Am I the Ultimate Health, Wellness and Fitness Junkie?

Probably not, but I'm going to become it someday!

Between training others, training myself, being approached for advice, hours upon hours of lecture, anatomy readings, histology readings, mannequin simulations (the coolest thing) and then the fitness reading I do for please, I am well on my way to being the Ultimate Fitness Resource! LOL.
 
Labour Day weekend I was fortunate enough to visit my boyfriend, Ryan, in Orlando, FLA. He is currently working down there, so we spent Thurs-Mon hitting Disney, Universal,  and the Lazy River and Basketball court at the Resort we were at. These weekends always throw me off a bit, and in this case, I almost felt undeserving of sucha  great time because I felt I haven't even worked hard enough in school yet to deserve such a treat. Over the weekend we walked a ton, went to the gym, and luckily I was able to stick to a fairly healthy diet by having the hardboiled eggs and oatmeal for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner (which is about the ONLY thing I eat when I eat at a restaurant. Dressing on the side. The reason? There is less guessing as to what the food is actually comprised of. Your pasta dish you had the last time you dined out was probably 1000+ calories, with a zillion grams of fat and 45925238mg of salt. Just saying, I like to know.).
 
Upon my return Monday, I went for a late night run since the gym was closed. It was already dark when I went for my run, so I increased the intensity to decrease the amount of time I would have to spend out by running 10 250m hills, and then completing a 6krun afterwards. Came home to prepare for my first full day at CMCC. WHen I say full I mean, same lecture hall, no windows, quick 5 min breaks in between classes from about 8am-5 or 6pm. The week seems like a blur as I sit here writing this! Mixed in with class was a morning workout on Tuesday for myself, 4 boot camps taught (tues and thurs), a run on Wednesday and a day off on Thurs, tonight I plan to run stairs and go for a 10km run.
 
Traffic and all of the sitting each day motivates me through my exhaustion to get moving. One day of unprepared meals has motivated me to keep fresh, healthy snacks on hand to pack as lunches (dont want to spend the money, or change my eating habits with a school caf!).
 
My plate of busy-ness, which has always seemed full, now has 3 side dishes and a bread basket on top of appetizers and dessert. I am friggen busy. I am determined to do everything I want to do. A friend of mine said the other day, "Alli, you have a phobia of failure," which was interesting to me and my mom who told me that my Grade 1 teacher had told her "Alli never wants to make a mistake!" This of course was in addition to another comment she made about the fact that in the time it takes other kids to do one drawing, I make 7. So obviuosly, from the very beginning I have always been focused on success, but success in as many ways as possible. At 23, I am no different. I will succeed through these next 4 years of school, I will continue to be successful in my fitness goals, and I will continue to allow  people who train with me to be successful in their personal goals with my guidance.

Thanks for reading. I'm not editing this, my eyes hurt from longtmeeeeeeee computer stare. Sorry if the grammar is brutes.
 



Alli Cain, B.A.Kin, C.K.
Personal Trainer
www.ACAINtraining.com
905-806-7198

CMCC

My first week at CMCC! Luckily, the first few days consist of orientation, icebreaker games and other fun social activities! The class is just under 200 people, and contains a whole mix of people, but the mix is JUST my type; hard-working, eager to learn, physically active and competitive. While I know the next 10 months are going to be extremely time-consuming and challenging, I am SO excited!


What I am most excited for is learning for the purpose of doing, as opposed to learning for the sake of learning. Every course is held is to mimic a real patient-doctor scenario, to give us the hours of training needed to provide the BEST care possible. Tests aren't just for marks, they are to ensure we are proficient in the technique that is unique to the chiropractic profession and will be effective in 4 years when we begin to practise.
 
I am about to embark on a unique journey, one that will shape who I am and the life that I lead. I hope to keep count of my experiences through this blog and share with you, so that you gain a  better understand of just what a chiropractor is, and how they can benefit your health.
 
P.S. I will never stop training throughout my schooling! I've already managed to go on two 5am runs!
 
