Rock Steady Boxing Minooka

04/11/2024

Three people—a political cartoonist, a mother turned boxing coach, and an optician—navigate their lives with resourcefulness and determination in the face of a degenerative illness, Parkinson’s disease.

09/26/2022

Researchers find that combining LANGUAGE & ACTION helps with MEMORY.

It's almost like we are on to something when we encourage our fighters to SAY the combo as they THROW it to help them remember it :) :) :) :)

https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/news/turning-words-into-actions-improve-memory-parkinsons/?fbclid=IwAR3EiGrDMg9jrawlulmqjjvqVzeLbnU7grZBSgzwZxn3AbhJvsqtdudAYVw

SHARP MINDS. STRONG BODIES. FIGHT BACK!

Acting out a word or phrase may help people keep memory of it, including for those with poor motor control due to Parkinson’s disease.

09/14/2022

https://neurosciencenews.com/irisin-parkinsons-21395/

Irisin, a hormone secreted into the blood during high endurance and aerobic exercise, reduces levels of alpha-synuclein and restores movement in mouse models of Parkinson's disease.

06/05/2022

It is with a heavy heart that we share of the passing of two of our longtime regular K-FIT Rock Steady Boxers, Art and Pat.

Art had a background in Judo in his youth. He and Kenji often discussed the similarities between boxing and Judo. His favorite part of class was punching the heavy bag. One day we challenged the boxers to learn to count punches in Japanese as a voice activation drill, and that was the loudest we ever heard Art (normally very soft spoken). He shouted out the numbers so loud that we think he must have known a little Japanese, possibly from Judo. We think of him every time we do that drill.

Pat was really, really good at jumping rope. One time he got hundreds of jumps in a row. Pat was a very faithful boxer while he was a member of our group. He worked hard and always had a smile on his face. Kathy gave Pat the nickname "Patch" and at the end of every class one of our stretches is the "Patch" yourself on the back. We think of Pat every time we do that stretch.

Services for both Art and Pat are this week:

A celebration of Art's life will be held Saturday, June 11 at 10am
Holy Family Catholic Church
600 Brook Forest Avenue
Shorewood, IL

Immediately following mass, the family will be hosting an open house at their home, 1611 Wildspring Pkwy, Joliet 60431

We will celebrate Pat's life with a visitation on June 6th from 3-8pm at Anderson Funeral Home on Renwick Rd, and a funeral mass on June 7th at Holy Family Church in Shorewood, IL.

09/04/2021

Wednesday, Sept 8 at 11:45 am we will once again meet in the Minooka Village Hall community room. We will be taking all normal and reasonable precautions - masking, social distancing and sanitizing chairs - and hope you will join us for a great program.

Our speaker will be Dr. Matt Wodziak, a neurologist at Rush Copley Medical Center.

Dr. Wodziak specializes in movement disorders and within that area, he specializes in Deep Brain Stimulation, a surgical procedure that can greatly help people with Parkinson's who have debilitating tremors. If you've ever wanted to know more about DBS and its role in helping people with PD, now is your chance to hear from an expert and have your questions answered. Dr. Wodziak doesn't only perform DBS. He will also be able to answer your questions about medications or any aspect of PD. We're very grateful that he's taking time from his practice to come speak to us and hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to learn from him.

We're looking forward to seeing you next week!

07/11/2021

Our speaker this month will be Linette Halcomb on the topic of Chair Yoga for People with PD. Yoga has proven to be a great help in treating posture and balance issues in PD. Linette is a registered nurse and a certified yoga instructor who teaches at the Morris YMCA. She has been working on developing a pilot program of Yoga for PD with several of us in the 8:30am K-FIT Rock Steady Class.

Please come dressed in loose clothing so you can take part in the chair yoga exercises! It will be a fun time.

There are plans in the works for a Yoga for PD program to be added to the schedule at K-FIT, and we will discuss more about that at the meeting. We also have a couple other important announcements for the PD community so don't miss out.

As always, we meet on the second Wednesday, July 14, at 11:45 am at the Minooka Village Hall Community Room, 121 McEvilly Road, Minooka. We hope to see you there!

06/03/2021

There are reams of research showing how diet can actually improve brain function and prevent cognitive decline, both in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

CHANGING our diets, however, can be difficult!

Our topic for June is "Food as Medicine".

Becky Meyer will be presenting a demonstration of simple ways to incorporate changes into your diet to implement the recommendations of the MIND diet (if you remember, we had a presentation back before Covid about this research and diet!).

You will come away with recipes, shopping tips & recommendations, helpful websites, a daily checklist and encouragement that changing our diet CAN impact our brain and our resilience to neurodegenerative diseases, whatever stage we are at.

And there's more good news - what's good for your brain is also good for your heart!

Good food truly is good medicine and small changes can make big impact.

We hope to see you there!

Minooka Village Hall Community Room
11:45 am
Wednesday, June 9

GAP welcomes anyone diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and their care partners/spouses to attend.

There are reams of research showing how diet can actually improve brain function and prevent cognitive decline, both in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

CHANGING our diets, however, can be difficult!

Our topic for June is "Food as Medicine".

Becky Meyer will be presenting a demonstration of simple ways to incorporate changes into your diet to implement the recommendations of the MIND diet (if you remember, we had a presentation back before Covid about this research and diet!).

