Iowa City, IA Health and Fitness

Since launching their flagship 10-week program in 2001, the instructors at Farrell’s eXtreme Bodyshaping have spurred more than 35,000 trainees across 42 locations toward their weight-loss goals. Classes burn fat and build lean muscle with fitness kickboxing and muscle-building with anaerobic bands. Coaches support trainees with a nutrition plan that breaks up food intake into six daily meals, increasing sustaining bodily energy and a sense of déjà vu. The founders of Farrell’s eXtreme Bodybuilding are so confident in their program that they offer a money-back guarantee for those dissatisfied with their results.

Dr. Karen Besler and Dr. Laura Ross team up to helm Dental Associates of Cedar Rapids, where they improve smiles with Invisalign and veneers and ensure improved oral hygiene with general checkups for patients of all ages. They attend to patients during convenient early morning and evening hours, as well as one Saturday a month, and keep a staff member on call for dental emergencies, such as when a patient cracks a tooth or grows baleen. Additionally, Dr. Besler promotes dentistry worldwide, helping to raise funds to equip a dental clinic in Kipkaren, Kenya.

For more than a decade, chiropractor Michelle Schwenn has had a mission: to promote health in families through natural, drug-free healthcare. Dr. Schwenn tends to her patients with skills honed through advanced training and specializations in chiropractic treatments for children and pregnant women. She also partners with licensed massage therapists, who help ease tension.

It isn’t uncommon for the vastly different worlds of charity fundraising and pole dancing to collide at various local philanthropic functions throughout Iowa. That’s because staff members at Wicked Enchantment Pole Dancing & Fitness Studio continue to prove that pole fitness can benefit their community as well as raise money for organizations such as Children's Miracle Network and Eastern Iowa Honor Flight. They channel this same spirit of support during their group and private classes back at their ladies-only workout venue.

They restrict their pole-based classes to six people, fostering an intimate and supportive environment for women to master climbs, grips, and twirls. Their curriculum also hones in on the healthy aspect of the art, listing classes that target arms, abs, and cores as well as full-body boot-camp workouts. They teach several levels of pole dancing and corresponding choreography classes, building fluid routines by augmenting maneuvers with transitions and lubricating arm joints with 10W-40.

Doctor of Chiropractic Logan Jenkins is on a mission at Jenkins Chiropractic and Wellness Center. He wants to help as many people as possible achieve optimal health, especially children. To do so, he uses the soft-tissue-focused Graston technique, the instrument-based Activator adjustment method, and kinesio taping, which can help athletes or windblown mummies recover from their injuries. Kids can wait for treatment in the "kids only" room, a cozy, yellow-walled space with alphabet-inspired artwork and a variety of toys.

The women-only Inches-A-Weigh health club helps clients meet their fitness and weight-loss goals via a three-part figure-correction program. Each customized treatment plan involves private weekly weigh-ins, nutritional counseling, body sculpting, and cardiovascular exercises. A medley of spa-like services accompanies each program for quicker results. Treatments include body wraps, 30-minute sessions in an infrared sauna design to blast up to 800 calories at one go, and a French-algae skin-tightening wrap that will leave skin as taut and shiny as a shrink-wrapped skyscraper.