​Meet Traci! Traci is a Mom of 2 teens, a full-time teacher and a Certified Personal Trainer. She is the owner and founder of Train With Fire, a Live AT HOME Workout program bringing you 30-60 minute virtual workouts 3 days a week. She started live workouts in 2019 from the comfort of her garage and have expanded offering full body high & low impact bodyweight and dumbbell training, along with Run Coaching . Traci teaches clients how to master their mornings by planning ahead and making themselves a priority. She believes “by taking better care of YOU, you can better take care of the ones you love the most!” When friends ask how she has so much energy, Traci states she states that ENERGY is like an investment. You have to give energy to get energy. Invest in yourself and it will come back two fold!

Food matters! What you eat greatly impacts your health. 

We want people to feel good and to live healthy lives.

If you feel sluggish, tired, foggy, or run down, what are the chances that you’re going to feel like moving your body and getting some exercise in each day?

We’re not prescribing a meal plan, we’re not going to suggest a particular diet, there is no magic cure. We are just talking about eating real, naturally occurring, from the earth, FOOD. 

Western Medicine is failing us. Most practitioners won’t even consider the idea that chronic diseases can be reversed. As a nurse, this has been so confusing to me.  It’s confusing because it seems so obvious, what do healthy patients look like, what do their habits look like, what does their lifestyle look like, how do they manage stress, how do they sleep, how do they eat? Then, what are those answers when it comes to unhealthy patients?

In early 2019 Bryan was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. From what we can understand, chronic stress, lack of sleep, and at times a “poor diet” led to inflammation and caused him to get this autoimmune disease. We thought he had colon cancer, all the symptoms were there. It was a very scary time and it still sucks to think about, it sucks that it happened.

After his diagnosis he was told several times by doctors of different specialties that his “symptoms would likely get worse and that he would be on medication for the rest of his life.” He was also told “when medications stop working, he would need to have a bowel resection” and that was his prognosis. Pretty grim right?

So, we started asking questions. Our first question, which seems most obvious was, how is his diet affecting this disease process? From doctors, we got nothing! They didn’t know, they said maybe, they said could be, one even said “diet won’t change this.” This is where I think Western Medicine really drops the ball, a few (respected) practitioners looked us straight in the eyes and told us that this disease (that occurs in the digestive system), has nothing to do with the food (that goes through the digestive system). Looking back, it’s nearly laughable now. 

So, we looked elsewhere for answers. The answers we got were not good enough, we knew he could do better than daily medications and planning for scopes and surgeries the rest of his life. 

We dove into research, alternative medicine, met with nontraditional practitioners, we studied how foods affect the body.

Turns out, many foods are inflammatory, which is what colitis is, inflammation of the colon. There are also foods that can decrease inflammation. We believe that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to diet. But we know from our experience and studying the experiences of others, certain diets aren’t always compatible with a persons genetics. Many triggers likely led to this disease but we have found that there are foods that can help reduce symptoms and reverse disease processes. 

We are happy to report that Bryan is doing well and is not on any medications. He is still being monitored a few times each year.

All this to say, we believe there is not just one “fix all” diet, but we do believe there are guiding principles that can lead us all to better health. This is in no way is a claim that we can cure whatever disease process you’re struggling with, but we can help you implement better habits to lead to a healthier lifestyle.

Medications are such a blessing and often times very necessary. Working in the medical field I have seen that many patients are so busy with life that they don’t take time to take care of themselves and taking a pill to fix their symptoms or treat their disease it much faster/easier than making big changes. Illness can also be pretty scary, and we (as humans) want to be better RIGHT NOW. We are creatures of habit and change can be hard, but it is worth it.

Being consistent is the only way to create change. The food that you choose to eat and the amount of movement you decide to get in will determine your outcome. That choice of course, is up to you.

Kaizen means continuous improvement or change for better. We can’t improve on what we don’t know. But once we know better, we can do better.
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Join us.

Meet Tom. Tom is a trainer at CrossFit Valley Junction. 🏋️‍♀️

He graduated from Loras College where he played football and studied elementary education. After college he found coaching would be a great way to combine both of his passions of education and fitness. 🏈 👨‍🏫

Tom works with a broad range of people from teenage athletes to people in their 60s learning to exercise for the first time in their life. He loves helping people get stronger both mentally and physically and become a better version of themselves. 🔥

⭐️ Connect with Tom ⭐️
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📱Instagram: @cf_valleyjunction
🌎 Facebook: @CrossFitValleyJunction
📧 Email: info@crossfitvalleyjunction.com
👨‍💻 www.cfvalleyjunction.com

Kyler Case is the owner of Metro Movement Chiropractic and Rehabilitation in Johnston, IA.

He graduated as a Doctor of Chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, IA after graduating from Grand View University with a degree in Kinesiology.

He has a passion for human movement, sports, and for treating athletes and their families. In his practice he works with a broad patient base ranging from powerlifters and strength athletes, to endurance athletes, weekend warriors, and everything in between.
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Outside of work, Dr. Case enjoys spending time with his family, his wife Malyn, and 4 year old German Shepard/Siberian Husky, Finnegan. He is also a "funcle" to 3 nieces and 3 nephews! Dr. Case also enjoys mountain biking, cycling, golf, CrossFit, and time on the lake in the summer!

