About UAF

Since 2023, Upstate Alternative Fitness has strived to increase your confidence by positioning alternative forms of health and wellness as a normalized act of resilience in your life, regardless of your background in athletics. 

The POLEFIT Technique combines flexibility, strength training and pole conditioning to provide caloric burn and optimal training results.  

Elevate your fitness journey with Upstate Alternative Fitness today!

We host pole fitness trainings and workshops for adults (18+) of all backgrounds and genders! Come to learn a new fitness skill or improve your current tricks by learning strength and pole conditioning exercises. Using our proven POLEFIT technique, you'll see and feel the results! We also perform and provide pole rentals for events. 

UAF Founder Maryika aka Spicy Kay is a social entrepreneur, vested entertainer and the founder of Upstate Alternative Fitness. 

She has over a decade of experience in communications and community work. She is a model, event MC, influencer and communications expert with a passion for shaping impactful narratives. In turn, UAF’s programs focuses on utilizing aerial arts as a tool for transforming shame into self-expression, building intersectional community and aligning physical movement with emotional empowerment. 

As a true native of Upstate New York, she earned her BA and MA from the University at Albany. Now she uses her expertise to transform organizations like UAF through innovative programs and strategies. Her work with UAF is grounded in co-cultural theory, uplifted by collective economics, propelled by Black womanism, and supports sex worker liberation.