Rising Stars: Meet Alexis Akridge of New Jersey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Akridge.

Hi Alexis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
So my journey started in 2017. It was originally when I started getting into fitness, coming off of being a Division II athlete playing basketball, women’s basketball. Obviously, once the season ends, you know, you look for your next step in what you want to do. So I got into fitness for myself. I wanted to, you know, just become stronger overall mentally & physically. And I really just wanted to just tap into that market, and I wanted to ultimately help people specifically women. My goal, and which has always been my goal, is just to help people in general, women,teens, and young athletes it really doesn’t matter to me. I just really wanted to find my purpose, and I knew my purpose was helping people. So my dad was always into fitness which gave me representation. He competed as a bodybuilder when I was younger, so I always had fitness and good health as a representation in my everyday life. He is definitely the driving force, my father, as to why I am the way I am. I give a lot of credit to him when it comes to everything with just my overall makeup, when it comes to fitness, when it comes to being an athlete, when it comes to being a driven, you know, just young woman. I do credit my father a lot because a lot of what I do, he has, you know, instilled in me, and he himself did it. So I definitely had a great visual role model. So once I got into personal training, there was no one else that I would ask for tips aside from him because that’s what he also did as well, too. So I got into personal training solidly at around in 2018. So I started my own journey in 2017, but I started training people in 2018. So I wanted to get like a full year under my belt, get certified, things like that, so that way I knew ultimately fully what I was doing. And from that point on, I just kept going. I did small classes, group classes, individual, outdoor, indoor. At one point, I was driving to Philly and I was training athletes out there. Shout out to Lewis Leonard. He is a trainer out in the Philadelphia area who trains a lot of top basketball players. He definitely molds and helps develop a lot of kids out there. So I got in contact with him through a mutual friend, and he introduced me to a lot of his pro guys, and I got my opportunity of training, you know, high-level pro athletes on that level. I really enjoyed that. A lot of friends that I had who were also high-level athletes allowed me, you know, to train them as well, too. So I got my experience in training all different types of, you know, personnel. So that was amazing. I really enjoyed athletic performance, which also led me into then I was working for a training facility, a youth sports training facility up in North Jersey. Specifically, I want to say it was in Mahwah. Yeah. And I was training out there, and it was great. I really got my feet wet when it came to athletic training, really understanding all around youth athletic training versus adult athletic training. So athletes that are in their adulthood and then athletes that are still in youth. So that was amazing. And through that, I was able to really, like, get into, okay, seeing that I also want to coach, too. So I got into that, and it was great, honestly. I loved athletic performance training. Around that time, I was still an undergrad, so I was still finishing up to get my degree in education. And I started venturing out to get into more coaching girls’ basketball. So I was going to school out in New York. And while being out in New York, I tapped into, this company, that would outsource us to different schools who needed coaches for their sports teams. I did that for the last two years I was finishing up my degree. Once I was done with undergrad and I got my degree in 2021, I fully stepped into education and teaching. And that was amazing as well, too, because, again, like I said, the overall umbrella here for me was that I really just wanted to help people. I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy education as I did, but I truly did. And with the fitness along with it, everything just tied into my mission as a person and helping people as my ultimate purpose. So that was amazing. So after I finished undergrad, got into teaching, I still was doing fitness, I still was training my clients, still hosting classes, still doing everything of that nature. It was amazing. I had, you know, I was training people at their facility. I had a gym in my hometown of Union, New Jersey. It was called Club Metro. I absolutely adored that place. That place definitely helped mold me as a fitness girl. Like, it really, really did. Like, I met a lot of great people there. I learned a lot of great things. At the time, my dad was also going to the gym, so it was really cool for me and my dad to be going to the same gym and us seeing each other there, you know, him seeing me in my element, and me as a growing woman seeing him in his element fully, you know. I think that was just really amazing. So that’s really where I got my start at when it came to personal training, and I loved it. I loved it there. And while I was doing that, I still had that niche, like, I really want to coach girls’ basketball. So in 2019, that same year that I said, okay, I want to start training people, was also the same year that I started my own girls’ basketball AAU team called NJ Vols inspired by the Tennessee Lady Vols, who at the time when I was younger was head coached by Pat Summitt. And that was a real inspiration for me to see a lot of, you know, a lot of my top players on that team. I loved the way she coached. I loved her passion. I loved her empathy. I loved her firmness. I loved her discipline. And that was everything that I wanted to embody as a coach. So Pat Summitt was definitely a role model for me when it came to coaching. And then when I did start my AAU team, it was amazing. We started from the bottom. We worked our way up. We’ve sent girls to college to play ball and further their education. That was always the ultimate goal. Just being that door that allowed other people to walk through and see their potential in themselves is what I ultimately wanted to be. And I’m going to continue to be. So my story is I love helping people in each and every way I can, fitness, sports, education. That’s just me. And currently right now, I’m still training people. I am a full-time teacher as well. And I’m also a head assistant coach for a Division II JUCO women’s basketball team in my hometown, well, in my home state, I should say, not my hometown, but in my home state. And I’m continuing to just see where this goes. Ultimately, the goal for me is to have my fitness brand obviously up and running, AK Fitness, and to continue my coaching women’s basketball at a high level, and then ultimately, you know, just continuing to push and affirm my purpose of helping people. And yeah, that’s my story. Probably more to it, but we’ll cap it there.