Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Kyle Gonzalez is a highly educated and experienced integrative health and wellness professional. Following a successful career as a Division I basketball player, Kyle earned multiple certifications within the performance, health, and wellness fields before getting into coaching. After obtaining his Masters in Kinesiology, he gained experience across several different domains including teaching at the graduate level, personal training, developing performance coaches, and serving as the director at several prominent gyms. Throughout his career, he's gotten the opportunity to work with and learn from clients ranging from professional athletes to high-level executives, elderly clients to youth students and even Hollywood stars. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, NBC News, ExtraTV, RealSimple, and Prevention.com. He is the creator of The Vitality System, an integrative platform that empowers people to optimize their health and wellness, build sustainable habits, and create lasting change. He's currently a top performance coach and marketing manager at a fast-growing fitness tech start-up, Future, based in San Francisco.
Would you please start by telling us about you and your life, so that we can get to know you better.
Yes, of course! My name is Kyle Gonzalez, although I sometimes go by the nickname KG. I currently live in Los Angeles with my amazing girlfriend of 8 years. I love the simple things in life like being in nature, traveling, meeting new people, and living a healthy lifestyle. Some would call me a health nut, and I’d take that as the highest form of a compliment. My whole life has always been centred around health and wellness since a young age. I played sports growing up and had a deep curiosity about all things performance that has led me down a never-ending path of learning about health and the human body. My mom always encouraged my curiosity and supported my educational and experimental pursuits. I was constantly testing, measuring, and analyzing different aspects of my lifestyle with the goal of improving and helping others around me improve. I played basketball in college but always had a passion for helping, inspiring, and empowering others to take control of their health and wellness. I got my Master’s degree in Kinesiology and studied Exercise Science for my undergraduate degree, where I was blessed to win Student of the Year during my senior year. Fresh out of college, I quickly tried to bolster my knowledge and experience by obtaining the best certifications and exposing myself to different jobs in the health and wellness field. My passion for empowering people to take control of their health and wellness took me through several positions where I got the chance to teach at the university level, personal train, direct facilities, help athletes, manage people, and lead teams. Through all these experiences, I’ve been able to do what I love helping others while also expanding my knowledge each and every day. My insatiable curiosity continues to push me to find ways to make this world a healthier place. It’s a never-ending journey but one that I am ready and willing to take!
What is your business name and how do you help your clients?
I work for an incredible company called Future. At Future, we provide unlimited one-on-one personal training and access to an expert coach who crafts a specialized program just for you regardless of your location, equipment, or fitness level. Your coach adapts to you and provides support, feedback, and motivation throughout your journey; all delivered seamlessly through your phone. In the chaotic world we live in today, it can be challenging to manage your fitness on your own. We believe that with the power of human connection and world-class coaching, we can keep people accountable, helping them achieve their fitness goals and truly realize their potential.
In addition to the work I do at Future, I also run an educational platform called The Vitality System. With The Vitality System, we help people optimize their approach to health, build sustainable habits, and create lasting change by providing core principles along with a systematic view of health, wellness, and the human body. We offer personalized content and tools for people to use to navigate their health landscape. We provide foundational principles, digestible information, and actionable strategies to promote growth and development on your health journey. We focus on four key health pillars: movement, nutrition, recovery, and lifestyle. Our ultimate mission is to empower people to take control of their health and wellness, ignite meaningful change, and inspire others while reaching personal fulfillment.
How did you come to choose this path? Has exercise and health always been close to your heart?
Throughout my life, I’ve always had a fascination with self-improvement. As an athlete, it was how can I run faster, jump higher, and be stronger. As a student, it was about how can I learn more quickly, retain knowledge, and become smarter. Combine that with a highly competitive nature, and you got a kid that was willing to go to great lengths to get a leg up. As I got older, I quickly realized the importance that movement, nutrition, recovery, and lifestyle played in my life and those around me. Everything hinges on health, so I figured why not learn as much as you can about it. The more I learned about health and wellness, the more I wanted to spread the knowledge. It seemed like the information was out there, but people weren’t following it. Health problems and diseases continue to plague our world, so I wanted to be on the front lines in a field that made a difference. For me, that first meant living the healthiest lifestyle I could live so I could help others and set the right example. Exercising daily, eating right, getting adequate sleep, and managing stress are not just things I learn about or teach to others but things I actively live out in my own life. This path allows me to continue on my self-improvement journey, but more importantly, it enables me to help others with theirs.
Is there something special that keeps you motivated?
My motivation stems from wanting not just to help people but to empower and inspire them to live healthier lives and encourage others to do the same. We are in an epidemic when it comes to obesity, heart disease, cancer, and mental illness. My father passed away from colon cancer when I was younger, which further sparked my urgency to spread health knowledge and serve others. Knowing the millions of lives that could be saved and changed with the right health interventions drives me every day. On the other end, seeing the amazing things people can achieve and the impact healthy lifestyle changes can have is inspiring.
"Health is truly wealth, and my goal is to make as many people as possible rich with life! "
It can be difficult to balance exercise and a good diet with a fully booked everyday life. What is your best tip for people who are looking for a well-balanced lifestyle?
My advice would be to focus on what you can control and take daily actions towards the lifestyle you want. Build habits that you can sustain and do the best with what you have. Most of the barriers we face in life are self-made. Get out of your own way and take action. It won’t always be perfect, but it will undoubtedly be worth it.
Rumor has it that you will soon launch and release a new book. Can you tell us more about it and what it is about?
Absolutely, I’d love to!
About a year ago, I set out on a journey to write a book that was different from any other health, wellness, and self-improvement book out there. I wanted to create an all-encompassing and digestible resource for people that could provide value no matter the circumstance. Spanning over 30 topics pertaining to your health and wellness, this book offers a comprehensive guide to improving your quality of life. Using foundational principles, action-based strategies, and tools that are easy to use, you can own your health, wellness, and performance.
Many books give you similar resources for a specific topic, but my goal is to offer information, strategies, and resources for a wide variety of topics. This holistic approach is intended to achieve my ultimate goal, which I mentioned earlier: to empower people to take control of their health and wellness, ignite meaningful change, and inspire others while reaching personal fulfillment.
I am beyond excited to share this book with the world!
Do you have any goals for your business? What do you want to achieve with it in the future?
For Future and The Vitality System, the main goal is to reach and help as many people as possible as they navigate their health and wellness journey. We want to positively impact and inspire meaningful change for everyone we encounter. The team that has been built at Future gives me faith that we can turn these goals into realities. We have our work cut out for us, but the future is bright
