Mt. Tabor CrossFit at 8028 NE Glisan Street sold to new owners Lindsey Overbay and Ryder Williams in mid-June 2026 and changed its name to Iron Keep Fitness. At the same time, the gym relocated less than a mile north to 2310 NE 82nd Avenue across from the Leodis V. McDaniel High School athletics field. Despite the changes, the organization retained most of the coaches and the people who use this fitness community for their regular workout routines.
Alexis Jaramillo opened Mt. Tabor CrossFit on NE Glisan Street in January 2012. She grew that business over the following decade, outlasting many other larger gyms in the area. Williams explained that he learned about the opportunity to take over this established business over a year ago when deployed overseas with the Mississippi National Guard. “I was in Kuwait, and I had previously worked for the Mississippi University for Women as their strength and conditioning coach.” Williams wanted to find a better-fitting workplace with more team-level participation when he returned. “I sent my resume out to a bunch of different people all over the country. The previous owner saw my resume, and we had some Zoom interviews where Alex mentioned that she was looking for a general manager to hand over ownership to,” said Williams.
After a visit to Portland to ensure the community was a good fit for Overbay and Williams, they relocated from Kentucky. “We just love the community, love the people. And we stayed here for about a year and a half as the general manager. Then we decided this does look like a viable business for us and we moved forward with the purchase,” recalled Williams. Overbay added that it was important that the gym community knew them before trying to make a change. “We got pretty close to the members and know them well. Because an ownership change is naturally a lot. So being able to trust us as the new owners made a big difference, I feel.”
The new ownership team decided to make all the changes at once to minimize disruption. “We thought that it was just going to be more manageable if we ripped the band-aid off all at once. So when we moved, we changed the name, and we changed the website,” explained Williams. The name change had geographic and ideological justifications. “First, we moved a little bit out of the Mount Tabor area, so keeping Mt. Tabor CrossFit didn’t really make sense. Second, we wanted to break away from CrossFit as an organization. Its stances and values are not conducive to our stances and values, specifically their stance on trans athletes, and their recent big event was sponsored by the U.S. Border Patrol. In a climate like today, we said, ‘That’s not our values as an organization.’” The gym still uses the functional fitness approach it has always taught, focusing on strengthening users for everyday movements that improve people’s active lives and mobility.
Set on changing the company’s name, Overbay and Williams looked to their own recreational interests for inspiration. “We’re both huge Dungeons & Dragons nerds—we’re frequent visitors to Board Bar Games on Stark Street—and we wanted to have something that works with that image of dragons and castles,” remarked Williams. They found most members supportive of the name change and adaptable to the move. “Some people do have to bike instead of walk, but I think that’s been pretty manageable, especially for Portland,” explained Williams.
The new building offers around the same amount of gym floor space, but it has the added advantage of greater equipment storage capacity, and the fenced parking lot has more spaces. Williams noted that the slower neighborhood streets behind the new location are safer for the members running as part of a workout. “It is nice just to go out and run in a neighborhood back behind here rather than busy NE Glisan where you sometimes have to stop because of cars. Yeah, it’s been a very positive move for us.”
The gym retained much of its past structure but with a challenge rating system. “It’s based on Dungeons & Dragons, where you choose your challenge based on how difficult you want something to be,” said Williams. They want to assess members’ current status and then adjust expectations on where they are and what goals the member has. “We can assign challenge ratings based off of where they’re at and then give people a super clear path forward.” Members span a wide age range, and they want a comfortable space. They currently have a little over 100 members. Participation fluctuates through the year as people’s schedules change. Williams said membership is month-to-month, with no long-term commitments. On weekdays, they open at 5:30 a.m. with pre-work classes. They also offer midday classes and after-work sessions ending at 7:30 p.m. Outside the Monday through Friday structure, there is room for people to bring in guests or take on harder challenges. “On Saturdays we run a 9 a.m. class, which is generally a partner workout where we encourage people to bring friends and try it out. At 10:15 we run a two-hour competitor class; that is for people that want to do a longer session with more high skill stuff like climbing ropes or carrying heavy sandbags,” said Williams.
Iron Keep Fitness has programs for 55-and-older people who may be new to or returning to fitness. They have a teen class with sports-oriented goals and many levels in between. The owners want everyone to feel comfortable coming into their gym. They explained that people shouldn’t worry about not having enough strength to work out because becoming fit is why people should work out, and they want to help individuals achieve that goal. Interested people can visit ironkeepfitness.com or call 888-271-4194 to find out more and schedule a trial visit.
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