Currently under construction, Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit’s new space will offer beautiful mountain viewsProvided/Sony Graeb
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – 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.
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.
“We 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 – where people are welcomed by name, cared for, and made to feel like they truly belong,” 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.
“Our focus has always been on the 80% of people who don’t feel comfortable in a traditional gym setting—those 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.”
Iron Battalion CrossFit, originally founded in Los Angeles, had the same mission when it came to building their 10-year fitness family.
“It’s all about community. It’s the fact that you join a class or a group and it becomes your tribe,” said Sony Graeb, owner of Iron Battalion CrossFit. “You go in there, you’re intimidated, you’re learning things with a coach to make sure you’re 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’s energy.”
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, “This can’t be it”, so she took everything she didn’t like and turned it into the opposite, opening her own CrossFit gym in 2014.
“Our first rule since then is: Always remember the moment you walked in here, and somebody reached out, shook your hand and said, ‘Hi, welcome to Iron Battalion!’ If that made you feel good – you return the favor.”
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.
Shortly after the merger, COVID-19 came knocking, and Graeb was among the 3.3 million business owners affected by the pandemic. It was with a heavy heart that she shut the doors to her gym in LA.
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.
“We’re 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’s 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,” said Kennedy.
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.
“This 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—with sweeping mountain and gondola views. It’s an environment that energizes people the moment they walk in,” Kennedy said.
Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit’s vision is coming to life and is targeted for a mid-April completionProvided/Sony Graeb
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.
“CrossFit may sound tough, but we’re a small family and we’re passionate about what we’re doing. It doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 80, this is for everyone,” added Graeb. “We’ve rebuilt something that we believe in, and we’ve stuck together.”
To learn more about Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit, check in at Gym Love, or go to https://gymlovetahoe.com/ and scroll down to “Group Classes”.
Gym Love and Iron Battalion CrossFit are located at 3979 Lake Tahoe Blvd, Unit 3 in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
