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Break a Sweat, Make an Impact
E
ven running on three hours of sleep, Albert Ferguson is all energy. The night before, Albert sat in Northwestern University’s Main Library until 3AM planning special fitness and community outreach programs for Fitness Matrix, the gym he owns and manages. Despite the lack of sleep, Albert soldiers on through his busy day training clients and running his two locations. Fitness Matrix opened its first location in Southwest Evanston in 2011. After graduating from Northwestern in 1998 and earning his MBA from Georgetown University in 2003, Ferguson worked a variety of jobs, from management consulting in Washington, D.C. to corporate business training in Copenhagen, Denmark, to co-founding a not-for-profit as part of the Halcyon Incubator, an incubator for socially responsible businesses. During that time, Albert honed his organizational and communication skills, and visualized a career path where fitness and community would intersect. Thirteen years later, Albert returned to Evanston, a place that has “always felt like home” to him. Here, he launched a business that combined his passion for fitness and community building: a small, specialized gym where trainers could cultivate meaningful relationships with their clients. Fitness Matrix offers a variety of programming, including personal training, small group training, sports conditioning, martial arts, and special programs for children and seniors. “I wanted to create a fitness facility for the entire family,” he says.
by Morgan Smith More so, Albert wanted to open a gym that emphasized personal growth and development as well as muscle strengthening, inspired by his college experience. As an undergraduate student at Northwestern, Albert was an active member of the ParaCombatives Ju-Jutsu club. Then, under the instruction of (now) Evanston Police Officer Ervin de Leon, Albert says his selfconfidence and well-being skyrocketed. Albert, a certified personal trainer, sports conditioning specialist, corrective exercise specialist, and martial arts expert, wants to impart the same confidence to his clients. “Feeling better about yourself can positively impact your relationship with everything in your daily life,” he says. Because of his ties to the local community, Albert was approached by officers Ervin de Leon and Adam Howard from the Evanston Police Department to host a special community fitness event called “Five-O-Fitness”. The objective of the Five-O-Fitness is to engage community members with the police department through regular workouts right in the neighborhood. 30 people paid a small fee to workout alongside Albert and officers from the police department, and uniformed officers stopped by to chat throughout the event. Albert and his team even had Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty sweating and boxing! Fitness Matrix donated the proceeds of the event to the Officer & Gentlemen Academy mentorship program coordinated by EPD and Evanston/Skokie School District 65. But participating in Five-O-Fitness was only the first step in Albert’s grand scheme to strengthen the Evanston community. Albert wishes to make Fitness Matrix accessible and affordable
to all Evanston residents so that everyone can experience the benefits of working out to improve their overall daily life. To deepen its roots in the community, Fitness Matrix is launching a kids’ martial arts programs to help mentor young boys and girls in hopes that through this additional training, these students will develop goal setting and persevere to graduate from high school, where they can continue their relationship with Albert through the New Leaf Initiative when they matriculate in college. Enter the New Leaf Initiative: Albert’s work-in-progress, a program that aims to provide a broad spectrum of support and mentorship to local first generation college students. “When you first get to college, especially as the first in your family to attend, it’s like learning how to drive – there are so many important things that command your attention that it’s hard not to make mistakes,” Albert says. “It would be nice to help these students navigate resources, interact with professors, manage their new found personal freedom, and problem solve anything else that arises.” Albert also wants to expand the Fitness Matrix’s services to include women-specific self-defense classes that infuse fitness with functionality and fun. Working with both children and adults, Albert says the best part of his work is simply connecting with his clients. “People always reveal their best selves through hard work,” he says. Stop by or call 847-772-2444 Fitness Matrix, located at 2409 Main Street, to visit and watch Albert motivate residents to reach their fullest potential.
