Parkinson’s Workouts
The fastest-growing brain disease in the world, Parkinson's Disease (PD), is a Neurological condition that affects the brain's ability to communicate with the body due to a lack of dopamine. The common symptoms can vary greatly from stiffness, loss of balance, decreased speed/power/strength, freezing, tremors, softer speech or stutter, poor posture, lack of facial expressions, sleep issues, digestion issues, etc. The good news is that these symptoms can be combatted with exercise. More specifically, exercises that require a high level of brain activation, such as a sport like boxing/martial arts (non-contact), where you have to produce lots of force, move/react quickly, move your body in all directions, transfer weight, and react to various outside stimuli. The entire Central Nervous System is thoroughly trained through boxing.
Our (non-contact) boxing workouts for all levels are specifically designed to create periods of high intensity and waving intensity levels, thus constituting as a HIIT workout. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to not only slow the natural decay of brain cells in people as they age, but to actually grow new brain cells and tissue (neurogenesis), and also improves dopamine levels in the brain.
Learning new physical skills stimulates the brain and improves one's neuroplasticity. Fast or powerful movements improve speed/power. Resistance training improves strength. Active mobility and stretching improve flexibility and range of motion. We heavily incorporate all of these modalities into our program, plus many more movement patterns to improve the life of someone battling PD. The martial arts we do, combined with other exercises, are meant to not only decrease the common symptoms (by improving balance, power, flexibility, etc), but also delay the actual progression of the disease, and in some cases, have been shown to even reverse one's Parkinson’s. Hence why most Neurologists will tell you that exercise is their number one prescription for someone diagnosed with PD.
Our Parkinson's programs have shown many great results throughout the years, and we continue to adapt and adjust our exercise recommendations and programs based on new information, client feedback, and continued education. Our certified Rock Steady Boxing coaches use the RSB method, combined with PWR moves and other Parkinson’s specific exercise routines to fight the disease. We are confident that our exercise programs can help you (or your loved one) in your battle against PD, and hope that this will improve your quality of life.
Monthly Membership Options:
In-Person Classes: $260/month
Virtual Classes: $80/month
Prerecorded Workout Videos: $5/month
Full Bundle (above 3 combined): $300/month
Class Packages:
(*virtual classes are half price)
1 Class credit (or 2 Virtual): $50
10 Classes (or 20 Virtual): $450
20 Classes (or 40 Virtual): $800
Private Training:
1 Session: $200
5 Sessions: $975 ($195 per session)
10 Sessions: $1,900 ($190 per session)
Schedule
**Class cancelations:
(Monday evening classes are in Washington Square Park all summer)
No Park Class on Thur Aug 8; Mon Aug 12; and Thur Aug 22
All classes are one hour (est time zone):
ZOOMs: Our virtual zoom can be done from anywhere. They require a minimal amount of space and very little equipment. We only recommend a pair of light weights for the strength portion, but you can use water bottles, soup cans, etc. if you don't have weights. You can use a wall or chair for balance if needed, and can do some or all of the class seated if you prefer.
Just click the link at the start of class and get ready to rock! Can turn your camera on if you want feedback or keep it off if you prefer to remain anonymous.
Corresponding links:
Tuesdays (12pm) - Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81015846156?pwd=QlhmamgyeFVEbmZkdFhpakNpSHlNQT09
Fridays (12pm) - Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82159698881
STUDIO: The studio is: 123 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10003 (near Union Square)
6:30pm Mondays
1:30pm Wednesdays
1:30pm Saturdays
2:30pm Saturdays
In-person classes are on the first floor. No shoes are allowed once you enter the mat area, but if you wish to keep your shoes on I have foot covers that you can wear.
*Please try not to arrive super early as it may be closed or rented by another group, but about 5-15 min prior is perfect. Try to bring your own boxing gloves as spares are limited, but they do have if needed. They have cubbies, changing rooms, bathrooms, and lockers (in case you want to bring a lock for the duration of the class). They don’t have showers nor water fountains, but they sell water bottles.
If you ever wish to virtually join or watch any of our in-person classes from your home (if you are new, I would recommend starting with our regular zoom classes instead as it may be harder to keep up with these in-person classes at first), here are the corresponding links:
Wednesdays Studio Class (1:30pm)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82258410153?pwd=sGLuECo1HBC5am8jXteuWPU5KzajWG.1
Saturdays Studio Class (1:30pm)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82326067443?pwd=VHneMUOVmK2mqnZS06oi8x4F6fU-ww.1
PARK:
12pm Wednesday (temporarily canceled)
12pm Thursday
Classes in Washington Square Park at the Northwestern field. The park classes are weather permitting. Please dress weather appropriately and bring your boxing gloves/water.
Subscribe to get access to member-only workout videos
Our workouts will include boxing and other martial arts (non contact), resistance training, stretching and active mobility training, hand exercises, face exercises, speech exercises, balance exercises, posture work, endurance/cardiovascular training, etc. They are taught by experienced and educated trainers with specific Parkinson's certifications such as Rock Steady Boxing Coach, LSVT, PWR, and more.
$5 monthly for pre-recorded workout videos. Videos range in duration as well as difficulty level. New videos are added continually.
My 2023 World Parkinson’s Congress notes:
Of course I am biased for exercise, but by far my biggest takeaway was how important exercise (physical movement) is for fighting PD. When it comes to exercise, the more ‘intense’ is better, however everyday can’t be intense, so light days are great bridges between workouts. We can define intensity simply as movements that are either faster, pushing/pulling more resistance (strength training), more complex/dynamic movements, or movements that elevate your heart rate for extended durations of time (cardio). Therefore, it should come as no surprise that boxing was ranked #1 out of the 60 movements/exercises/activities that they studied for fighting against PD.
Other interesting takeaways: They did the first ever study on people’s mentality after being diagnosed. The studies showed a statistically significant difference in people that had compassion for themselves and/or optimism when fighting back against PD vs people that beat themselves up or are pessimistic about the disease. Of course this study is somewhat subjective, but it claims that this goes well beyond placebo and had some pretty clear results. Another interesting study was that people had better results when exercising outside. I would guess that even if you workout indoors, but spend some time outside walking and getting out in nature, that you would probably get similar results. Outdoors give lots of stimuli to the brain, and nature has many health benefits.
Some products that I visited their booth or watched their presentations. Many of these are not on market yet, and I am not sure how effective these will be or if they will even get approved, but it does appear that they are getting closer to some breakthrough technology. Here they are if you want to look into these…Gyrogear, Cue2walk, Symbyx Biome, Strolll Digital Theraputics, CUE1. I am a skeptical optimist, so I would keep my eye on these but proceed with caution. Hopefully something will break through soon!