What, no Nautilus machines? No ellipticals or stairsteppers? No aerobics classes or spin classes? No mirrors, designer décor, saunas and racks of fluffy white towels?

Nope.

CrossFit RVA is just 1,200 square feet of warehouse space converted into a no-frills, old-fashioned gym. Loaded up with medicine balls and dumbbells and ropes hanging from the ceiling, it's the kind of place where you'd expect guys with names like Joe Palooka or Knobby Wells to step out from the 1930s.

In actuality, CrossFit RVA is run by two guys named Jake Rowell and Brandon Underwood, Virginia Commonwealth University students who study liberal arts during the day and run the gym in the afternoon.

Richmond BizSense has the story on how the two men, 22 and 24 respectively, fell into the business: "We were training people (friends, mostly) in parks around Richmond and people said, 'Hey, we'll pay you to do this,'" said Rowell.

The duo invested $10,000 in the business, secured the building permits and set up a gym. Their marketing consists of a Web site and personal referrals. The business model: Give people a specialized workout designed to increase their ability to carry out normal life tasks, all while providing a more social and better workout.

The gym currently has 30 members paying memberships of $80 a month, enough at this point for Rowell and Underwood to break even on the business – and stay in really great shape.