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road for me hasn’t been smooth, but I’ve always been dedicated and committed to the road ahead. It definitely started when I was young. I was definitely highly competitive. I played a lot of sports and things like that, so I definitely always had that drive to overcome any obstacle or challenge. One of the biggest challenges that I faced in general that started or led me to the career of fitness and helping others was that in my senior year of high school, I tore my ACL. I had hyper-extended it the year before, my junior year, but unfortunately, my senior year, I did made, in a real live game, I made a hard cut, and I did tear my ACL. But I had just signed to the college that I was going to go play basketball for, and it was a Division II school out in Boston. And I knew I didn’t want to sit out my freshman year, so a decision that me and my dad made was that my athletic trainer at the time in my high school, she was amazing. And she definitely, that summer before I went off to college, she taught me a lot, a lot of what I learned today definitely goes out to Coach Meg, my athletic trainer from Union High School. And I always credit a lot to her, and I tell people, like, when it comes to fitness, a lot of the CrossFit, a lot of the HIIT workouts, a lot of the high impact, a lot of the heavy lifting, I learned from her. She would have me working out with the track team, and she would have me working out solo. Like, we would just be doing so many things, and I really appreciate Coach Megan for sure. She is now the athletic director at Union High School, so shout out to her. But one of the biggest obstacles I had to learn was fighting back for what I wanted, fighting back for, you know, what I knew I had prepared myself for to get to that point, and not letting anything get in my way. So I played with no ACL my entire freshman year of college going in, but I was hooping. So honestly, I took the right precautions. I had my brace. I didn’t care, and I pushed through. So when I started personal training, and, you know, things were a little slow and things like that, I never let that deter me. I just kept going. I didn’t care if I had one client, two clients, whatever. Maybe I had two this week, and then next week I only had one. Adversity, it never, it doesn’t stop me. So I really don’t see challenges as obstacles, as things that will stop me from my path. One of the things that I will say is just understanding that every obstacle is temporary. I’m definitely a firm believer into my faith, and I always know that this too shall pass. So nothing is forever. No bad moment is forever. No setback is permanent. So once you already know that, then you know that you can overcome anything. So I lead with that mindset that regardless of what I may be going through right now, it’s not the end result. It’s not the final outcome. So challenges and obstacles, I just treat them as a part of what’s to come and what’s a part of life in the process. And I definitely accredit sports to a lot of that mindset because sports is, you know, it teaches you that. It teaches you that you’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some. You got to fight back. Even when you may be down, you got to still keep fighting. So everything ties into the fact that the background that I have and what I was, you know, how I was raised and the things that I did in my youth and my adolescence, those positive things that drove me to want to be better as a person overall, it just transferred into adulthood. So I welcome challenges. I welcome obstacles because I know that that’s only going to make me smarter, stronger, wiser, and it’s also going to make me want to push past the next obstacle that comes my way. And once I started my brand, AK Fitness, there were obstacles with that. I think one of the biggest obstacles that I did face was just getting myself out there. I think sometimes with social media and seeing, you know, a lot of people that are doing similar things as you, you try to sometimes compare, like, oh, okay, I could be doing this better, I should be doing it like that. Once you take the comparing aspect out of it and stop stacking yourself up against what it should look like or what someone else is doing that may look more visually pleasing, you really start to just understand that what you bring to the table is organic. No one else can be you. No one else is you. We’re all individuals. We all offer something that the next person can’t. And once you figure out what that is, you just, you keep going. Once I understood that I am me, I’m AK Fitness, I’m Alexis, what I bring is not what the next person brings, but what I bring is still valuable. So just promoting myself, constantly putting out my videos, when I was at the time when fitness, you know, was emergingly trending back in like, what, 2019, when people were really getting into it, 2020, I would say, when, like, it came more popularized to, like, constantly keep posting that content and those workout videos, you know, separating organic from gimmicks. I think that was also a big thing that, you know, I also took the time to realize, like, man, a lot of this stuff is like, they’re working out is real gimmicky. Like, it’s not things that are really gonna actually benefit. And I wanted to show women real workouts that would actually help and benefit them, whether they were at high difficulty level or whether they were beginner. So I definitely, the biggest obstacle was just keep pushing, keep promoting, keep putting yourself out there. Somebody’s gonna like it, somebody’s gonna see it, somebody is gonna relate to someone. And whoever that person that it relates to, that’s your base. Keep pushing it for them. They’re gonna be the ones supporting you. They’re gonna bring others that feel the same way, and they’re gonna come support you. So, definitely just pushing myself, not worrying about what’s going on around me, using social media as a business. Ultimately, that’s how I see it. You know, it’s a free opportunity for all of us to promote what we have, right? What is your niche? What is something special? What is your business? What is your hobby? What is your, are you, you know, what do you bring that you wanna constantly put out there and utilizing the free advertisement that we have in this world, such as social media, and promoting ourselves and getting ourselves out there.