Alli Cain, B.A.Kin, C.K.
Personal Trainer
www.ACAINtraining.com
905-806-7198

Website Down

My website is currently unavailable. Any questions please email alli_cain@hotmail.com.
Thanks

Alli

Bloggggggin`

Fitness became my passion years ago when I saw the benefits of training for Basketball in high school. I first began in a sport strength class for young athletes not unlike the Sport and Strength Conditioning held at UTC. This stimulated my intrigue for bettering myself through physical fitness, and educating myself about the body and how it moves through a 4-year honours degree in Kinesiology at Laurier. During my time in university, my awareness of different types of training grew, and with the help of several trainers, friends and coaches, I began to become better at training myself. It was because of my high level of athleticism that I was able to obtain my goal of playing basketball for WLU. as well as competing with the varsity cross-country team.
 
After graduating, I went on to obtain a Sports Business Management diploma at Durham College. This landed me a `dream job`working at a Sports Agency that handled high-profile Olympic Athletes during the Vancouver Olympics..... Except it wasn`t MY dream job because I was stuck behind a desk for 9 hours a day! So, I quit, became a certified kinesiologist, moved home and followed my passion to become a trainer.
 
Over the past year and a bit my fitness and nutrition knowledge has grown and grown. There is NOTHING I would rather wake up at 5am for than to meet a group of people dedicated to bettering their health through fitness. My nutrition knowledge has been my latest obsession, as it was not until late in University that I realized that my commitment to training was only half the equation, and to become a better athlete, to obtain better health, and to get the full gains of my training session I needed to employ healthy eating habits to coincide with my healthy active lifestyle.
 
My current meal plan is as follows: (please note that this is not a diet and I have not consulted a nutritionist... it is what I have found that works for me to stay looking and feeling fit)

Meal 1: Egg Whites and 1 peice gluten free bread
Meal 2: Broccoli Slaw and Chicken
Meal 3: Broccoli Slaw and Tuna
Meal 4: Spinach, Strawberries, Almonds, Chicken, Balsalmic dressing
Meal 5: Egg Whites and Asparagus
 
I`m not perfect at following this diet, but I do my best. I notice a HUGE difference in the days when I `cheat `and the days when I am on track. That different in how I feel is enough motivation.
 
After a year of training, I am now returning to school to become a Doctor of Chiropractic. My dream is to have a clinic where I run functional strength and conditioning classes, can help people with their nutrition and most of all, allow people to be pain-free through Chiropractic treatment and other therapy modalities.
 
While my Boot Camps and personal training will scale down during my 4 year return to school, I will not give it up entirely. I will be available to answer any question, do online training, and I intend to run at least 4 Boot Camps a weeks (Tues and Thursdays). I hope you will join me as I grow as a trainer!

Thanks for reading,
 
 
Alli Cain

Don't "run" away from CardioAdvenutre!

The trial class of 'CardioAdventure' went great! Starting out as a group of six (with an age range from 15-50+), we began with a team acceleration run. Running in a straight line, the runner at the back sprinted to the front of the running line, and we continued this for approx 200m. After this, we got to our first checkpoint where we started with box jumps and tennis ball sprints for 45sec on for 2 rounds. Tennis ball sprints were a combination of speed and accuracy. I dropped the tennis balls and as soon as they hit the ground, the sprinters took off at full speed attempting to catch the tennis balls.

 

After a quick water break, we made our way to a basketball court. The group split into two, one group doing sprints in between the basketball poles, and the other doing two-foot hops over a painted line for 60sec. The goal of the bball pole sprints was to see how many times you could touch each pole within a minute. After a brief rest, the runners had to beat their previous score or else they owed me pushups :):) Sounds like fun!? It was! And it wasn't over yet!

At this point we had run about 1.5km, and were 25 minutes into our workout. We continued on at a good pace to the next checkpoint, a park on College Manor St. 10 Hill sprints and 60 sec planks on swings was the challenge at this point!

 

Back to running, we had 1.5km to go to return to the Magna centre. Running at a brisk, but manageable pace we finished in 45 minutes with a total of 3.68km run (including all of the bodyweight strength training at the checkpoints). The final 15 minutes included flying burpees, pushups and jumping jacks.

