Meet Katie Prendergast | Strength + Nutrition Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Prendergast and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, how do you think about risk?
I’m very much a “look before you leap” kind of person. I like to do my research and compare options before making a decision. But I also quit a stable job, moved halfway across the country, and entered the fitness industry with almost no experience. I then left the gym I trained at to start an independent strength coaching service.

For me, “risk” is something you try to manage and mitigate. The risk in those situations was pretty high, but I was confident I could learn what I needed to learn. And I believed starting my own business would enable me to provide a better standard of service than I was able to in a box gym environment, so the risk was worth it.

I’m also an avid outdoors enthusiast. All the sports I enjoy – snowboarding, climbing, hiking, etc – involve some level of risk. You do your best to educate yourself and put yourself in a position to stay safe, but every outdoor sport comes with consequences if things go wrong. The risk that comes with those sports is just something you have to accept and prepare for by becoming as physically and mentally fit as you can be before you go outside.

As the founder of KPxFitness, a strength and nutrition coaching service for outdoor enthusiasts, I look at everything the research tells us about fitness through the lens that the sports myself and my clients participate in come with inherent and sometimes inevitable risks. Working with outdoor athletes and weekend warriors, I take an evidence-based approach to programming workouts that help people get stronger for the things they love to do outside.

Since my clients run the risk of getting dinged up on any one of their adventures, we focus on building strength and resilience in the gym. Together, we carefully evaluate how they move, what strength and mobility limitations they may have, and how we can design workouts that play to their strengths while addressing their weaknesses. The ultimate goal is to keep them healthy and safe so they can enjoy the outdoors. When injury happens (as it does among an athletic population), we ask “what went wrong?” and figure out how to reduce their risk of future injury.

Note that I’m not a doctor or physical therapist, but I do what I can within my scope as a trainer to design programs that reduce my athlete’s risk of injury when they head out to play in the mountains.

Risk is something we all deal with every day. You could get hit by a car walking down the street tomorrow. But for skiers, snowboarders, climbers, hikers, mountain bikers, and other people who get active outdoors, risk is also a very real part of the things they enjoy doing.

KPxFitness is founded on the belief that “being strong makes everything in life easier,” and that goes for avoiding injury. It also applies to recovering from injury if/when it happens. I fractured my ankle in multiple places while climbing in November, but was able to start weight lifting again six weeks post-op because I went into the injury and the surgery with a high base level of fitness. My post-op progress in the weight room is helping me build back my ankle strength more quickly than if I didn’t have that basic fitness prior to the injury.

The best thing you can do to mitigate injury risk is to become as physically strong as possible. There’s no such thing as “too strong” when you’re putting yourself in risky situations. And the best way to become physically stronger is to assess your weaknesses (preferably by working with a qualified professional) and put together a plan that actively eliminates those weaknesses.

The real risk doesn’t come from skiing, snowboarding, climbing, hiking, or biking in or of itself. Risk comes from being unprepared to handle the demands you put on your body while you’re doing those activities. That’s why it’s my passion to work with skiers, climbers, and other outdoor enthusiasts. I help them build strength and resilience against injury so that they can confidently push themselves to their limits and enjoy a lifetime of adventures.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
KPxFitness stands for “keep pushing your fitness.” The mantra to “keep pushing” felt in-line with the athletes I work with. Skiers, climbers, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts are always pushing themselves to ski faster, climb harder, bag more peaks, push their limits… or simply enjoy the outdoors more deeply. The phrase also speaks to the physical and mental growth you have to pursue in order to become a better and overall more awesome human.

What most excites me about working with a population that’s so driven is that the sky’s the limit. There’s no end point because there’s always room for growth. Even in the face of a set back, like my broken ankle or another athlete’s injury, there’s room to grow beyond your previous levels of physical fitness and mental resilience.

It definitely isn’t easy running a business, especially as a sole proprietor. I’ve had to learn web design, branding, copywriting, marketing, and a whole slew of skills in addition to working on being a better coach. But the growth I’ve experienced in business has definitely improved my ability to help people reach their fitness goals.

Building your body and building a business are similar in terms of the grit, persistence, and drive required to show up daily and put in the work. That’s the kind of work ethic that passionate skiers, riders, climbers, and so on bring to their training and to their sport.

Surrounding myself with driven people and being the one they look to for help with their training energizes me, and my goal as a coach is to energize my clients to keep pushing themselves inside the gym and out in the mountains.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We have so many opportunities to show off how fun living in Denver and being so close to the mountains can be. For short visits, I take friends on a hike at Chautauqua and usually stop at Avery Brewing for amazingly fresh food and a craft brew.

For longer visits, I’m definitely taking friends into the Front Range for a day hike and/or camping. Guanella Pass Brewery makes for a good stopping point.

In Denver proper, I’ve taken visitors climbing at Movement Baker. If the weather is nice, we’ll wander Wash Park or set up a volleyball net for a couple hours. Coffee at Wash Perk is always nice. In the evening, a trip to RiNo presents dozens of opportunities for food, beer, cider, wine, or spirits and people watching or checking out the colorful murals that decorate the warehouses in the neighborhood.

Honestly, though, I don’t spend much time hanging out in Denver when I have the choice to adventure in the mountains instead.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who I owe a debt of gratitude for teaching me about movement, fitness, nutrition, how to be a good coach, and how to be a better skier and climber. I couldn’t list them all here, but the highlights are my business mentors, including Jon Goodman, the founder of the Personal Trainer Development Center; my colleagues at Denver Gym and Push Gym; many climbing and riding partners over the years; and all of the clients who’ve trusted me with their health and fitness.

Website: https://kpxfitness.com

Instagram: @kpxfitness

Twitter: @kpxfitness

Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/kpxfitness

Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/kpxfitness

Other: Email info@kpxfitness.com

Image Credits
Ryan Hartinger photography