{"id":571099,"date":"2026-04-08T04:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571099\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:26:13","slug":"gym-love-is-expanding-new-partner-iron-battalion-crossfit-joins-fitness-center-in-south-lake-tahoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571099\/","title":{"rendered":"Gym Love is expanding: New partner, Iron Battalion CrossFit joins fitness center in South Lake Tahoe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Currently under construction, Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit\u2019s new space will offer beautiful mountain viewsProvided\/Sony Graeb<\/p>\n

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. \u2013 Gym Love, known for its raving reviews, friendly staff, and advantageous location, is taking on a new venture by partnering with Iron Battalion CrossFit to utilize an additional space in the same building.<\/p>\n

Plans for the expansion came in June of 2025 after Gym Love owners Ted and Amber Kennedy found the right partner who shares their vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like the fitness industry could use more love. We wanted to bring a level of hospitality that we were good at in our restaurants \u2013 where people are welcomed by name, cared for, and made to feel like they truly belong,\u201d said Kennedy, who has been involved in the ownership of numerous Tahoe businesses for over two decades, including Base Camp Pizza Co., California Burger Company, and Fireside Pizza Company in Olympic Village.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus has always been on the 80% of people who don\u2019t feel comfortable in a traditional gym setting\u2014those who may feel intimidated, unsure, or overlooked. We built Gym Love to change that, to create a place where everyone feels seen, supported, and encouraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iron Battalion CrossFit, originally founded in Los Angeles, had the same mission when it came to building their 10-year fitness family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about community. It\u2019s the fact that you join a class or a group and it becomes your tribe,\u201d said Sony Graeb, owner of Iron Battalion CrossFit. \u201cYou go in there, you\u2019re intimidated, you\u2019re learning things with a coach to make sure you\u2019re moving right, and then the tribe keeps you coming back. The group feeling of being in a class, working, suffering, and crushing it with other people, you just feed off each other\u2019s energy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graeb started CrossFit in 2013, and had a terrible first experience, noting that the gym she went to had cliquey groups, classes too big for coaches to handle, no customer service, and no welcoming energy to diminish that disheartening feeling of being too intimidated to try something new. Graeb thought, \u201cThis can\u2019t be it\u201d, so she took everything she didn\u2019t like and turned it into the opposite, opening her own CrossFit gym in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first rule since then is: Always remember the moment you walked in here, and somebody reached out, shook your hand and said, \u2018Hi, welcome to Iron Battalion!\u2019 If that made you feel good \u2013 you return the favor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iron Battalion CrossFit was alive and kicking in LA, and in 2019, Graeb had the opportunity to buy another gym in the area, Team CrossFit, and merged the two businesses.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the merger, COVID-19 came knocking, and Graeb was among the 3.3 million business owners affected by the pandemic<\/a>. It was with a heavy heart that she shut the doors to her gym in LA.<\/p>\n

After migrating to Tahoe and getting a job as a ski and snowboard instructor at Heavenly Mountain Resort, a serendipitous meeting with Amber and Ted Kennedy opened up a whole new door for Graeb, one that would lead her to reunite with her passion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re especially excited to partner with Sony Graeb, who has not only brought tremendous expertise and passion, but has also stepped into ownership and leadership of this new chapter, along with her husband. Sony\u2019s 15-plus years in the fitness world, combined with her ability to motivate and genuinely care for people, makes her the perfect leader for this expansion,\u201d said Kennedy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Kennedys had their eyes on a gorgeous, sizable space located just down the hall in the same building, and after discussing with Graeb, they decided to pull the trigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new expansion with Iron Battalion CrossFit is a powerful extension of [our] vision. It introduces a higher level of coaching, group training, and personal fitness, all within what we believe is one of the most visually inspiring workout spaces in Tahoe\u2014with sweeping mountain and gondola views. It\u2019s an environment that energizes people the moment they walk in,\u201d Kennedy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit\u2019s vision is coming to life and is targeted for a mid-April completionProvided\/Sony Graeb<\/p>\n

With plans for a mid-April start, the Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit expansion will be offering, not just CrossFit, but heart rate-based interval training which involves wearing a heart rate monitor while tracking calories burned during the session. Group classes, one-on-one coaching, nutrition plans, weightlifting programs, these are just a few of the services being provided, with certified coaching from experienced leaders like Todd Worden who moved from LA to South Lake to continue being part of the community Graeb started.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCrossFit may sound tough, but we\u2019re a small family and we\u2019re passionate about what we\u2019re doing. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re 16 or 80, this is for everyone,\u201d added Graeb. \u201cWe\u2019ve rebuilt something that we believe in, and we\u2019ve stuck together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To learn more about Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit, check in at Gym Love, or go to https:\/\/gymlovetahoe.com\/<\/a> and scroll down to \u201cGroup Classes\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit are located at 3979 Lake Tahoe Blvd, Unit 3 in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Currently under construction, Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit\u2019s new space will offer beautiful mountain viewsProvided\/Sony Graeb SOUTH…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97],"class_list":{"0":"post-571099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}