The CardioAdventure is a great way to test out your running skills. Our farthest distance will be 5km total, will always stay as a group and I'm sure you will find somebody who is at your pace for running!
Running is a great way to experience the outdoors, lose weight, and meet new people. The bodyweight strength training checkpoints are a great intermission from the running, and allow you to strengthen and define the total body - which cardio alone cannot do.

I invite you out to another free trial session. Just email me at allison@acaintraining.com to set it up!

Keep Moving!

Alli

Training Pro Lacrosse player and Team Canada member, Ryan McClelland.

 

Professional Lacrosse (NLL - indoor box) is such an interesting and exciting league. Exciting, because it is fast paced, high-energy and features amazing athletes performing one of the most strenuous sports. Interesting, because these dedicated athletes have regular Mon-Fri jobs and then spend their weekends playing the sport they love all over North America.

I believe that of all professional leagues, lacrosse players are athletes in the purest form as they are playing for the love of the sport. They work their careers, family and personal lives around their commitment to their sport. Ryan McClelland is one of these athletes. As a rookie for the Philadelphia Wings, and an entry-level Management Consultant at Carpedia International, Ryan is on the road literally 7 days a week during season. Flying on Sunday to work in Connecticut from Mon-Fri, then taking the train to Philly for Friday practises and Saturday games, then back to Connecticut on Sunday to begin the work week again. The hectic schedule makes it difficult to fit in anything else during the week, especially any type of strength and conditioning.

 

Finally, once season ends Ryan is able to get training! Having spent the last 5 years playing lacrosse year-round (at the collegiate level for Colgate University, and for different summer leagues including Team Canada, winning the silver at the World Championships in Summer 2010), he has never seriously trained beyond the sport but this summer things are different!

 

Ryan has been using the gym at his hotels (and coming to see me when he is actually in town) to get in some foundational training, and is about to move into a program based upon hypertrophy. We have been focusing on building size, strength, power, speed, endurance and agility (a tall order but lacrosse players must be able to give and take hits, while manoeuvering a ball and a stick).

 

Basic of his current program include :

Agility Ladder

Medball throws

Hurdle Jumps

Cleans
Snatches

Front Squats
Walking Lunges
Interval training (conditioning)  

*this is especially important for box lacrosse due to the intermittent nature of their shifts. Players must sprint at full speed on and off the field in order to substitute offense and defense, as well as move quickly within the field of play.

Core exercises

Long runs 1x/week (30 mins).

 

This is just a brief overview of his program, and is not all performed in one training session. We begin all of his sessions with a warmup, do a significant amount of work with the foamroller (decrease muscle tension and increase flexibility). Ryan performs his strenght training program, and finishes with conditioning. Currently, he is working out 4x a week, using his "off" or recovery days to focus on Lacrosse specific training, or going for a long run. His summer league will be beginning shortly, and his program will be adjusted according to his game/practise schedule.

 

Learn more about Ryan here! http://www.wingslax.com/team/player/player/

New Beginnings!

On March 1st, I got the news I have been waiting over a year for - I have been accepted into the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC!). I discovered Chiropractic in Oct. 2009 after a car accident/basketball injury and after research, informational interviews with Chiropractors, PT's and MD's decided to pursue this. It feels pretty surreal - mostly because the acceptance letter said "Congratulations, you have been accepted... now pay $11,000 for first semester." AY KARUMBA!.

The past two weeks have been quite the adjustment - with moving personal training studio's and trying to maintain my client base while thinking about payment for school I really am at a crossroads. I LOVE training, and I love everyone I work with - I was really hoping to continue to train throughout chiropractic college because it is something I could fit into my schedule and I could share the cool, new things I would be learning with my clients. However, it comes down to doing what is best for my future and right now, I need to save as much as I can in order to set myself up for future success.

Ryan is home this weekend! We are thinking about hosting a Lacrosse dryland training clinic on Saturday morning. I believe that many young athletes, and even teenage athletes do not understand the important of strength and conditioning for their sport. I certainly didn't do any type of training outside of basketball practise and the camps I attended in the summer. It is IMPERATIVE to strength train, to work on conditioning, endurance and flexibility if you want to take your sport skill to the next level. I hope to work with as many young athletes to inspire and assist them in this.

That's it.