Today we’d like to introduce you to Grahame Fitz.
Hi Grahame, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I became interested in human health in my early 20s and started my career as a personal trainer. Over the past 10 years, I’ve taught thousands of group fitness classes and one-on-one personal training sessions. Along the way, I began to see that being physically fit was only one part of the equation on the journey toward deeper well-being.
In 2020, I founded gfitzness.com, where I led one-on-one kettlebell training and live online kettlebell classes several times a week. Later that year, I began training in MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), but it wasn’t until a difficult breakup in 2023 that I started practicing daily and attending silent retreats. Feeling lost in both my work and grief, I decided to travel, which led me to my first three-week silent meditation retreat in Thailand.
In Thailand, I lived in a house in the jungle with no real windows or doors. I tried to spend as little money as possible and practiced movement through Ido Portal’s online platform. I also started taking improv classes there, and I was immediately hooked. I knew I wanted to pursue improv more seriously.
In 2025, I went to Chicago to study improv at iO Theater for six weeks. I believe improv has a lot more to offer than people give it credit for.
Later that year, I was introduced to Adam Skolnick, and together we started Improvhuman, an approach to improv focused on bringing greater awareness to the choices we make, both while improvising in our cohorts and out in the world.
In 2026, I became a student at the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies (GIR). Being exposed to Gestalt therapy blew my mind, both in terms of what’s possible in therapy and how closely it relates to practicing improv.
Right now, Adam and I are very excited to be offering our first improv class designed specifically for therapists at GIR!
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?
Absolutely not! My greatest struggle has been slowly learning to trust myself.
Trying to build a career that combines different ideas and modalities is a constant challenge, and most of the time it feels extremely daunting. I wake up every day both excited and terrified to follow a path that resonates with who I am.
Along the way, it’s been both painful and liberating to recognize that what works for others doesn’t always work for me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At Improvhuman, we help people feel more comfortable making things up on the spot, being okay with whatever comes up in the moment, and letting go of needing to have “the answer.” We do that by making sure people feel safe and connected in the space we share, which usually involves some meditation practice and lots of eye contact. As a result, our improv classes tend to feel like a safe place to learn, and a pretty fun one too.
Personally, I specialize in taking the skills necessary for physical, mental, and creative health and breaking them down into digestible pieces, so people can feel comfortable improvising in any situation. Clients often feel a new sense of relief knowing they can create confidently without a template. That might mean improvising a workout while traveling, or improvising a creative solution to something that’s kept them stuck in the past.
What I’m most proud of is making learning a playful, enjoyable experience. What sets me apart is that I never learned the way most of my peers did, and I also hate being told what to do. So I’ve developed some unconventional ways of teaching what my clients want to learn.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I’ve often gotten the advice to start doing whatever it is you want to do. Just start! That advice never worked for me, because I was usually too critical of whatever I was hoping to begin. A much more helpful approach has been framing it as an experiment, with permission for whatever I’m hoping will happen to not happen. I feel much lighter trying something new when I’m okay with whatever the result is. Funnily enough, I’ve found this experimental attitude usually leads to better results. If only it hadn’t taken me 33 years to learn!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://improvhuman.com
- Instagram: @improvhuman
- Other: https://www.gfitzness.com/
