There is a saying in boxing that you don't lose when you get knocked down. You lose when you don't get back up. I find this saying to be very appropriate to describe my ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's is relentless. It is going to keep on progressing and trying to knock me down. When I was first diagnosed in October of 2015, it felt like a punch to the gut. So I started a rigorous 2 hrs / day exercise regimen. I felt better than I had in years and made changes to my life so that I could continue to live it as fully as possible. I got back up after the gut punch.
I may have pushed it a little too hard, as I ended up with a herniated disc in my low back in 2018, and had surgery on it in January 2019. I had to slow down while I recovered and got completely out of shape. All the gains I made in the past couple of years had been lost. Laying around and being inactive is the worst thing you can do when you have Parkinsons. I not only got out of shape, my Parkinsons got worse.
During one of my scans for my back surgery, it was noticed that my gall bladder was full of stones. So just when I was starting to recover from my back surgery, I ended up having my gall bladder removed. This extended my recovery time and made it necessary to spend far more time being sedentary. Parkinson's had definitely knocked me down again.
As I was starting to get back up from surgery recovery, the world went into lock down due to Covid. My gym was closed and I was unable to do the workouts I needed to do to get back in shape. I am not good at working out at home. Some people like it. I do not and find that I do not maintain a regular workout schedule unless I go to the gym.
Parkinson's and life knocked me down and tried to keep me down. But it's 2022, and I have now gotten back up. I have been doing a better job of maintaining my workout schedule. I am still not close to being in as good of shape as I was before my back injury. But I am back up and swinging, getting ready for my C4 Workout Challenge.
Many of you reading this are aware that I host an annual workout fundraiser for the Iowa chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association, my C4 workout. The first 2 years - 2016 and 2017, it was 4 hours long featuring the 4 workouts that I do on a regular basis - Dance, Strength training, Kickboxing, and Yoga. In 2017 and 2018 it was 90 minutes long with each of the 4 workouts being 20 minutes long and a 10 minute intermission. After 2 years of not having it due to COVID, I am having it again this year with the full 4 hour format returning. It will be held on December 17th at the Lifetime Athletic Club in Urbandale. See the sign up link for more information.
I have been knocked down. But I have gotten back up. I challenge all of you to come and try to keep up with me for a four hour workout and instead of getting knocked down, lets all knock out Parkinson's disease together.
https://apdaiowa.salsalabs.org/c4workoutforparkinsons0/index.html
