Born in Montreal, Canada and grew up in Miami, Florida, I,ve always been active in sports and exercises. It was through my involvement with the Boy Scouts that I became interested in First Aid and water safety which lead to a high school job as a pool lifeguard and a post high school job as a beach lifeguard while I still lived in Florida.
I started competitive swimming, tennis, and martial arts in my early teens and continued through high school, where I also added wrestling.After high school I went on to get involved in endurance sports such as triathlons, mountain biking and adventure racing, but at the heart of all my activities was always surfing.
I moved to the Big Island in pursuit of my childhood dream of becoming a firefighter in Hawaii. Two years ago I was assigned to the Kailua-Kona station #7 where also took a job as a trainer for the Club in Kona. The Club in Kona was a great place to work, but they didn’t agree with my training methods. This is where I first got the motivation to start my own training facility and to follow the CrossFit philosophy of training.
Our goals for the business are simple; create community, reach out to those who really need this, and find ways to hopefully give back.
Ryan Lyman-Trainer
CrossFit Level 1 Certified, CrossFit Gymanstics
Born and raised in Hilo, though I spent quite a few years in Oahu for high school and college
I’ve surfed consistently for the last 20+ years and played around with various forms of exercise (everything from running, lifting, stability balls, rowing, swimming, paddling, etc.), nutrition and training methods for the last 10+ years. I am constantly researching methods for safe, effective and efficient ways of training.
I was exposed to crossfit through the concept 2 forum site, when i was doing lots of rowing on my C2. Once I tried crossfit and implemented its philosophy, it changed the way i look at training to focus on intensity and opened up a whole new world.
I’ve been married to my wife Erin for the 10+ years and have 3 monsters (1 boy, 2 girls) and 2 queer boxers.
my interests include: whatever makes my kids/wife happy, training, surfing, building stuff, snowboarding, loud music, and a whole list of stuff that i wish i had time for. I also enjoy eating lots of meat, some vegetables, ice cream and drinking beer and scotch (and depending on the time of year GOMAD and milkshakes). My favorite books are Never Let Go by Dan John and The Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Waterson. Read them both!
Kim Pierce- Assistant Trainer
Crossfit Endurance Certified
I grew up in Southern California. Hilo’s been my home for the past 7 years and I never want to leave. I was a pretty good runner and competed in H.S, a Division 1 college and while in graduate school. I competed nationally in the NCAA for 5 years in Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor track in 5k and 10k distance. Living on the Big Island I have dabbled in triathlons and finished in the top 25 women in 2009 Lavaman Triathlon in Waikaloa. I have always had a pretty active lifestyle with swimming, yoga, surfing and all of the great reasons that we have to be outside on this amazing Island. I was introduced to Crossfit in 2006 by my mother-in-law in Illinois. She wouldn’t stop talking about it and she loved it. I never paid much attention until surfing one morning when Joel was in the water and he told me he planned to open one here. I think I was the first client and they haven’t gotten rid of me since! I know that Crossfit is absolutely changing the way people look at health and fitness. It is the most effective way to reduce injury, improve overall conditioning and simply be better at life for all levels of fitness. I would have killed to have someone show me this program 10 years ago when I was running 80 miles a week and injured all exhausted all the time. What happens at Crossfit Big Island is special and it improves the lives of people in this community. I love that my 65 year old parents joined a Crossfit gym in Huntington Beach, Ca. Something I remind myself of every day: “I am grateful for many things in my life, and when I focus on the things that make me better the universe finds ways to give me more of it.”
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COACH’S
Joel Tessier - Founder
Crossfit Level 1 certified, CrossFit Gymnastics, CrossFit Edurance, IAFF ACE Peer Fitness Trainer
Born in Montreal, Canada and grew up in Miami, Florida, I,ve always been active in sports and exercises. It was through my involvement with the Boy Scouts that I became interested in First Aid and water safety which lead to a high school job as a pool lifeguard and a post high school job as a beach lifeguard while I still lived in Florida.
I started competitive swimming, tennis, and martial arts in my early teens and continued through high school, where I also added wrestling.After high school I went on to get involved in endurance sports such as triathlons, mountain biking and adventure racing, but at the heart of all my activities was always surfing.
I moved to the Big Island in pursuit of my childhood dream of becoming a firefighter in Hawaii. Two years ago I was assigned to the Kailua-Kona station #7 where also took a job as a trainer for the Club in Kona. The Club in Kona was a great place to work, but they didn’t agree with my training methods. This is where I first got the motivation to start my own training facility and to follow the CrossFit philosophy of training.
Our goals for the business are simple; create community, reach out to those who really need this, and find ways to hopefully give back.
Ryan Lyman-Trainer
CrossFit Level 1 Certified, CrossFit Gymanstics
Born and raised in Hilo, though I spent quite a few years in Oahu for high school and college
I’ve surfed consistently for the last 20+ years and played around with various forms of exercise (everything from running, lifting, stability balls, rowing, swimming, paddling, etc.), nutrition and training methods for the last 10+ years. I am constantly researching methods for safe, effective and efficient ways of training.
I was exposed to crossfit through the concept 2 forum site, when i was doing lots of rowing on my C2. Once I tried crossfit and implemented its philosophy, it changed the way i look at training to focus on intensity and opened up a whole new world.
I’ve been married to my wife Erin for the 10+ years and have 3 monsters (1 boy, 2 girls) and 2 queer boxers.
my interests include: whatever makes my kids/wife happy, training, surfing, building stuff, snowboarding, loud music, and a whole list of stuff that i wish i had time for. I also enjoy eating lots of meat, some vegetables, ice cream and drinking beer and scotch (and depending on the time of year GOMAD and milkshakes). My favorite books are Never Let Go by Dan John and The Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Waterson. Read them both!
Kim Pierce- Assistant Trainer
Crossfit Endurance Certified
I grew up in Southern California. Hilo’s been my home for the past 7 years and I never want to leave. I was a pretty good runner and competed in H.S, a Division 1 college and while in graduate school. I competed nationally in the NCAA for 5 years in Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor track in 5k and 10k distance. Living on the Big Island I have dabbled in triathlons and finished in the top 25 women in 2009 Lavaman Triathlon in Waikaloa. I have always had a pretty active lifestyle with swimming, yoga, surfing and all of the great reasons that we have to be outside on this amazing Island. I was introduced to Crossfit in 2006 by my mother-in-law in Illinois. She wouldn’t stop talking about it and she loved it. I never paid much attention until surfing one morning when Joel was in the water and he told me he planned to open one here. I think I was the first client and they haven’t gotten rid of me since! I know that Crossfit is absolutely changing the way people look at health and fitness. It is the most effective way to reduce injury, improve overall conditioning and simply be better at life for all levels of fitness. I would have killed to have someone show me this program 10 years ago when I was running 80 miles a week and injured all exhausted all the time. What happens at Crossfit Big Island is special and it improves the lives of people in this community. I love that my 65 year old parents joined a Crossfit gym in Huntington Beach, Ca. Something I remind myself of every day: “I am grateful for many things in my life, and when I focus on the things that make me better the universe finds ways to give me more of it.”
Look forward to seeing you in the gym.