The thrill of the fight!

As I pointed out in my previous post with a boxing class for people living with strokes, I have been running a boxing class for people living with Parkinson's Disease for the last year.  We've modeled the program loosely off of a national non-profit program, but we've kept it in line for our needs and our facility.

I have about 16-20 people spread out in 2 sections of our Parkinson's Boxing Class per week. I'm almost to the point to where I have to add another section to fill our demand.  We spend most of the time boxing, rather than other type of work such as medicine balls or anything like that.  However, we do include agility & mobility and a recent addition has been basic strength training.

Even within the boxing itself, we focus on various elements of fitness such as strength, endurance, reaction time, coordination, and cardiorespiratory endurance.  Some of what we have set up is fairly "mindless," but some of what we do requires a tremendous amount of mental awareness and thought.  These areas more than offset our "mindless" options which serve mostly as conditioning (to include all of those elements I discussed before).

I love having the opportunity to get to know each of my boxers.  They truly are wonderful people with wonderful stories.  Many of them have shown a resurgence in life and have taken their lives back over from the disease.  It's this triumph that has been inspiring above all.  I'm happy to serve them all in any capacity that I'm able to.

If you or someone you love is dealing with Parkinson's Disease or any neurological disorder, please don't hesitate to get them assistance.  It may be scary at first, but it'll allow for you to take back your life or theirs.  Remember "Courage is being scared but saddling up anyway."  -John Wayne