OUR STORY
Joe Cebulski competed in the Olympic Decathlon for the United States for over 10 years and was an Olympic A standard qualifier in both 2004 and 2008. Following the Olympic Trials in 2008, Joe moved back to West Michigan and began his life post-athletics. For a while that involved lots of peanut M&M’s and NO working out! Within his first two visits back to the gym, however, it was clear that traditional health club fitness was not going to cut it. After working construction and odd jobs for the better part of a year, he took a position as a personal trainer at a family owned gym in Cascade, MI. It wasn’t long after he incorporated as 8th Day Human Performance and opened the doors to a meager 1200sq foot space and 2 members (Shelly and Ben) in 2010.
Grand Rapids was a tough place to grow a wellness business based on a training methodology that seemed unusual to most. After a year, the gym had grown to 36 members. That’s not a lot. It was also at this time that Joe was informed that the fitness center he hosted 8th Day out of would be closing it’s doors. While driving around the downtown GR area, he noticed a “For Lease” sign on an abandoned building by the edge of town. The old Ronda Tire building. He signed the lease that month to the “Upper Gym” and began construction. It was quite a leap of faith to move to a 5000sq ft space with so few members, but Joe felt hopeful. That hope wasn’t unfounded, as each year thereafter 8th Day added a new training spaces to their footprint, and many more members to the family.
We LOVE movement at 8th Day! Our coaches are obsessed with it honestly. Movement that is correct, natural, beneficial, and safe. This is at the core of our fitness belief system. We also believe that movement and fitness can be for anyone. With the addition of our BootCamp classes in April of 2014, we followed through on this belief, removing even more barriers, and making functional fitness available to a greater population.
Come join us as we continue to change Grand Rapids for the better one person at a time. The future looks bright, and the potential is great.
