Get ready to Rock Steady — Fighting back against Parkinson’s at Senior Services Plus

JUNE 8, 2016 BY ALTON TELEGRAPH

Rock Steady Boxing coach and Senior Services Plus Wellness Coordinator Lucas Hale with a Rock Steady Boxing participant. 

ALTON — It’s important to keep fighting, just ask Senior Services Plus.

The senior center fights against aging, isolation and hunger every day, but now it’s stepping into the ring to punch out Parkinson’s disease.

Rock Steady Boxing is an exercise program, the first and only of its kind, to dramatically improve the abilities of people with Parkinson’s and help them continue to live as independent as possible, Rock Steady Boxing coach and Wellness Coordinator Lucas Hale explained.

The Rock Steady Boxing classes at the Senior Services Plus Wellness Center are designed to attack the disease at its vulnerable neurological points. The program is focused on total body fitness and will include many different types of exercises, though the program is primarily centered on boxing skills that are non-contact boxing based fitness curriculum. Senior Services Plus is the first to bring this program to the region, Hale said.

There has been many studies conducted to support that rigorous exercise, emphasizing gross motor skills, balance, core strength, and rhythm can positively impact our range of motion, flexibility, posture, and gate. There also are many studies to show that this style exercise is “neuro-protective,” which means that it is a type of exercise that may actually slow the disease progression.

A Rock Steady Boxing participant with Senior Services Plus Wellness Coordinator Lucas Hale who became a Rock Steady Boxing coach. Senior Services Plus is the first to bring the program to the region, Hale said.

 Senior Services Plus is excited for the opportunity to expand its reach of help to our community,” Hale said. “For some time the facility has offered a Parkinson’s Support Group, which meets the second Tuesday of every month, but now we are able to offer something to help participants fight the progression of their disease, and give them a little control back.

“The Rock Steady Boxing program is not just exercise; it is a battle, one that Senior Services Plus intends to continue to fight,” he noted.

Senior Services Plus launched the new Rock Steady Boxing program this spring.

Rock Steady Boxing was founded in 2006 by a former Indiana county prosecutor, Scott C. Newman, who is living with Parkinson’s.

The seed for what would eventually become Rock Steady Boxing was planted when Newman began intense, one-on-one, boxing training just a few years after he was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s at the age of 40. Newman witnessed the dramatic improvement in his physical health, agility and daily functioning through the intense and high energy workouts.

Newman’s quality of life improved dramatically in a short time due to his fighting back against Parkinson’s disease. Private donations and a personal passion to help others living with Parkinson’s allowed Newman to open a small gym and boxing ring in a donated corner of a corporate employee gym as Rock Steady’s first home.

Former world-champion professional boxer Kristy Rose Follmar was hired (and remains today) as the head trainer. Follmar made invaluable contributions to build the Rock Steady program during its infancy. Her professional experience as a boxer and fitness trainer, along with her infectious enthusiasm for helping those with Parkinson’s, continues to help the program steadily grow.

Certified trainer Christine Timberlake joined Rock Steady in 2008.

As word of this unique program spread and the demand for the classes increased, Rock Steady created training programs to meet the fitness levels at all stages of Parkinson’s — from the newly diagnosed to those who had been living with it for decades plus.

If you or someone you know is suffering from Parkinson’s disease contact Senior Services Plus for more information on all the things it can do to help. Call 618-465-3298 ext. 109 or walk in at 2603 N. Rodgers Ave., Alton.or visit https://www.rocksteadyboxing.org.

http://thetelegraph.com/news/84123/get-ready-to-rock-steady-fighting-back-against-parkinsons-at-senior-services-plus