Hidden Gems: Meet Kristy Cronister of Kansas Built Fitness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristy Cronister. 

Hi Kristy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
From the time I was very young, I felt a strong calling to work in the medical profession and followed that path to nursing school at the University of Iowa. After graduating in 2007 I started my first nursing job in Neurosurgery Intensive Care at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, WI. I spent eight years working in multiple cities including Madison, Las Vegas, and Denver all within the Neurosurgery Intensive Care patient population. I was incredibly passionate about nursing and even spent two years in a graduate program working on my Master’s in Nursing, but slowly the emotional strain of seeing so many people suffer and die took its toll on me. I began to feel helpless and this sense that I needed to do something to impact people’s health instead of treating their disease or injury. In 2015, I dove headfirst into my physical fitness and competed in my first women’s figure competition. The weight room allowed me to turn off the stress and anxiety I felt with my life and focus on one rep at a time. This transfer of energy changed the entire course of my life. I took a huge leap of faith and left the nursing profession to become a certified personal trainer in 2016. I moved to Olathe and took my first personal training job with no guarantee that I could turn my passion into a successful career. I worked 12–16-hour days 6 days a week building my clientele and loved every single minute of it. I genuinely felt that I was improving the health and the lives of the people who trusted me to help them and it gave me such great joy. I met my husband at that first gym and we both built a large following of clients and had a very successful book of business. In 2020, in the midst of the chaos, that year brought our gym was bought out by a large corporate fitness company days before our first son was due. Our son was born in July and by September my husband and I quit our jobs and started our own personal training studio. Kansas Built Fitness was born of our passion for helping others, our love for each other and our new family, and our desire to have the freedom to do things our own way. We are in our 10th month of business and growing daily. We employ five other personal trainers who are equally as passionate as we are about helping the community take control of their health. This has truly been a dream come true for both of us. Training forty sessions per week, managing our staff, marketing, finances, and all aspects of the business as well as raising our son is exhausting and challenging, but I wake up grateful every single day for the opportunity to live this life. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
What does a smooth road look like? I’m not sure I’ve ever been on one. My previous answer lines out some of the major obstacles initially including starting a business with a newborn. We originally named our business Self Made Fitness and had finally gotten uniforms made, signage, a social media following, etc. when we were contacted by a gentleman in California who informed us that he had trademarked the phrase “Self Made” in the fitness industry. So, a few months into the business we had to change our name to Kansas Built Fitness, which turns out, we like even better, but definitely threw in some added stress while we handled the details. In general, I struggle to find the balance that I think most working moms do. I love my job and my clients. I cannot imagine not working, but I miss my son terribly when I have a long day and don’t get to see him in the morning or before he goes to bed at night. We are so fortunate that he can spend time with us here at the gym when needed (or wanted) and we have family who help us take care of him which is such a blessing. Our clients love seeing Atreyu at the gym and often ask where he is when he isn’t with us. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kansas Built Fitness?
Our mission is to educate and empower our clients to take control of their health and wellbeing and transform their lifestyle through personalized physical training, nutrition counseling, and wellness services. There is nothing big-box or corporate about our business and we pride ourselves on the personal connection we have with everyone we work with. The training team and all of our clients function like a large diverse family that supports and encourages one another to be their best. Our clients come from a variety of backgrounds and have goals as diverse as they are. Our youngest clients are 11 years old and the oldest 85. We work with collegiate athletes, middle-aged moms working to lose weight, older adults rehabbing a joint replacement surgery, and those with physical limitations such as being wheelchair-bound or struggling with the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. What truly sets us apart from others is the passion and skill of our personal trainers. No client who walks through our door is just another face or another membership due, but an addition to the Kansas Built family who will find the kind of support they need to achieve their individual goals. We offer one on one personal training, small group training, reformer pilates, sports-specific training, competitive powerlifting, and bodybuilding coaching, nutrition coaching, group fitness classes, and youth training. 

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Perseverance. I have experienced more adversity in my life than would be relevant to discuss here, but no matter how bad things have gotten or how difficult the obstacle I refuse to quit. I may change my game plan, enlist help from those I trust, or have to dig deep to find my will, but at the end of the day I find gratitude for the little things and wake up the next day ready to put 100% into whatever I may face. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.vagaro.com/selfmadefitness
• Instagram: kansasbuiltfitness