About Crossfit Yelm
CrossFit Yelm, also known as The Yelm WOD Dogs, was established in 2010 as Yelm’s first functional fitness gym. Founded by a police officer and personal trainer, the gym was created to fill a gap in the local fitness community. In our first three years, rapid growth led us to move facilities three times, evidence of a community that was ready for something different.
Today, CrossFit Yelm operates in a 5,600-square-foot space and is supported by a dedicated team of professional coaches committed to helping members move better, get stronger, and show up consistently.
From the beginning, CrossFit Yelm has been proudly veteran-owned and deeply connected to our military, law enforcement, and first responder community, a group that still makes up the majority of our membership. Service, community, and giving back have always been core to who we are. After 16 years of ownership, Annie Malone entrusted the next chapter of CrossFit Yelm to Chelan and Mike Gibson in 2026, continuing the gym’s legacy while strengthening its commitment to professional coaching, connection, and community impact.
This is us. We are CrossFit Yelm.
Our
Coaches
Chelan Gibson
- Associate Applied Science (Kinesiology)
- CrossFit Level 2
- CrossFit Gymnastics
- CrossFit Coaching Fundamentals
- CrossFit Scaling
- CrossFit Spot the Flaw
- Advanced Judges Course
- AIT Online Certificate Course
- USAW Olympic Lifting
- PNL1 Nutrition
- CPR/AED Certified
Chelan is the co-owner of CrossFit Yelm alongside her husband, Mike Gibson, and has been a part of the CrossFit Yelm community since 2012, but it wasn’t until 2016 that she fell in love with fitness and how it could help change lives. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she has a deep love for the outdoors and an active lifestyle. In her free time, Chelan enjoys going on walks, especially down the aisles of a thrift store. She became a CrossFit coach to share her passion for health and fitness and to help others discover what they’re capable of. Her favorite part of CrossFit is the strong sense of community and witnessing people achieve goals they never thought possible.
DAniel McCartney
-CrossFit Level 1
-Age 34
-Coach for 2 years
-End of Watch: 01-08-2018
BIO:
Deputy Daniel McCartney was a U.S Navy Veteran who served with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department for 3 years. He was also previously employed by the Hoquiam Police Dept. for 6 years. Deputy McCartney is survived by his wife Cierra and three young boys. Daniel loved coaching and helping others grow, whether it was through CrossFit or just being a friend. As an athlete, he could be found at the gym five days a week, and working on his Snatch technique - which was one of his favorite movements. He had plans to one day become an affiliate owner of a CrossFit gym.
Daniel was extremely dedicated to his fitness and to those around him; he will be greatly missed.
Mike Gibson
- Associate Applied Science (Kinesiology)
- OPEX CCP Coach
- CrossFit Level 1 Trainer
- CrossFit Endurance Course
- CrossFit Conjugate Powerlifting Course
- USAW Level 1 Weightlifting Coach
- CPR/AED Certified
Mike coaches with an athlete-first philosophy centered on safety, long-term development, and consistency. He brings over 30 years of training experience across multiple disciplines, emphasizing strong fundamentals, sound movement, and intelligent progression, believing firmly in form overload while still valuing the role of lifting heavy with intention. His coaching focuses on meeting people where they are, building confidence through quality movement, and developing strength and resilience that carry over into everyday life.
Mike retired from the U.S. Army after 20 years of service and brings the same discipline, service, and leadership to the gym floor. He is married to Coach Chelan, and together they are raising two daughters while building a community-centered gym focused on helping people live stronger, healthier lives.
Adam Thaler
- CrossFit Level 1
Husband of an amazing wife, a father of four adult children and a grandfather of an increasing number of grandkids. He grew up in Michigan and played baseball into his 30s. He started CrossFit in 2011 at the age of 40 and became a coach in 2019. His favorite CrossFit movements are double-unders, power cleans and any type of muscle-ups. As a coach, he enjoys helping athletes learn how to move more efficiently and do things they’ve never been able to do before.
jason preston
- CrossFit Level 2
Born and raised in Eastern Washington. After spending many years traveling the world in the Navy he moved to Yelm with his wife and two daughters (all CrossFitters). Jason enjoys CrossFit for its constant workout variations and loves helping people achieve their fitness goals. In addition to CrossFit he is a mountain climber, marathon runner, and Spartan Race competitor.
Lori Gray
- CrossFit Level 1
- CrossFit Scaling
- AIT Online Certificate Course
Lori is a military spouse, mom of 2 grown boys, and an educator. I found CrossFit in 2013 in Texas where my boys started CrossFit Kids. It didn’t take long for my husband and I to follow. I’m so grateful for the foundation of fitness CrossFit has given our family, and the community we’ve always found with each military move. I decided to start coaching after being an athlete for over 10 years. The thing I enjoy most about this sport is how it builds the athlete’s capacity both inside and outside the gym. This work is life changing!
Rachel Platt
- CrossFit Level 1
Rachel is excited to be back coaching CrossFit after taking a few years off and reconnecting with the culture, camaraderie, and community that make it so special. I love how CrossFit brings people together, and helps us become stronger, both physically and mentally. I’ve been married for 20 years and am a proud mom of four boys, and as the wife of a retired Army veteran, I spent many years as a military spouse. When I’m not in the gym, you’ll usually find me outdoors hiking, soaking up sunshine, or working as a realtor, where I’m just as passionate about helping people build wealth as I am about helping them build strength.
Taylor McNally
- CrossFit Level 1
Mother to three daughters. Originally from California, “Tay” grew up dancing and discovered CrossFit in 2019. Since then, she has enjoyed progressing in the CrossFit community and has found her passion in helping others love functional fitness, especially burpee’s, as much as she does!
What is
Crossfit
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.
