“After teaching a few years, I saw many people with Parkinson’s needing additional, more personalized workouts, nutrition plans, and fitness classes for their spouses.” The formula that Rock Steady has developed is great, and it improves participants’ symptoms tremendously, but there was additional help that needed to be done that simply could not be covered in class.
For example, a fighter may have a lot of strength and speed but poor posture and so needs about 2:1 time working on posture rather than boxing skills or strength. Another fighter may need some calming Yoga/Pilates stretches rather than working on balance. Some may just need to talk, and some have spouses that need their own time out for exercise and a walk in the park. All these additional specialized needs could not be addressed within the confines of a regular boxing class, nor by one location.
I started to look outside of the “ring” and, after leading several walk and talks I found them so uplifting and valuable that I simply had to expand this program beyond the initial Rock Steady system. I also began offering on-line exercises, which Rock Steady has traditionally not been able to do.
We continually received requests for the ability to accept tax-deductible donations, so I decided to dive into the labor of love, fill out the mound of paperwork, and then wait for approval from the IRS. Now it is official! Punching for Life can receive charitable donations so the work can go on and expand to specialized needs, caregivers, and nutritional help, even for those who cannot afford it.
It was frustrating to know that there is equipment out there to dramatically change someone’s posture, or the knowledge to fix someone’s knee pain, or the ability to help someone with constipation, and not be able to provide it. Now, we can help with all of that, including transportation to and from class. This is all possible because of the help that other people can give by donating either time or money.
We are all looking to enhance our quality of life each day and Punching for Life is here to help everyone keep moving towards their goals.
