1-2 punch for Parkinson’s

Windsorites are fighting back against Parkinson’s in an unexpected way — boxing.

Rock Steady Boxing is a program hosted by Empire Muscle, a local gym located at 295 Crawford Ave. in Windsor. The program started at the end of September this year, and offers group training by certified coaches for anyone fighting Parkinson’s disease.

The Rock Steady Boxing program at Empire Muscle is led by Will Kohler, an athlete and a Parkinson’s researcher.

“It’s definitely a hometown initiative. Here we felt well situated in the community in order to bring a lot of people here to help them,” said Kohler. “We work with people who have typical symptoms of Parkinson’s — bradykinesia which is slowness, rigidity which is stiffness, and then tremors. We see that when they enter the program, those symptoms begin to be reduced.”

Larry Skinner and Ann Moore attend classes — at age 81. They do punching bag pattern sets, push their walkers with added weights, and walk while punching gloves.

Skinner admitted that he feels sore after workouts, but he never expected them to be easy.

“I heard about the program through a demonstration at a Parkinson’s group meeting and I wanted to try it,” said Skinner.

Moore started in October, and has regained range of motion in her shoulders, where she has had difficulty raising her hands to hit light switches on walls. In the month she has been working at Rock Steady Boxing, she has seen noticeable improvement in many aspects of her physical capabilities and general health.

“A lot of people may have an aversion coming to a boxing gym, for one thing,” Moore said, “Not until they get here they found out that it’s not as bad as they think.”

Rock Steady Boxing has more than 870 programs globally, and 43,500 boxers participating in their programs.

Classes are hosted on Tuesday and Wednesday from 5:30 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., and Saturday from 9:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. For any other information, visit Empire Muscle’s website.