​⭐️ Connect with Kyler ⭐️ IG: @_metromovementdsm_
FB: Metro Movement Chiropractic and Rehabilitation
Website: https://metromovementdsm.com/
Email: metromovementdsm@gmail.com

Meet Taylor White, massage therapist for 7 years and graduate from the Aveda Institute of Des Moines. 💆🏼‍♀️Taylor started her career as a massage therapist at a chiropractic office but missed the company of Aveda.  She then went on to work at a salon and spa in Urbandale called Art of Life. 💖 She grew up in Des Moines and now lives in Polk City with her fiancé and cats. 🐈🐈‍⬛

🌟Connect with Taylor ⭐️
📱Instagram: @taylorwhitemassagetherapist
📩Email: taylormckenziewhite@yahoo.com
​www.artoflifesalonspa.com

Rest is best, right?  Well, it's a bit more complicated than that.  Of course there are times where rest can help resolve some muscle soreness, especially if you have been training high volumes with your lifts or if you have significantly increased your mileage with running.  We'd also be remiss not to mention proper sleep and recovery.  

Still, rest alone isn't the answer to everything and often times leads people down a path of prolonged recovery and time spent away from doing what they love. 

Over the years we have seen this time and again.  That's why we've put together this list of five injuries that likely won't resolve with rest alone as well as a couple of tips for how to get started resolving them, so that if these issues arise you know exactly what to do to get back to training. 

Here are the five injuries that likely will not be resolved with rest alone, along with a couple of tips for how to get started resolving them. 

1. Back Pain With Deadlifts
Back pain during deadlifts can come from one of three things (or a combination of all three). These three things are 1) you lack trunk stability, 2) you lack hip extension strength, or 3) you lack hip extension mobility.  The combination of these things can cause you to overextend your low back during the lock out instead of extending through your hips at the top. This back and forth motion couple with a loaded spine with cause your brain to throw up a red flag and give you a "check engine soon" light known as low back pain. 

You're probably saying "but what should I work on to turn off that warning light?"
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- Answer 1: Improve your ability to keep your trunk stable.  Think "ribs down" when lifting. 


-Answer 2: Work on improving your hip extension mobility and then hit the save button and lock it in by following it up with something like a single leg glute bridge. 

2. Hip Pain With Squats
Pain in the front of your hips or a "pinching" sensation is very common.  This can happen for multiple reasons but more than likely your hips are just running out of room when you go down in your squat. 

"What should I work on?"
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 -Answer 1: Improve your ability to keep your trunk stable.  Again, think "ribs down" when lifting. This will put your pelvis in a better position which will help to increase depth in your squat. 

 -Answer 2: Improve your hip flexion mobility.  This is the ability for you to move your knee toward your chest.  If you get a "pinching" feeling by laying on your back and bringing your knee to your chest, then this is for you:

3. Knee Pain With Running
There are a couple of reasons you may be feeling pain in your knee while running.  The things that seem to pop up repeatedly in our clinic are limited hip mobility, poor hip control, and a hard landing during foot strike. 

"What should I work on?"

 -Answer 1: Improve your hip mobility as well as stability.  This will not only allow you to move through the full range of motion during your stride but will help to keep less tension on your quadriceps which can pull on the knee (the quad tendon crosses over the knee) and cause knee pain. (See Hip Extension Mobility Video Above)

 -Answer 2: Work on landing softer.  Think about "landing like a ninja."  Your heel will make contact with the ground but ideally it should not be the first point of contact.  One drill to improve this is to try running barefoot on the grass, then put your shoes on and run the same way you were when you were barefoot.  Some people will opt to just run barefoot or in minimalist shoes, too. 

4. Shoulder Pain With Pull-ups
A common complaint with pull-ups is a "pinching" feeling or pain in the shoulders with pull-ups.  If this is the case for you, you likely are having some difficulty with overhead mobility and/or stability.  When movements like the overhead press, the humerus (arm bone) needs to be able to sit back.  If it isn't able to , it will run into the front part of the shoulder blade (aka acromion) which can cause pain when you repeatedly move into this position. 

"What should I work on?" 
​
 -Answer 1: Work on improving your shoulder flexion mobility. The is the ability to move your arm straight in front of you to the overhead position. 

​5. Shoulder Pain With Pressing
Last but not least is another very common complaint.  If you are having pain with a pressing motion such as the bench press, push-up or overhead press, it could very well be from a lack of shoulder stability.  This simply means that you are having difficulty controlling your shoulder blade when you press a barbell or kettlebell.

"What should I work on?"

 -Answer 1: If you are having most of your issues during an overhead press I would start by working on overhead mobility.  (See Overhead Band Opener Video Above)

 -Answer 2: Practice stabilizing your shoulder blades and creating torque through your shoulder when pressing. By doing this, you will create a stable platform from which you can press both more efficiently and effectively. 


Now, as we mentioned earlier there are times when rest is important and as we know recovery is just as important for you as your actual training is.  However, if you are training movements with poor mechanics, there is no amount of rest that is going to fix that issue.

If you have been dealing with stiffness or pain for weeks, months or even years and you haven't been able to solve the problem on your own then it is time to give us a call.  We help active people just like you every day to continue their training without pain or limitations. 

Want to work with Kaizen?  Here's how:

Step 1:  Book A ​Discovery Call
​​Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We’ll ask you a few questions and listen to your needs, goals, and pain points.