Meet Alexandra (Alex) Nance of 22 Fit in Oak Forest/Greater Heights

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra (Alex) Nance.

Alexandra (Alex), let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I found CrossFit in 2010 but once I moved to Houston I could not afford the membership, while working out on my own I discovered that I enjoyed putting together different movements to create new workouts and using various equipment at the gym to create fun new workouts, so much so that strangers at the gym would come up to me and ask if I was a trainer or if I could help them with their workouts.

Fast forward three years, I was back into a CrossFit routine, working a regular office job, when I was approached by my gym owner to consider getting certified to be a CrossFit coach at the gym I was working out at. I really enjoyed helping out those new to CrossFit and kind of showing them the ropes and while I wasn’t necessarily the strongest girl at the gym, I had a clear understanding of all the movements and saw the importance of proper form and technique over anything else. I decided to give it a shot and in January 2014 I became a certified CrossFit coach. I really had not considered personal training until a few co-workers approached me and asked if I would go to the gym with them a few times and show them what to do with weights and put together some workouts they could complete on their own- it sounded like fun and it was!

The spring before my fiance (now husband) and I were getting married I was considering a job change, as we were discussing where I wanted to go, he brought up the idea of personal training and my response was “that seems like a job for people who don’t actually need to work, I mean if we could all get paid to workout and help others work out, wouldn’t the entire world do it? It would be amazing!”, he said, actually no, not everyone enjoys the gym as much as you do OR wants to help others while they are there. From there, I set out to get my personal training certification, begin my own company and I never looked back.

My first year, I started with 3 personal training clients, 2 boot camps (with only 8 people total between the two), a few CrossFit classes, a few boot camp classes for another company and hope that I wouldn’t completely fail. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing (sorry for those first few classes!) but I was going to give it my best shot.

In my first year and a half, I became more and more interested in nutrition and decided to get my nutrition certification knowing it could only help my clients and further my knowledge, little did I know it would become my newest obsession and passion.

In 2016 I took a brief year hiatus from focusing on my own business to be the manager and head coach of a CrossFit gym in Houston. I learned more than I could have ever imagined about running my own gym but decided to go back to focusing on my clients and re-discover my passion in this industry. With this transition, I made the jump into nutrition coaching.

I recently launched 22Fit Nutrition which is an online based nutrition coaching service focused on each client’s individual needs, goals, and lifestyles. I, like so many, have struggled with nutrition and eating, the good, the bad and the ugly, that I realized I could use so much of what I have learned to help others find their healthy balance. I continue to train clients out of a gym in the heights, coach CrossFit at a gym in Oak Forest, run a boot camp out of Oak Forest, and run my nutrition business from my home (or the best coffee shop that day!).

Has it been a smooth road?
Not so much a bumpy road, but a very curvy one. My ultimate “end goal” in the health and fitness industry has changed and morphed many times (and will probably continue to do so). I am also incredibly lucky that I have the world’s most supportive, but also hard working himself, husband to support me through this whole journey and every change and bump in the road.

I would say the biggest struggle was believing in myself, trusting that I could do this, and believing that I actually had something to offer that people would pay money and benefit from- that whole concept was hard to wrap my head around. I think due to the support from my husband and family, I’ve had far less major obstacles than many people in my shoes do. Its a tough industry to break into and in the day of social media, airbrush, and fad diets- it’s hard to stand out and actually convince someone to give you more than 5 minutes to make a difference!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the 22 Fit story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a nutritionist, personal trainer, and CrossFit Coach. 22Fit specifically offers personal training, boot camp, and online nutrition services.My approach to everything is that one size does not fit all, but we are all living in this same crazy, busy world so there are some key foundations that are important for everybody.

In personal training and boot camp, this is reflected by a focus on functional movements and movement patterns, exercises that will mostly translate into your everyday life. The intensity, load, duration, etc are what is modified for the individual. I want everybody to be a more badass human in their everyday life. We should all be able to put our suitcase in the overhead compartment, carry groceries from the store to our car, or simply pick up your child without injuring your back. In nutrition, this is reflected in my overall approach with flexible dieting or macro counting as some have heard. While the approach is similar to most clients, how they get there, how quickly they reach their goals, and what their daily focus is on can all be very different.

What I also think sets me apart, is that I care- A LOT. I want everyone to succeed, sometimes to a fault and still take it personally when someone does not, but I want to go to whatever lengths it takes to reach each client where they are.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Well, there will always be new trends and new fads, I don’t think I’m creative enough to come up with the next crazy fitness trend 🙂

One thing I would really like to see (and have hope for!), is a bigger push for professionalism in the industry as a whole. Health and fitness gets a bad rap a lot of the time, sometimes deserved unfortunately, but I think that with the plethora of information now available (right and wrong) and the immediate ability to share experiences, the less professional and less legitimate coaches/facilities/companies, etc will slowly start to die down. This may be a little blindly optimistic on my part, but I do believe in “survival of the fittest” a bit and hope that comes into play with the more professional, accredited, legitimate business flourishing.

Pricing:

• Online Nutrition Coaching: 12 Weeks $360
• Personal Training: $70/hour session; $40/30min session

Contact Info:

• Website: www.22-fit.com
• Phone: 703-309-0741
• Email: alex@22-fit.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/22fitnutrition
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/22FITHouston/

Image Credit:
@beeinthephoto

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