As a transgender man, Alex Martinez knows how it feels to be othered—and he knows he’s not alone. That experience has influenced his work as both a fitness trainer and gym owner.
“I knew it wasn’t just me and because I’m trans,” said Martinez, owner of the Above the Bar gym, 2000 N. Western Ave., where he seeks to provide an inclusive environment. “I knew many people don’t feel welcomed in gym spaces, whether they’re in bigger bodies, have no experience [or are] disabled, trans or nonbinary.”
Martinez recalled witnessing body-shaming at gyms, as well as people in bigger bodies tasked with inaccessible exercises and people with disabilities infantilized by their trainers. All of that goes against what Martinez maintains is the goal of a good workout: making people feel empowered.
Martinez, a former graphic designer, worked in various gyms from 2016 to 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was giving private personal training sessions, he realized, “I needed more community myself; I needed more trans folks, more queer folks.”
He opened a brick-and-mortar personal training studio in October 2020, and the following year it became Above the Bar, which moved to its current, larger location in 2023.
Martinez and his seven coaches offer both individual and group workouts that encompass strength-training, mobility-assistance, instruction in self-care and more. The gym’s trans barbell club, was recently recognized by Chicago Reader as the “Best new club for queer and trans people getting started with strength training.”
Martinez’s approach to fitness training grew in part out of negative behaviors he engaged in after transitioning at age 19. He wanted to grow muscle and masculinize his body, but he developed an eating disorder and other unhealthy habits.
“I saw a need for a safe space in the fitness and nutrition world,” said Martinez, now 34. Becoming a trainer was ultimately part of his recovery.
His philosophy does not focus on how many calories a client consumes or what the scale says, but whether exercise movements give them that feeling of empowerment, he said, adding, “It was a very welcomed approach.”
To assure trans clients feel welcomed at Above the Bar, Martinez starts by informing them of the fact that the gym is owned by a trans person. During his first consultation, he assures them that Above the Bar is a safe space for others.
When making introductions, he and his staff make sure everyone uses one another’s correct names and pronouns, he added. Since Above the Bar is a small gym, it has no locker room—so changing-room access is not an issue—and there’s one gender-neutral bathroom.
Martinez grew up on the East Coast, and eventually moved to northwest Indiana with his family. He came to Chicago in 2015. He came out to his family immediately after high school and transitioned while living in Indiana.
Someone particularly helpful to him was Meghan Buell, a longtime trans activist in the region, he said. Buell, founder of Transgender Resources, Education and Enrichment Services, or TREES, based in South Bend, died in 2023 at age 58.
“She was definitely a huge support to me and other trans people in northwest Indiana,” he said.
Martinez recalled something Buell told him after he said his family members, though largely accepting, weren’t learning all the ins- and-outs of trans-identity quickly enough.
She told Martinez, “You know what your finish line looks like,” but reminded him that, while he was running toward it, his family was walking. Now Martinez often spends his leisure time with his family, as well as with his fiancé.
Martinez acknowledged that running a small business can be challenging, especially in the current economy. Nevertheless he finds it “more rewarding than it is challenging” and appreciates building both personal connections and a sense of community through the gym.
Above the Bar also satisfies his creative side, he added, noting that his aesthetic choices are “all over the place, from the design of the logo to the colors that we choose, to the experience we offer.”
Nevertheless, running the gym requires more logical and strategic creativity than aesthetic creativity, Martinez admitted. But it’s creativity just the same—finding ways to grow Above the Board offers him his greatest creative outlet, he added.
“I’m a creative at heart,” Martinez said.