Meet MaryKay Dreisilker | Crossfit Coach, Personal Trainer & Lifestyle Enthusiast

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

Hi MaryKay, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up in the west suburbs of Chicago in the small town of Winfield.
I started gymnastics very early around the age of 5. It quickly escalated from recreational fun to full time training and became my main focus for the next 12 years through my junior year of high school. I competed on a club team meaning that it was year round training (unlike seasonal sports in school). I was at the gym 5 days a week, 4 hours a day. It was because of this level of commitment and dedication, that I learned at an early age how to be organized, disciplined, and focused. The consistent training schedule actually helped shape me into a straight A, well rounded student as well.

As I grew up, I prided myself on doing a less traditional sport compared to my peers. I loved being strong and different. I loved competing at a high level, and I thrived on being driven, motivated, and disciplined. Learning to have such intense discipline and regimen and structure from such a young age has helped me immensely in the different successes I have achieved throughout my life. Most recently, being an elite level Crossfit athlete, competing at the Crossfit Games on a team for the past three years from 2021-2023.

The other key aspect of growing up that has had a strong impact on my life today are my parents. I have been extremely lucky to have very supportive parents who, I feel, really let me choose my own path and make my own decisions for myself throughout my life, even from a young age. I was able to make decisions that that felt in alignment for me, as opposed to what they wanted for me. I feel that because I had that freedom and never ending support, I have been very good at following my own intuition and making life choices that I feel guided to make, even if they don’t seem like the “normal” or “typical” thing to do.

My examples for these decisions would be: quitting gymnastics my senior year of high school when it would’ve been much easier for my parents if I would’ve gotten a scholarship, choosing to start my own personal training LLC when I couldn’t find a personal training job that I loved and enjoyed (which kickstarted my entrepreneurial journey). I also chose to move to Denver in the middle of Covid because that was what felt right to me. And again, it was another incredible decision that I’m so glad I followed through on.

My gymnastics and competitive Crossfit background have been foundational reasons that have had me interested in nutrition, health and wellness, and lifestyle factors that impact how well and happily and successfully I can live my life. And I have a deep aspiration to share that with others.

There have been quite a few lows in my journey of course. But, because of my deep desire to learn how to be my best self, I have learned how to bounce back better than before.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My current title is Crossfit Coach and Personal Trainer, however, I don’t feel those completely encapsulate the full scope of all that I do.

I first came into personal training because I failed to get into physical therapy school three times. After my third rejection, I realized the universe might be redirecting me and I needed to go a different direction. At the time, I was working as a physical therapy tech in a sports medicine-focused clinic. When I sat on the couch and asked myself, “what’s next?”, I thought about what I enjoy most. Two things came to mind: fitness and working with people. So that’s when I decided to get my Strength and Conditioning Certification. I started working in Chicago as a personal trainer. Also around this time, I was getting more involved in Crossfit and made the easy decision to get my L1 Crossfit coaching certification as well.

After I had been working at a boutique personal training gym for about 6 months, I realized I was not happy there and made the bold decision to quit and start my own personal training LLC where I would find and train my own clients out of the Crossfit gym I was also coaching at. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I listened to my intuition guiding me and knew that I wasn’t going to continue working at a job I knew wasn’t right for me. And if I trusted my inner knowing, I knew that everything would work out for what was best for me.

From 2017 to 2020, I transitioned to becoming a more competitive Crossfit athlete which meant more time spent in the gym. I increased the number of Crossfit classes I was coaching, and I slowly shifted from working with personal training clients to working with Crossfit athletes on their Crossfit gymnastics skills. My gymnastics background made that an easy adjustment.

Fast forward to 2024, after a move to Denver and 3 years of competing at the Crossfit Games, I have retired from competing and I am currently personal training, coaching classes, part time managing the gym, coaching gymnastics skills and writing training programming.

I believe what sets me apart is that I work with clients not only on their training, but also other lifestyle factors including mindset, habits, nutrition, and overall well being. I have so much personal experience with overcoming my own health and nutritional obstacles, mindset blocks, and poor health habits which I use to help guide my clients to make their own positive changes in their lives.

Flashback to 2017 before I started training Crossfit competitively, I would have actually considered myself a couch potato at the time. I was working as a personal trainer, but was not living what I preached to my clients. I was only exercising maybe twice a week, had very poor eating habits, was drinking more than I wanted to and overall not living a healthy lifestyle. I gave myself my own wakeup call and realized this was not how I wanted to be living my life. So I slowly started implementing small changes. I started reading self development books and articles online, started listening to self development podcasts, and started small habits like journaling, meditating, visualization, positive affirmations and gratitude. I eventually got my own nutrition coach to help me with my diet. Over time, I became a new person. I became a new athlete as well. Of course there were ups and downs and it was not an overnight change. But I am so proud of how I fought for myself to become the person that I wanted to be.

That entire evolutionary period has given me so much perspective and lived experience on what it takes to do the work to change your life and move incrementally in a positive direction. That span of time, along with what I consistently work on for myself today, is what helps me relate to my clients who are dealing with their own struggles in and out of the gym.

Even though I currently work with clients and athletes in a Crossfit setting, I have a strong desire to focus on how I can take all my different skills, abilities and experience and use them to work with all different types of people to live their most healthy, happy and fulfilled lives.

What I’ve learned most from my own experiences, is that failure can be redirection, difficulty and challenge can bring new opportunities, and one the absolute most important things we can ever do for ourselves is to listen to the little voice inside of us. Whether you want to call it a gut feeling, intuition, spirit guides, or whatever, that voice is our wisest, truest, highest self guiding you in the right direction. At any point in time, you have the power to change the course of your life. And more often than not, it starts with the smallest of decisions.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since Denver is full of sunshine and beautiful nature, I would take them on as many walks, hikes and outdoor spots that I could. And eat good food of course.

Al the things we would do in a week in no particular order:
– play volleyball at Wash Park
– get donuts from Parlor Donuts
– get breakfast at Bacon Social House, Snooze and Jelly Cafe
– get coffee from Corvus and Hudson Hill
– eat breakfast sammies from Call Your Mother
– go mountain biking then paddle boarding at Bear Creek Lake
– eat dinner at Linger and Odyssey
– get pizza from Blue Pan
– get sushi at Sushi Den
– get drinks at El 5 and the Welton Room
– get ice cream from Little Man and Sweet Cow
– hike at Rocky Mountain National Park
– take a day trip to Estes Park
– go to the Golden Mill in Golden
– go to Pearl St. in Boulder for shopping
– take them to Crossfit Omnia for a workout or two or three
– go trail running at Mt. Falcon Park

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My parents, of course, for their endless support and love.

Secondly, I would have to say that the Crossfit community has immensely impacted and directly changed my life in extraordinary ways. I walked into a Crossfit gym in 2015 looking for a place to exercise when I felt unmotivated and unsure of myself. The community of wonderful members and coaches along with the competitive nature of the workouts brought me to life. The love, support, and encouragement I received from these humans pushed me all the way forward to competing at the highest level in the sport, something I never anticipated when I first started at the gym. These gyms include FTX Crossfit, Crossfit 312, South Loop Strength and Conditioning and Crossfit Omnia. I dedicate this to my coaches, my gym friends and my teammates.

A book that started and propelled me on my self development journey was “Who Says You Can’t? You Do” by Daniel Chidiac.

Lastly, my coaches and teammates and friends who I grew up doing gymnastics with. We went through all the highs and lows together.

Instagram: @marykaydrei

Image Credits
Brian Rivera
Vishal Shah
Trevor Knoll
EM:OM Photography