Meet Kyle Krupansky | Crossfit Coach & Owner

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

Hi Kyle, what makes you happy? Why?
I’ve spent a lot of years trying to answer this question for myself and just recently I’ve come to the realization that happiness comes from being able to truly be yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. We all have different goals, morals, and values in our lives and it’s not our place to decide those things for anyone else, we get one life to live and if we’re busy trying to control the outcome of somebody else’s life then how can we be truly happy with our own life? For me it took a while to allow myself to dive into the world of fitness, where I’m truly happy, because I was always told I should be something else. I was always good at math and science, so everyone naturally told me to be an engineer – I never questioned it – I went to school for engineering, graduated first in my class at one of the top engineering schools in the nation, and the whole time knew I didn’t really love it, no matter how good I was at it. At that point, my mom died from alcohol abuse after living a life filled with depression, and I knew from then on that I had to be passionate about what I was doing no matter the cost. I switched focus to nutrition and fitness, leaving behind a very large paycheck but I gained every bit of happiness I could ever ask for and to this day (13 years later) I have no regrets and would make the same decision 1,000 times over. I’ve now owned a Crossfit gym for 8 years and love every minute of it, but even now, with 100 athletes to develop, I am always faced with the decisions of doing what I think is right or what other people are doing, and the only way I stay truly happy is by enjoying doing things my way because that’s what makes my gym and my training unique, and for me there’s no way to enjoy your life when you don’t also love how unique you are.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think the thing I’m most proud of as I’ve transitioned through different stages of my professional life is that each next step has been a step toward making me feel more fulfilled and passionate about my career. In a sense it has been an easy transition because I’ve made quick decisions for what my next step will always be, but those decisions have come with their own struggles along the way, whether it’s been moving to a new city, taking less pay at a new job, or switching career paths entirely. The only way I was able to overcome the fear of those changes was to fully own my decisions and be comfortable knowing that I made those decisions for my own happiness and not for anybody else. I was always great at engineering and felt like that was what I was born to do because it came so easy for me but I had also always been an athlete and loved coaching younger athletes at the same time. I went to college to become an engineer and it was easy enough for me that I spent my free time studying nutrition on my own and trying out new training styles in the gym. I knew from those years that I was truly passionate about food and fitness but the stigma of giving up an extremely high paying future in engineering – a career I was very good at – to go into the low paying industry of fitness, was a very scary thought for me because I was worried about what other people would think. My mom died with one year left in my engineering degree, so I finished it out but knew 100% that I was going to use that moment to fill my life with my passion and just enjoy it, no questions asked. Along the way I’ve struggled with paying the bills, spent more time and money to get a second degree in nutrition, and dealt with hearing negative talk about me wasting my engineering talents but through it all I’ve learned to trust myself and enjoy every step along the way. Mostly I’ve learned that there is no “conventional” way to get to where you want to be, there’s only your own path.

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.
My life revolves around food, so my itinerary would be filled with a whole lot of places to enjoy different foods. My favorite types of food are Indian and Ethiopian – Sherpa Grill in Greeley has some great Indian food and Raska in Fort Collins is one of my favorite Ethiopian restaurants around. I’m super simple otherwise, I’m more of a hang out and have good conversations and play games kind of guy, so I’ll go bowling at Highland Park a lot but other than that it’s maybe ordering a pizza from Roma and playing board games. I also love breakfast food, so Doug’s Diner in Greeley is always near the top of my list for a whole lot of amazing food.

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?
I’ve been very lucky in my life to always have amazing family support, they’ve always trusted me to make decisions that make me truly happy and they’ve always been on board with any and all of those decisions whether they agreed with them or not. One of the people that really showed me how to grow into my own person and just own that and appreciate it is Mike Abernathy, who was the head baseball coach at Colorado State University when I was there. I trained the baseball team and watched Coach Abs grow every single one of those players into a better athlete but more importantly he helped guide them to becoming better humans. Coach Abs always had his own way of doing things and saying things and it worked so well because he was honest and fully committed to that approach.

Image Credits
Erik Branom