Our Mission
At CANAM, we develop athletes. Our focus is to create a safe, exciting environment for athletes to fall in love with physical preparation that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. We take an education first approach that focuses on long term development. We accomplish this by cultivating a strong coaching team with a proven track record of preparing elite level athletes in various sports through smart programming, mentoring, and goal setting. We pride ourselves on creating a healthy competitive team environment where athletes can safely push themselves.
CANAM’s Origin Story
In 2018, CANAM co-owner and Head Coach, Adam Blandford, set out to create a space for athletes to train like athletes, without gimmicks, and with the support of dedicated coaches. He launched Lift Zone to offer smart, simple programming, and a place for you to work your ass off.
CANAM, with an expanded facility, builds on Adam’s high performance background as part of the US National Bobsled Team and experience training collegiate and national level athletes (the “AM”). It also builds on co-owner Andy Stewart’s 15 years as strength and conditioning coach for Carleton’s Men’s Basketball team, (13x nat’l champs) and other varsity and professional athletes (the “CAN”).
What makes CANAM different?
Our Coaching Team
Our qualified team has coached and played on various university and national level teams. We have diverse experience with sprint, strength, conditioning, gymnastics, basketball, rugby, bobsled, football, hockey, soccer, Olympic weightlifting, and so much more.
Because we’ve been on both sides of the experience – we are able to utilize that knowledge and experience to better train our athletes.
You can learn more about our coaching team here!
Our Programming
We develop our athletes through smart programming, mentoring, and goal setting to help them reach their full potential.
Our Community
On top of our highly-qualified and passionate coaching team, we have a kick-ass community that are focused, driven, and all around fun to train with.
We are so proud of what we have accomplished with our athletes in the last few years. We have coached, trained, and programmed athletes from all ages in baseball, basketball, bobsled, hockey, football, Olympic lifting, rugby, soccer, sprint triathlons, track, volleyball, and ultra marathons (just to name a few). Many of which play at collegiate or national/international level – most recently our bobsledders at the Olympic Games Beijing 2022.
Outside of our competitive athletes, we have had the distinct pleasure to work with people looking to set and achieve their own health and fitness goals. It has been an amazing ride so far!
Get the inside look at CANAM on our Instagram feed here!
Our Facility
Our 4,500 square foot high performance training facility is located off Colonnade Road in Ottawa’s West End. Since the Spring of 2019, we have been delivering high quality, science based strength and conditioning sessions and programs.