Biography

I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, but mainly grew up in the city of Moncton, New Brunswick. I graduated from Harrison Trimble High School in 1995 and continued on to the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, in a Bachelor of Science Program, where I graduated in 1998. After 3 fabulous years, I returned to Maritimes, and completed my Bachelor of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island.  I taught high school mathematics, science and ethics to grades 8-10 for over 10 years, however, 2011 decided to pursue a career in personal training and nutrition.

I have been involved in athletics all my life. I climbed the walls as a child, so my mom put me in gymnastics. In junior high I had discovered cheerleading, and my gymnatic ability became an asset. I had participated in cheerleading throughout my elementary and high school educaton, and was recruited for cheerleading by the University of Western Ontario. So I became a Mustang – Go Stangs!

During my second year at Western, I remember the exact moment that I discovered fitness competitions. I was at the Toronto Sky dome, for a National cheerleading event and there it was – a fitness competition on television. I knew that this was something that I would pursue, but being a student and participating in a sport is difficult enough without adding another activity. So, I decided to wait until I was finished with cheerleading.

After I moved back to the Maritimes, I took a few moments off training and sport, and lived the normal university life. After a few undisciplind weeks that turned into months, I had an overwhelming desire to be involved with sport again, and realized that now would be a great time pursue and experience fitness competitions.

I began to educate myself on fitness through the various fitness magazines that are out there, especially Oxygen. Very few people had a web site at this time, and the Internet was new.  There was no facebook, twitter or even a large use of email at the time.  But I managed to find out where a local competition was being held, trained and entered. My first show was the Miss Fitness New Brunswick. It was myself and one other girl who competed, but it set the stage for my future competitions.

I ended up winning the show, and to my surprise a gentleman by the name of Gary Bartlett was in the audience and wrote for Musclemag in this column called “Canadian Corner”. To my surprise, my very first show had a highlight in an international publication.  Garry is still the representative for the Province of New Brunswick and does photography for various CBBF National and International level shows.

Thinking my experience with competing to be pretty cool, and I continued to enter more competitions, gained more exposure with each show. Highlights of my fitness career up to this point included: Fitness Canada Champion, 3 x FAME Fitness Champion, Fitness America National Champion, and Ms. Fitness Canada Runner-up.

After the birth of my son in May of 2006, I felt that it was time to make a switch to the Canadian Bodybuilding Federation (CBBF) and eventually off to the International Bodybuilding Federation (IFBB). I was ready for the change, and consider it a lateral move to be able to continue to challenge myself and grow as an athlete.

In the last 4 years of my amateur career, I had placed in the top 3 at all CBBF Nationals events. I am the 2008 Arnold Amateur Fitness Champion, and won my IFBB Pro card at the inaugural fitness event held at the North American Championships in August of 2009, in Cleveland Ohio. I won my class and the overall.  That year included another highlight, as I also won the 2009 Bodybuilding.com/Ironman magazine Spokes model competition.

Two weeks after winning my IFBB pro card, I went on to the Atlantic City Pro Fitness event. In my first Pro show, I am the last “new pro” to do all 4 rounds of competition. (45 sec, one piece, 2 min routine, and two piece)

Since my winning my IFBB Pro card I have been invited to the IFBB Arnold Fitness International 3x and have competed in over 12 Pro shows in the last 3 years.

I am not only a competitor but also a huge fan of the girls as many of them are very good friends of mine. I hold a lot of respect for the other girls who continue to choose this form of competition.

I have been featured in Muscle & Fitness Hers, Oxygen, Musclemag, Ironman magazine, Inside Fitness, Max Sports Mag, Natural Muscle, and various other publications. I have participated in infomercials, radio interviews, calendars, television interviews, and booth work at the Arnold and Olympia events. At the Arnold I have worked for Musclemag, Dream Tan, Muscular Development, and Lone Star Nutrition, Bodybuilding.com.

I invite you to visit my various videos on my YouTube channel and I welcome you to visit the Multimedia section.

I know my time is limited for competition and want to make the most of it for the next few years.  I not only want to coach them, but teach them how to be able to balance both worlds – family life, and competition like and have a little fun in the meantime.

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it” – Maya Angelou

Allison