New disease-fighting boxing program opens in Hollywood
Every week since May, a determined crew has been meeting at Northeast Community Center in Hollywood with a single goal in mind: to land a punch against the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease through non-contact boxing.
Although there’s no current cure for Parkinson’s — a progressive neurological disorder that primarily affects movement — studies have shown consistent exercise offers huge benefits, helping with balance, coordination, mobility, and overall well-being.
The NECC program is led by Alissa Hartman, the center’s fitness and movement manager, alongside boxing instructor Josh English.
“There’s science behind exercise really helping mitigate symptoms development,” explains Hartman.” “It's just incredible, but it's not just going on walks. It's really doing very high-intensity exercise three times a week.”
“This is a hardcore class,” she continued. “It's really using the full body. You have your feet working, you have your hands working, you have your brain working, you're moving all the time. You're talking to all these different body systems and making them move together. We really try to grow and layer and progress the workout so that everything is engaged for an hour.”
After training under two prominent Portland boxing mentors — Leonard Trigg and Dan Burke — English joined the center three years ago as an instructor.
“I’ve incorporated stuff that I've learned from both of them over the years into our Parkinson's boxing class,” he said. “I owe a lot of credit to both those people for encouraging me and being patient with me over the years.”
English says the boxing program perfectly aligns with NECC’s mission to offer programs needed in the community.
“I think that's part of what we offer at NECC that's so unique,” he said. “There's a true, altruistic investment in improving people’s lives. Not only mitigating symptoms but also just like the culture of a group of people that they can get together and hang out and enjoy working hard and sweating together and laughing together, you know?”
Though the Parkinson’s class just launched this May, the demand for more classes like this in the Portland community has been felt for years. Many of the current students had to drive to Tigard to attend similar classes. The center also partners with the Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon and holds monthly support groups. The first session was held this summer and Hartman was thrilled by the positive turnout.
“The Parkinson's Resources of Oregon is an amazing nonprofit organization that used to come and teach exercise classes at the center,” she says. “They are a giant resource hub. If you have questions about Parkinson's, you can call their hotline. They let you know all the programming that's available in your neighborhood.”
Classes stopped during the pandemic and when Hartman joined the center four years ago she started rallying to bring them back. She worked with English and boxing seemed like the perfect fit.
“One of the things that is integral to mitigating Parkinson symptoms is that they ask you to work hard and sweat,” says English. “It sounds very counterintuitive if people don't know, but they want you to actually elevate your heart rate and get going.”
Hartman and English adapt each class to the mobility needs of students and encourage everyone to work together to push themselves.
“We do standard amateur rounds of three or three minutes or I'll do something where I'll change the combination — anything to kind of keep it moving,” English said. “We do some palate cleansers in between, which can be body weight exercises or stretching, take lots of water breaks and that hour blows by.”
Adds Hartman: “Parkinson’s looks different in every single body. It is a movement disorder and everybody’s body moves differently. Our programming really has to be able to accommodate all those different types of movements and work with it.”
Classes are ongoing and new students can start at any time, but Hartman encourages students to commit to at least three months of classes. Interested participants are also invited to sit in and observe a class.
Getting the program up and running took years, but Hartman is excited for the future and helping more people who live with the disease find some relief.
“Watching somebody who has a very difficult time stopping their movement, seeing the difference in the level of control and then walking across a room, just almost brings me to tears,” she says. “It's such a difference. And when you know you're contributing to somebody's life like that, it's just, I couldn't do anything better with my time.”
The Northeast Community Center is located at 1630 NE 38th Ave. To learn more about the Parkinson’s Boxing program and other programs at NECC, check out necommunitycenter.org or call (503) 284-3377.
— By Maggie Grainger, Star News contributor
