Wasilla fitness studio now featuring pilates

STUDIO 3 Pilates, Innergy Fitness Studio’s newest offering, provides a unique and exciting opportunity for the Valley.

In its first month in operation, STUDIO 3 Pilates has booked out classes and has received a great response from the community, according to owner Jordan Elkins. Getting people outside, active and healthy is what drives Elkins to create new opportunities for fitness at Innergy.

“I feel like it's something the community needs and can benefit from,” Elkins said. “It's popular in a lot of other states but just not here yet. I just keep trying to bring those kinds of high-level fitness experiences to our community.”

Pilates is a low impact way to train, Elkins explained. It encourages mindfulness, breath control and creates a mind and body connection while strengthening and stretching the body.

“It promotes people slowing down and really being mindful and focused on what they're doing with a high amount of intention,” Elkins said.

STUDIO 3 Pilates offers classes for every skill level. Courses range from getting familiar with equipment, to advanced techniques and exercises. The studio currently operates with six reformers (training apparatus specifically for Pilates) and has another two on the way to meet the high demand for the class. Class sizes remain small and provide a more personal training experience.

Participants range from early 20s to late 70s, with the majority being women aged 30-60. Elkins joked that the men that participate call it, “mannergy.”

“I truly believe that it's for anyone,” Elkins said. “At the meat and potatoes of what I think about movement and working out, I think we should do it for as many days of our life as we possibly can.”

Elkins said that the team has been learning and growing alongside their clients and that they will continue to evolve and adapt class offerings to meet the needs of the community.

“It's a really cool experience of watching our instructors and our community all grow up in it together,” Elkins said. “Everyone just evolved in a connected way. It's been pretty cool.”

Those interested in the classes can find more information on the Innergy Fitness Studio website. Participants can sign up for classes through the Mindbody app that Innergy uses for its other modalities of training.

STUDIO 3 Pilates, like Innergy itself, was created out of necessity and a desire from the community.

Elkins, born and raised in Wasilla, grew up playing hockey and graduated from Wasilla High School. She received a Division 1 scholarship to play for Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. During her summers at home, Elkins operated a youth hockey program in the Valley. She would eventually move to Dallas, Texas after college and coached for the Dallas Stars Youth Program.

Elkins said she recalled a turning point in her career when she was approached by the manager of the gym that she was a member of.

“I was just working out at the gym one day and the manager came up to me and said, ‘hey are you a trainer?’” Elkins said. “And I wasn't. I had a totally different job along with coaching hockey. But he said if you ever did become a trainer, you could work here and from then on the rest was kind of history.”

From there, Elkins received her training certifications and continued to teach yoga while training and coaching hockey. She would eventually move back to the Valley and had difficulty finding work as a trainer. She said she got turned down from every fitness studio and gym in the Valley.

When Elkins couldn’t find a job, she decided to make one for herself. She turned the basement of her mother’s house into a gym in 2017. Elkins said she quickly grew out of the space within a couple of months and Innergy moved to its first permanent location in 2018. Elkins said they stayed in that space for two years before moving to their current location at the Wasilla City Complex in 2020.

Innergy has grown in its offerings, to include yoga, barre, indoor cycling, personal training and group training and now pilates. They’ve expanded into three spaces at their complex.

“Ever since we got into that space it's been nothing but growth in terms of all the modalities we already have,” Elkins said.

Without the support of the community, Innergy could not offer the amount and types of classes that they do. Elkins currently employs 10 instructors and offers them a place to work and learn. Elkins said she doesn’t want others to face the same challenges she did when she first moved back to the Valley.

“I've coached classes in a lot of different places and it's really special,” Elkins said. “The fact that we have it right here in Wasilla is pretty cool. We wouldn't have it all or be able to keep growing without all of our members and our clients for sure.”

“And we're not done yet. We still have more ideas to come,” Elkins said.

Innergy Fitness Studio is located at 617 S. Knik-Goose Bay Road near downtown Wasilla. For more see innergyalaska.com or email innergyak@gmail.com.