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a personal trainer. I’m a full-time teacher. I specialize in English Language Arts. My second specialty within English Language Arts is small group intervention and also behavioral management teaching. I am also the owner, founder, and head coach of NJ Vols basketball team out of North Jersey. I have been doing that since 2019. In addition to the head assistant coach for Essex county college women’s basketball team. And I am proud of them ALL! I am everything that is serving the purpose of helping people, whether it’s education, whether it’s health and wellness, and whether it’s them getting better in a sport that I’ve also played and helping them further their education. And that’s me. That’s me in a nutshell. Honestly, I love fitness. I love working out. I love helping people meet their goals. I love teaching. I love building connections with students. I love being advocates for them. I love helping them see their inner potential when it comes to education. And I love coaching. Coaching is my passion. Coaching is what I do that never feels like work. It definitely has its moments where it can get a little, you know, challenging, but it never feels like I’m doing something that doesn’t align with my purpose. So everything that I do aligns with me, whether it’s in the classroom, whether it’s in the gym, or whether it’s on the court. That’s who I am, all in all.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I have a lot of favorite childhood memories. Honestly, it’s hard to say or to pinpoint which one is my favorite. When I look back at like my entire upbringing, I would say my parents are the best part of my childhood memory because without them, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. And when I say that my parents are the best of my childhood memories, I say that firmly because I have so many memories with both of them that if had not been for those two, I’m not sure, like, you know, what my childhood would have been. So I would say my childhood was filled with love. It was filled with guidance. It was filled with direction. It was filled with discipline. It was filled with new opportunities and experiences. It was filled with my parents allowing me the freedom to be who I am, but also pushing me to be the best at what I, you know, what I can and what I’m capable of. And definitely my father always being in my corner is a very big part of my childhood. And I just feel like without him, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. So when I look back at my childhood, I attest a lot of it to my parents and just them allowing me to try different things. I think ultimately just trying different things, supporting what I did, what I wanted to do, whether it was creatively, athletically. I just felt always really supported when it came to, okay, you want to do this? We’re putting you in this. You want to do that? We’re gonna see it through. You want to get better here? We’re gonna, my dad definitely being the one to step up and say like, okay, we gotta take the time. You want to do this? You gotta take the time to get better at it. We gotta practice. So a lot of practicing with him when it came to basketball filled my childhood a lot, and also softball because those were my two primary sports at the time. So spending a lot of time with him just getting better, getting better at becoming a better version of me, getting better at becoming a better athlete. Those are just some real core childhood memories that I have. And it wasn’t all sports and it wasn’t all work, but I enjoyed it. That’s why I said it never felt like work to me. Like, obviously as a kid, you’re like, oh, why do I have to do this? But looking back at it now, I enjoy doing those things. I wish I could still be doing those things. I wish I can just, me and my dad, we could walk to the park in our town and, you know, just practice, right? Just practice basketball, or we walk to the softball fields in our town or, you know, and we just practice, you know, hitting some out to the outfield. So I just enjoyed all of those memories. And then going, being with my mom on that side of my family, it’s a very large family. We are a Caribbean family. My mom and my grandmother, that entire side of my mom’s side of the family is from Dominica, small island in the Caribbean known as the Nature Island. So a lot of my childhood came in events such as holiday get togethers, big cookouts, backyard parties, big, lots of food. Hence why I’m a foodie lol. Just a lot of family-oriented things. So I feel like my childhood was very balanced. When I was spending time with my mom’s side of the family, it was a lot of laughter, a lot of fun, a lot of music. That’s where I definitely feel like my love for music really came into play. That’s a big part of my childhood too. I love music. I love dancing. I love all of that. In the Caribbean culture, it’s very embraced, you know, and that was a big part of my childhood as well too. So I just enjoyed the family aspect and just coming from a very big family, a very loving and supportive family, just spending those times together as kids, you know, playing with my cousins, running around, me and my cousins creating dance choreography, performing it for our family, like, you know, just things like that really encompassed my childhood. So ultimately, I attest all my favorite childhood memories to being with both sides of my family and doing the things that I love, spending time with those who I love, and working on what I love to do.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexis.kristinaa?igsh=MWQzeHpmdDh6bXFsNw==
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/njvols?igsh=b3JqbzhqZDh5Z2s4