You will come away with recipes, shopping tips & recommendations, helpful websites, a daily checklist and encouragement that changing our diet CAN impact our brain and our resilience to neurodegenerative diseases, whatever stage we are at.

And there's more good news - what's good for your brain is also good for your heart!

Good food truly is good medicine and small changes can make big impact.

We hope to see you there!

Minooka Village Hall Community Room
11:45 am
Wednesday, June 9

GAP welcomes anyone diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and their care partners/spouses to attend.

05/06/2021

We will be meeting for our monthly Grundy Area Parkinson's support group next Wednesday, May 12, at 11:45 am at Minooka Village Hall.

Our speakers this month will be Alyson Braglia, speech pathologist at Morris Hospital and Kristen McPherson, lead outpatient physical therapist at Morris Hospital. Alyson will be talking about the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment LOUD program and Kristen will present on LSVT BIG. Both of these very effective programs were developed to improve the speech and movement of people with Parkinson's disease. We hope you will join us to learn about these programs and the therapies they offer.

This month (due to a Covid vaccination clinic which will be taking place in the community room) we will be meeting in the village hall board room, which is just west of the main entrance. Someone will be posted outside to make sure you find the right entrance.

We will be meeting for our monthly Grundy Area Parkinson's support group Wednesday, May 12, at 11:45 am at Minooka Village Hall.

Our speakers this month will be Alyson Braglia, speech pathologist at Morris Hospital and Kristen McPherson, lead outpatient physical therapist at Morris Hospital. Alyson will be talking about the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment LOUD program and Kristen will present on LSVT BIG. Both of these very effective programs were developed to improve the speech and movement of people with Parkinson's disease. We hope you will join us to learn about these programs and the therapies they offer.

This month (due to a Covid vaccination clinic which will be taking place in the community room) we will be meeting in the village hall board room, which is just west of the main entrance. Someone will be posted outside to make sure you find the right entrance.

08/31/2020

Our goal is to keep our Rock Steady Boxers healthy & strong. We are closed this week to quarantine. We will resume classes next week after Labor Day.

Out of an abundance of caution, the gym will be closed again this week, 8/31-9/5, for a second week of quarantine due to a member testing positive for COVID-19 on 8/23.

CDC recommends that anyone who is close proximity with a person who tests positive self-isolate for 14 days.

We will be sharing brand new workouts you can do at home this week on our Members Only page.

The good news is we feel great, have no fever or symptoms. The person who tested positive is also feeling fine. No one has reported the onset of any symptoms. Thanks for the kind messages and concern.

We want to take this opportunity to remind everyone who comes to the gym that if you are experiencing any symptoms that could be related to COVID-19 (unfortunately, many of these overlap with seasonal allergies), please stay home until you feel better.

Here is a link to the CDC's list of possible symptoms:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

We have to be extra cautious during this time to take care of the highest risk populations who workout at K-FIT.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.
We look forward to welcoming you back!

06/23/2020

Restore Illinois Phase 4 begins next week, and the guidelines for gyms were announced yesterday.
Beginning July 1st, we look forward to resuming some limited size Rock Steady classes at K-FIT, while adhering to the Phase 4 guidelines from IDPH for gyms & fitness centers.
As many of our Rock Steady Boxers are in a high-risk population, we encourage you to carefully consider if you are ready to return to the gym.
If you are not ready, please continue to stay home.
Also, if you are not feeling well, or are exhibiting any symptoms, we also ask that you stay home.
Coaches will be wearing face masks, but participants are not required to do so during class.
You may wear one during class if you wish.
We will not be sharing equipment among participants, and heavy bags will be sanitized between boxers.
For the first week we will be limiting class size to 10 participants per class, and will re-adjust class size as we figure out how to best keep participants 6 feet apart.
During Phase 4 we will not be allowing "drop in" class attendance. Everyone must book their spots using our online scheduling system in advance.
We are also asking spouses and caretakers to wait outside (feel free to setup lawn chairs) or in their vehicles, to help limit the number of people present in the gym during class and allow for adequate spacing.
We ask that boxers arrive no earlier than 10:15 on class days (Mondays/Wednesdays/Thursdays), to allow staff time to fully sanitize the gym between classes.
We are not enrolling new Rock Steady Boxers until the next phase.
If you would like to get on the wait-list for when we will begin screening and enrolling new Rock Steady boxers, please e-mail the gym: [email protected]
If you have any questions or would like to get the link to reserve your spot, please contact us by e-mail: [email protected]
While we do miss everyone - we also want our boxers to stay safe and healthy most of all. For many people in high-risk groups, that means continuing to stay home.
There is not a lot of research available on Parkinson's and COVID-19, but there was one article published in Parkinson's News Daily indicating that in those with Parkinson's, COVID-19 may first appear as a rapid worsening of Parkinson's symptoms.
If you would like to read more, here is the link to the article:
https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2020/05/26/covid-19-infection-may-appear-as-rapid-worsening-parkinsons-motor-symptoms/
Stay safe and healthy!
We miss you all and look forward to welcoming you back to K-FIT, whether that is next week or further down the road.
Sharp Minds, Strong Bodies, Fight Back!
K-FIT Minooka
YOU. BETTER. STRONGER.