Give Abby Cain a few minutes, and she can whip your body—or your bank account—into shape.

by Cassady Sharp . photo by Matt Rose

Abby Cain may like her exercise “super slow,” but her life is anything but. A financial consultant three days a week and a personal trainer for two, Cain, who has a three-year-old and a newborn, admits she sometimes takes on too much. “I just call it what it is—insane,” says Cain, 35. “I had a cookout on Halloween, and I thought to myself—when I had one screaming child on the floor and another on my hip—‘You’re insane!’”

Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, Cain moved back to the state with her husband in 2008 after working in private banking with J.P. Morgan in Los Angeles and New York City. While living in New York and waking at 4am to exercise before work, Cain knew she had to do something different to burn calories. Through a colleague, she discovered “Super Slow” exercise, a weight-lifting routine in which the participant lifts as slowly as possible until the muscle is fatigued. Originating as a University of Florida study on women with osteoporosis in 1982, Super Slow quickly gained popularity among trainers. “My body was changing drastically,” Cain says of her experience with the unusual workout, which is only usually done once or twice week. “I felt like Superwoman.”

She was so convinced of the exercise’s benefits and convenience that she endured the rigorous—and expensive—process of instructor certification in New York.

After moving to Asheville, Cain opened a studio, Rock Bottoms, in the BB&T building on College Street. She offers personal training and consulting sessions on Monday and Fridays. If you also happen to need financial consulting, she can help with that too. Teaming up with a colleague back in September, Cain opened Galileo Planning, Inc., a financial consulting company focusing on individuals and nonprofits. She dedicates Tuesday through Thursday to Galileo, but admits she thinks about both businesses nonstop.

Cain is an ardent advocate for Super Slow because she is their ideal customer: a working mother. “You can reclaim your life,” she explains, noting that, to see significant toning, you really only need to invest 30 minutes a week for six weeks. “I can have a passion that I remain motivated about instead of doing one thing at the exclusion of other things.”