Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Zapoli. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

In 2008 my husband of 7 years left my daughter (3 years old) and me. We did not know where he went or if we would ever hear from him again. Over a year went by before finding out he had moved to California. He was sending me letters apologizing, wanting to get back together, etc. I had already done my best to pick up the pieces to move on and be strong for my daughter, but I could not help but feel I needed to at least give it a chance, for my daughter’s sake. I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to make sure my daughter’s relationship with her father was kept a priority.

By this point in my life I had moved on and was rebuilding my life as a single mom. I was dancing professionally for the NBA Houston Rockets, teaching gymnastics and dance, going to school, and had just discovered CrossFit.

After so many letters and apologies I decided to consider the possibility of moving my daughter and I from Texas to California so that 1. my daughter could be closer to her father and 2. to be open to the possibility of us getting back together. It did not end up working out between us and he moved back to Texas a few months later, but my daughter and I stayed in California.

I had started attending a CrossFit next to the place I started taking my daughter to gymnastics and they were hosting a CFL1 Trainer Seminar. I decided to become a CrossFit Trainer and begin coaching CrossFit. Around the same time one of my childhood friends from Texas reached out to me to let me know she was living in Venice and her boyfriend, a former collegiate gymnast, would be hosting the CrossFit Gymnastics Trainer Seminar at his gym there. I was so excited to sign up and attend this course, but what happened next was completely unexpected and so amazing. The director of the CFG seminar invited me to intern and eventually join the prestigious CFG Seminar Team. For the past 12 years I have had the opportunity to travel the world and teach gymnastics in the functional fitness and CrossFit world both as part of CFG as well as within my own business and brand.

During this time I also had the opportunity to begin working as the women’s style director for a new CrossFit and lifestyle apparel brand that I had also been asked to do a photo shoot for before even moving to California while attending CrossFit at my old gym in Texas. It was so much fun and I was able to do that alongside being a mom, coaching CrossFit, teaching on CFG, etc. Since 2009, I have had the opportunity to be part of so many CrossFit community events worldwide through competing as an athlete, working the booth for the apparel company, representing several other fitness companies as an athlete/ambassador, coaching seminars, etc.

I eventually opened my own CrossFit affiliate and a few years after that was brought on as a co-owner of another already established CrossFit affiliate.

In 2016 I also started another fitness business venture, NZ Fitness, LLC, offering remote coaching + custom programming, personal training, gymnastics workshops, mobile fitness app, etc. – in home, outdoor, virtual, and at multiple locations (at a resort gym, CrossFit, and a boutique gym).

I really had no plan when I moved to California. I sold my car and what I could to get my daughter and myself here. I have never had any help financially or much support from my parents. My daughter and I were completely starting over in a completely different state, but for some reason I do not remember being scared one bit. I only remember remaining completely open to new possibilities, following my heart, and taking action to build our new new life in California.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began my lifelong fitness journey with dance at the age of two, gymnastics at four, and was competing in artistic gymnastics by the age of six. I later switched to rhythmic gymnastics.

By the age of fourteen I had received the opportunity to train at the United States Olympic Training Center and was a 4-time Texas State Champion in rhythmic gymnastics, 4-time Junior Olympian, and a member of the US Junior Olympic Academic Team.

Following rhythmic gymnastics I cheered competitively for three years becoming a three time All American cheerleader. I went on to dance and cheer professionally for the NFL Houston Texans and the NBA Houston Rockets along with various other professional dance companies specializing in modern/contemporary and hip hop/street jazz.

I have also studied, trained, and competed in various sports such as Fitness America, CrossFit, USAW (weightlifting), and USPA (powerlifting). I won Fitness America Texas in 2006 and Fitness America California in 2011 along with receiving the opportunity to be a contestant on American Ninja Warrior in 2013. I am the 2015 USPA California State Champion (48kg) and bench press record holder. Most recently, I placed in the top 10% fittest ladies in North America in the 2021 CrossFit Games Open and the top 10% fittest ladies in the world in my age group advancing me into the Quarterfinals and the worldwide age group online qualifiers.

I have 20+ years coaching experience and hold multiple coach, trainer, and specialty certifications under NASM, CrossFit, OPEX, The Cooper Institute, Movement RX Physical Therapy, and more.

From as early as eight years old I knew I wanted to own my own gym, be a coach, entrepreneur, and most importantly, I knew I wanted to help people when I grew up.

My passion and purpose in life is to help empower others onto living their strongest, healthiest, happiest lives possible.

I am the proud mom to an awesome young lady and enjoy training, adventuring, traveling, painting, playing in the ocean, gymnastics, dancing, yoga, and anything outdoors that is challenging mentally and physically.

What is NZ Fitness Strength & Conditioning?

