Rise Gym

Brenda Crysler

Brenda is a Certified Personal Trainer and a U.S. Coast Guard Veteran. Certified through NASM with a Corrective Exercise Specialty, she enjoys programming workouts focused on interval training, weightlifting, and functional movement. She appreciates getting to know each client, their fitness history and goals, and finds it a pleasure to craft tailored workouts that challenge people mentally & physically, while progressing toward a common objective. As a part of her team, you’ll gain strength, knowledge, and improve your personal body mechanics to turn your fitness goals into lifetime habits. As a mother of two boys, Brenda is also passionate about working with pre & post-natal clients in order to maintain an enduring and healthy lifestyle during these significant life changes and milestones.

Derek Shaffer

Derek is a martial artist, cyclist, and exercise enthusiast who enjoys helping other people reach their personal goals, stay motivated, and build functionally strong physiques. He has been a trainer and coach for over 10 years, and instructs a wide range of clientele.

NASM Certified Personal Trainer
NASM Women’s Fitness Specialist
NASM Mixed Martial Arts Conditioning Specialist
CrossFit Level 1 Trainer
CrossFit Movement and Mobility Trainer
Primal Kettlebell Instructor
Ralph Gracie Brown Belt

Emmy Kastning

You may recognize Emmy as one of our managers as he spends most of his days at our front desk. He is now expanding his career in Rise as a group fitness instructor. Emmy found his passion for fitness when beginning his transition (female-to-male) in 2018 and throughout his time at Rise. He enjoys helping people reach their fitness goals and pushing them to their limits for a great workout while incorporating bodyweight exercises, functional training and weightlifting. Emmy will help you gain strength, stability and body awareness throughout his classes.

Hanna Klyushnik

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Jessica Lizardo

Jessica first discovered her love for yoga and fitness in 2010 after training to be a classical cellist starting at the age of 5. She spent years and even her first year of college training at a conservatory of music in Manhattan, New York, and realized she wanted the experience of not just being the accompaniment to dancers on stage but to embody these movements herself. She came back to the Bay Area where she’d grown up in 2009, took her first yoga class and transferred those years of practice and dedication as a musician into becoming an avid yoga student. Eventually, she yearned for something more than just the physical practice of yoga and so became trained as a registered yoga teacher in 2012. And that was just the beginning. She discovered another exciting path to explore during her college career, which was her love for pilates. It is the way that these movement-based practices incorporate a form of art, healing and discipline that brings deeper awareness and strength, that led her to become a lifelong student of yoga and pilates. She has been teaching yoga since 2014 and became trained in the Power Pilates Mat series in 2019. She has taught classes at studios and community centers in Orange County, as well as a trauma-informed yoga series at her alma maters, the University of Southern California and UC Irvine and at a mental health facility in Burlingame. She has proudly been part of the Rise BodyWorks community since 2019 and carries the same trauma-informed lens and approach in her teaching through the use of language, modifications and safe exploration of exercises in one’s body. When she’s not teaching pilates or yoga, she is deepening her understanding and knowledge of both practices, exploring the greater outdoors and great music, and developing her clinical skills and working as a community-based psychotherapist for youth, with hopes of merging both practices to help others experience a sense of freedom and alignment in both body and mind.

Jessica Richman

Jessica is a graduate of the National Personal Training Institute, a NASM certified personal trainer and NESTA certified mat pilates instructor. She believes exercise is fundamental to living a well-balanced life, and truly enjoys helping people to become a better stronger version of themselves.

Kaylee Scott-Van Deusen

Kaylee Van Deusen is a doctor of physical therapy and yoga teacher who guides students to find strength, flexibility and community on their mat. Humbled to share this practice, Kaylee blends her knowledge of anatomy and alignment with challenging physical practice.

Noelle Wilson

Noelle started her fitness journey at the age of 5, and continued into her adult life. She has a 3rd degree black belt in Kajukenbo. She has trained in Filipino martial arts and muay thai. Noele studied for the NSAM personal trainer certification at PT Pro Academy of San Francisco. Noelle has worked as a personal trainer and has trained many people in general fitness, and traditional martial arts, as well as kickboxing. She is an insured and certified personal trainer through PTA Global and ACE. She holds a current CPR/AED card. Noelle brings 10 + years of martial arts and functional fitness experience and is excited to share her growing knowledge with all her clients and gym members! Fun fact: Noelle is also a Firefighter Trainee for the Alameda County Fire Department Reserves!

Tyler Jeffries