SDVoyager Interview
Excited to share a recent interview I did with SDVoyager! We talk on all things; life, liberty, and the pursuit of fitness! Check it out below or check out the original article published on SDVoyager HERE.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Zapoli.
Hi Nicole, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
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 studied, trained, and competed in various other 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 over 22 years coaching experience and hold multiple coach, trainer, and specialty certifications under NASM, CrossFit, OPEX, The Cooper Institute, Movement RX Physical Therapy, and more.
I have had the opportunity to be part of so many fitness community events worldwide representing several fitness companies as an athlete, ambassador, business owner, seminar coach, etc.
From as early as eight years old I knew I wanted to own my own gym, be a coach, and entrepreneur, and most importantly, I knew I wanted to help people when I grew up. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to start, build, and grow several businesses as well as be brought on as a partner in several other ventures all within the health and fitness world. One of my more recent ventures is NZ Fitness, LLC, established in 2016, offering remote coaching + individual design, virtual and in-person private coaching, tactical training, gymnastics workshops, online custom fitness and nutrition programs, and more.
I am the proud mom to an awesome young lady and a precious baby boy. I enjoy training, adventuring, traveling, painting, playing in the ocean, gymnastics, dancing, yoga, and anything outdoors that is challenging mentally and physically.
My passion and purpose in life is to help empower others to live their strongest, healthiest, happiest lives possible.
My lifelong fitness journey has allowed and continues to allow me endless opportunities to create, grow, learn, build, and evolve as a person, mom, athlete, business owner, and entrepreneur while also provide for myself and my daughter for the majority of my life as a single mom, and now alongside my growing family. I am forever grateful for the many people, experiences, adventures, and beyond that have shaped me into who I am today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been an easy path overall. I have had an abundance of challenges I have had to overcome along the way, but if I had not chosen to rise above and push forward in the face of adversity I would not be who I am today. I would not have the invaluable opportunity to experience or possess the amount of peace, joy, freedom, and love that I have and carry with me today. If the path had been easy I would not have had the opportunity to grow in character, strength, pride, humility, grit, resilience, wisdom, and the list goes on. All of our “challenges, obstacles, struggles” = priceless opportunities to grow, learn, and become more than we ever thought possible. The opportunities lie within how we choose to overcome anything that is seemingly holding us back from where we ultimately want to go with grace, strength, resiliency, an open heart, and an open mind, despite any challenges we encounter along the way to where we are going.
As you know, we’re big fans of NZ Fitness, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
All NZ Fitness coaching programs are 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 lifelong 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.
I offer several gymnastics, strength and conditioning, home, adaptive, tactical programs, and more, all available on my website well as monthly custom program design with remote coaching, private training, affiliate programming, and custom fitness and nutrition app.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My family + so many people, athletes, coaches, and business owners/entrepreneurs, throughout the entire gymnastics, cheer, dance, CrossFit, weightlifting, powerlifting, tactical, strength and conditioning, and financial business worlds have supported, inspired, and encouraged me to continue to follow my dreams and goals, to continue to dream new dreams and set new goals, and to continue to push on, rise above, and overcome adversity while remaining steadfast and consistent through grit, resiliency, joyfulness, and gratitude.
Contact Info:
Website: www.nicolezapoli.com
Instagram: @nicolezapoli @_nz_fitness
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicolezapoli
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicolezapoli/featured
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nicole-zapoli-fitness-cardiff-2
