Drive, Dedication, And Discipline: Meet Vel Bates and Alexis Ackerson The Owners Of 3D Fitness- Part 1

By La’Crystele Brown
Ink Spot Contributing Writer

Born and raised in Fort Wayne, IN, Vel Bates and Alexis Ackerson have been best friends for the last 17 years. They both grew up playing sports and having a love for fitness. Ackerson played basketball and tennis while Bates played football and ran track. After graduating in 2012, the two stepped into adulthood and began working and focusing on the worries of everyday life. It wasn’t until 2015, that Bates walked past a mirror and realized he did not like the reflection staring back at him. He had been an athlete for most of his life but looking at himself at that moment, he couldn’t tell.

This would spark a fire in both he and Ackerson that would lead them to their destiny, fitness. Bates began working out with a vast amount of support and encouragement from Ackerson. Both Ackerson and Bates would go on to carry out the insanity challenge together! They realized that they had both been athletes in their adolescent and that it was time for them to start taking care of their bodies by not only working out but eating better.

After seeing the changes, he and Ackerson were making within themselves and how good they were feeling, Bates came to Ackerson expressing that he thought he might be ready to help others by getting his certification and becoming a personal trainer. Ackerson was supportive and excited for Bates, and ready to push him in any way needed to start his journey to becoming a certified personal trainer. Ackerson listened to Bates, she heard him when he expressed, he wanted to be a well-known personal trainer, and she continually gave him the push to go after it. During this time, she was working on her own photography business LArts, but that did not stop Ackerson from hopping on board and helping Bates invest and study. She assisted and encouraged him to do his research, she made flash cards, and everything else she possibly could to ensure Bates was successful. This was no easy task though, being that both Bates and Ackerson were working full time jobs, but after some time, Bates was able to obtain his certification.

Just as Bates was stepping into his new role as a personal trainer, he and Ackerson were also stepping into their new roles of mom and dad. This, however, did not stop Ackerson from being willing and ready to continue her fitness journey by becoming Bates first client. This was new for them both, but Bates wanted to be sure he was able to be the personal trainer he wanted to be. He knew that training others would be different then training himself. Not everyone would have the same body type and eating habits so training Ackerson would help him discover if he knew what steps to take, and after 8 months Ackerson was down 60lbs after having her first child and training with Bates.

Little did the two know, training for those 8 months would spark a love for fitness and training in Ackerson as well. At this time, Ackerson and Bates were still working their full-time jobs, but Bates knew he wanted to be a personal trainer full time. He started to save and do meal plans for clients because he was working so much at his full-time job that he didn’t have time to train people. It got to the point where they realized if Bates wanted to train others, he would need to quit his full time and take a leap of faith.

Being that Ackerson and Bates had just started their family, it was hard to just up and leave work to chase their dreams. The two of them would have many conversations about Bates leaving his job to train full time, and it took a lot of teamwork and effort to get the ball rolling. Of course, the full-time job was a safe place, a security blanket, and comfortable, because they knew exactly what they were getting and when they were getting it, but this dream was bigger than that.

Bates and Ackerson remember the day it finally happened in 2018 like it was yesterday. They were sitting at home and Bates had about 10 minutes to get to work. He informed Ackerson that it was time, if he didn’t get up and go, this was it. With a muster seed of faith, they watched the clock count down until his shift started and once the time came and went, it was like an immense amount of weight had lifted from their shoulders.

From that moment on the two began planning and preparing. Ackerson was writing up and formatting contracts and flyers for Bates' new personal training business. Bates would then upload those flyers and contracts to his social media pages to advertise and bring in customers. Of course, it wasn’t always rainbows and sunshine. There were times that business was slow, and Ackerson had no problem doing all she could for their family during those times. Bates loved how supportive she was, but he also felt he should be doing well enough that she never needed to do that. This made Bates want to go back and get a full-time job, but instead Bates picked up a part time morning job at another company. He would work 4am-8am at his part-time job and then leave and go straight to anytime fitness where he would contract personal train others from 8am-6pm. Bates and Ackerson knew that God was rewarding their faith because clients started to roll in.

The final test and push towards their destiny from God came when everyone was laid off from the part time job Bates was working. The new security blanket he had secured was now gone. He had nothing fall back on; it was around this time that a conversation they had long ago about opening a gym of their own had resurfaced. The two of them started to do their research by reading articles about opening a gym and watching YouTube videos that others had posted about opening their own gym.

They started to tour buildings during Ackerson’s lunch breaks and after work. They toured their current location during this time but didn’t feel like it was a good fit due to the state it was in. It was hard for them to imagine their new baby coming to life in the conditions the building had been left in. As they were continuing to look for a building to start their gym. Covid 19 hit and everything started to get shut down. This was an obstacle for them because a lot of owners were not willing to set up tours during this time. Not to mention they had already started buying equipment for the gym, so as you can imagine this was not an ideal situation to be in.

While Ackerson still had her job in hospice care, Bates only had personal training at this time. So, like many others, Bates spent the height of the pandemic at home, but he was putting his time to good use. He called around looking for landlords that were willing to tour their buildings. A blessing from above, Daniel Gabbard, was able to come through for the duo and find landlords willing to let Bates and Ackerson come out and tour their buildings.