SAN ANTONIO — There is a growing gym community in San Antonio where the workout is not entirely traditional. These gym rats are strapping on the boxing gloves and punching the bag for much more than just a good sweat. They are trying to “Punch Out Parkinson’s.”
“This is the most fantastic class that I have ever discovered in my life,” said Brenda Carter, whose husband is a Parkinson’s patient. “When they are exercising and they are big movements,” said program founder and RN Dianne Johnson. “It releases more dopamine, and that’s what they are lacking.”
We found the class at Box Beat Gym just off Loop 1604 and was absolutely blown away by what we saw.
“I feel much better after doing this,” said patient Mel, now in his early 80s. “We can do it three or four times per week with various places,” he added. “After they are done boxing they actually move better because they now have excess of the dopamine,” said Dianne.
I didn’t know what my expectation would be going to cover this story, but I was so touched by how serious, and how hard, patient in the class took their exercises.
“Everything has a purpose,” said Coach A.D. “When you hear them screaming and yelling it is to help them with their vocal cords,” he continued. “When we do elongated muscles we have them kick out so they don’t get the shuffle feet. We have them doing long punches.”
Dianne traveled to Scotland some years ago and there was a group of Australians at the medical conference she attended and that’s where she first learned about boxing to push back Parkinson’s disease.
“The only thing that slows down Parkinson’s is exercise,” said coach, and patient, Coach Mike. “We’re all here to fight our Parkinson’s and the best way to fight it is to fight it here (the gym) as hard as you can,” he added. “They have their days where you have to stay on them like we all do,” said A.D. “But we run a tight ship here and they get right back to it.”
Parkinson’s disease affects everyone in different ways, but the workouts affect everyone the same, with the idea being to push against the disease to improve quality of life as much as possible.
“We all have tough times, but you get in here with your friends and hit the bag and take out your frustrations,” said Mike. “Just know that you are pushing Parkinson’s back just a few steps every time you walk into the gym,” he added. “My husband was diagnosed in 2023 with the disease, but he is so much better mentally and physically because you don’t have to be strong to do this,” said Brenda. “If you don’t do it you miss it and you can tell you missed it,” said Mel.
Attending the class and meeting the patients putting in the work reminded me of the line from the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” when Andy’s character says, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” And to me, in some way, that’s the folks that we met putting in the hard work to keep up their quality of life.
“That’s a good line, and it’s true,” said Mel. “They are busy living,” said Dianne. “He feels better, I feel better and we feel better,” said Brenda.
Dianne encourages anyone with Parkinson’s to consider taking her class, “Punch Out Parkinson’s.” And the best part, according to her?
“It’s free,” she said.
If you’d like to learn more about the class, visit www.poppsa.org.