NZ Fitness programming is designed to build strength, overall work capacity, and increase lean body mass so that my clients have the ability to live their strongest, healthiest, happiest life possible. All program designs are derived from over 30+ years of experience in training and coaching including artistic & rhythmic gymnastics, CrossFit Gymnastics, OPEX Fitness, Westside Barbell (powerlifting), Westside Tactical, Waxman’s Gym (Olympic weightlifting), and US Olympic strength & conditioning training and coaching methodologies.

My mission is to support, guide, educate, inspire, both physically and mentally. My goal is to create as strong, healthy, happy, consistent, and committed clients as possible. In addition to this initial task at hand I desire to create culture within the community that centers around life long wellness and a high quality of life. I continue to passionately work on providing a sustainable system that can be implemented by anyone regardless of current fitness levels for the duration of my client’s lives.

My top priority is creating a training protocol that revolves around safety via optimal body mechanics, technique, and building a solid movement foundation. I want my clients progressing across all domains as they continue building their base strength and overall conditioning.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Yes, near the end of 2020 I had returned back to where I grew up for a few days to attend a funeral for my former husband, my daughter’s father. During my time there I had planned to rent an air bnb or stay at a hotel with my daughter. My mom insisted I stay with her while in town. So I did. The morning after the funeral my mom served me with paperwork suing me. Immediately after this happened she pointed to the door and yelled at me to get out of her house. I was beyond confused, in shock, and was completely frozen. My mom has done several other things like this throughout the course of my entire life to my dad, myself, and others, etc. I always just forgive her and try to move forward, but after that day I was not able to look at her or any of the situations she has put me in, as a child and as an adult, in the same way. Despite this happening during a pandemic, I was also running a business during a pandemic, raising a teenager during a pandemic, being a mom to a daughter who had just lost her father during a pandemic, etc. Now, I was dealing with another huge financial (monetarily and time) curve ball – finding a lawyer, court dates, travel, and juggling this all with the rest of my life as a single mom and business owner. I am proud of myself for not just allowing my mom to walk all over me, but for standing up for myself and my family with dignity and class and facing this entire situation directly head on. My mom did not win this time.

I had to quickly put all my feelings and emotions to the side and focus only on what I had to do to keep moving forward during this time to be the best mom, business owner, person I could be. My daughter and I attended counseling together and individually for over a year after this. I continued to keep health and fitness top priority for my mental, emotional, and physical well being. I stayed focused on several new projects within my business with goals to continue to grow and expand on everything I had already built up to that point. I stayed active within my continuing education to stay up to date in my field with all of my several certifications I hold. I continued competing in my sports, CrossFit and weightlifting, placing in the top 10% in North America in the open division, top 10% in the world as a masters athlete, and qualified for my first USA Weightlifting Nationals as a masters athlete.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I ran these alongside my mobile gym business I founded in 2016, NZ Fitness, LLC.

I coached a majority of the weekly classes, scheduled and planned weekly/monthly community events, fundraisers, team building activities, team meetings, participated in classes and open gym training alongside our members, admin, etc. We had an amazing, growing community. I noticed the other owner, who was also a coach, was rarely there, but I didn’t ask questions about this as she had been there long before me and I figured she had paid her dues and it was not my place to question her attendance. However, I also began noticing that when she was there she seemed to be extremely high on something. One particular day she came in to coach with some sort of huge gnarly blister on her face that she was telling everyone she got from the sun while driving with the top down on her convertible to the gym. Throughout my last year as an owner there I noticed she was also losing a ton of weight and her behavior was super erratic, but, again, I never asked questions or spoke of this to anyone because, at the time and for whatever reason, I did not feel it was my place to do so.

I had absolutely no idea what to do or how to best handle this situation as this was not a family member/friend situation. This was one of my business partners of a business I owned and represented. I noticed it very odd that the other two business owners acted as if nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary. Membership rates began to decline and I was doing everything to keep on a happy face and maintain as much professionalism as I possibly could to ensure I was doing my part to see the gym community thrive and continue to grow.

During the very last owner meeting I attended I brought up my concerns about this directly with her with the other two owners present. She became very upset, angry, mean, and denied that she was using drugs or doing anything less than holding to a high standard of health and fitness. After that, I chose to not be part of that business anymore. I was extremely generous and gave my percentage of ownership back to the other three owners and walked away. I could not be part of a business that claimed to be all about health and fitness and changing people’s lives when the majority owner was a full blown meth/crack/heroine addict.

Two months after this the pandemic hit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nicolezapoli.com
• Instagram: @nicolezapoli
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicolezapoli
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/nicolezapoli/featured

Image Credits
EMOM Photography, Kurtis Frasier, Hank Ford, Ray Fernandez ,Simply Perfection Photography, Picture Flicks Studio, Barbell Shrugged Media, Jeremy Aquirre Photography