training to sports performance and traditional strength & conditioning. What he discovered was that there’s no one perfect methodology. There were pieces of great ideas everywhere, and Matt wanted to bring those pieces together.
So in 2019 he founded Jaguar on a belief that still drives both our gyms: you shouldn’t have to choose between the grit and intensity of CrossFit and the thoughtful, science-based approach of strength & conditioning. Train hard, and know why you’re doing it. Build strength, conditioning, athleticism, and longevity, not just a better workout.
At the heart of Jaguar is that same relentless pursuit of learning: understanding as much as possible about the human body and how to make it better. Not just for Matt, but for every person who walks through our doors in Chicago and Lemont.
Work harder. Work smarter. Train with purpose.
