Lisa Coors, MBA, ACE-MES, ACE-Health Coach
Owner, Coors Core Fitness
Co-Founder, Parkinson Community Fitness
As a fitness professional since 1997, I have had the pleasure to train people of all ability levels. When I was studying to get my MBA at Xavier University in 1997, I was introduced to Spinning and was one of the first in Cincinnati to be a Johnny G instructor. Spinning is an indoor cycling class that has cool moves and feeds off the energy of the class and the music. I was the chick that would roll the spin bikes outside the CRC Boathouse Gym located underneath the Montgomery Inn near downtown Cincinnati. I can still smell the ribs cooking, the laughter of the business people and the cigar smoke.
From those days I transformed the crowd I trained from avid, rowdy cyclists to people who would become the most avid athletes I know, my Parkinson friends. Currently I am the proud owner of Coors Core Fitness, in Anderson township. My staff and I train mostly clients with chronic illness, orthopedic issues, or weight loss. This is the company that launched my “Move it or Lose it For Parkinson’s Disease Program,” which has been taught to hundreds of personal trainers, physical therapists, nurses, group exercise instructors, etc. as an American Council on Exercise (ACE) continuing education course all over the country. Once instructors go through the training and mentoring, they also can teach this program in a group setting to Parkinson clients.
I also am the Co-Founder of Parkinson Community Fitness located in Blue Ash, Ohio. Founded in September of 2019, PCF provides PWPs a place to go for exercise, support and social. A first-of-its-kind sanctuary where there is no judgement, PCF is growing quickly even through the pandemic. We have fun in this place. We provide all types of PD exercise classes but also have speakers and monthly events. We have some amazing parties.
Any person who wants to take one of our classes, in either facility must be assessed by a certified personal trainer (CPT) to determine which class would be the best fit for them. Safety is our number one priority, and CPTs are trained to perform very detailed assessments to aid in this. I think I’m up to over 800 clients with a neurological disorder in my career! I have seen everything from Parkinson’s to Parkinsonism, ALS, MS, Dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease, plus many others.
So what is “the best” exercise for Parkinson’s Disease? Of course as a fitness instructor, I am going to tell you my program is, or many of the classes taught by my instructors at Parkinson Community Fitness or Coors Core Fitness!
One might say the best exercise for PD is whatever research says is the best exercise at this moment in time.
Don’t worry, popular PD exercise changes by the year. This is one thing that drives me nuts about the fitness industry. Everyone always wants to do the cool PD workouts.
While you might want to be doing the new, cool PD workout, it might not be the right exercise for you.
The problem with these current popular workouts is that they don’t always incorporate the fact that most PWPs have never exercised a day in their life prior to this, and/or have other exercise limiting conditions. The cool sometimes “research based” exercises tend to start a PWP at an intensity level in which they get injured, get discouraged, or keep at it until they do permanent damage to a shoulder, knee, back etc.
Research-based exercise is fabulous and there is a lot of it. My staff incorporates numerous amounts of research into our training at both Coors Core Fitness facilities. What is important about researched exercise is that not everyone should be doing these exercises. For example boxing is fun, teaches coordination and allows PWPs to work on memory but may not be a good fit for those with frozen shoulder or rotator cuff issues.
The best exercises for Parkinson Disease are the exercise classes and/or individual workouts a PWP enjoys and will commit to.
Apathy and/or depression will get in the way of any of the best exercise programs. It can be hard sometimes to convince care partners that apathy is real and that the PWP needs encouragement to exercise. The PWP also has to enjoy the exercise and it must be safe.
I can't speak on how other fitness establishments do this but how does Coors Core Fitness make sure exercise is safe and appropriate for a PWP? With an assessment by a Certified Personal Trainer or Medical Exercise Specialist. The trainer must hold a certification from a credentialed organization like ACE or NASM. How do you know if your trainer’s certifications are credible and current? Research it. Go to the National Commission of Certifying Agencies website. They have an area where you can click to see what organizations are certified as the highest level of credentialing in their field. There are only a little over 10 fitness organizations with NCCA approval. Once you see what these organizations are, ask your trainer who they are certified by. From there you just go to that particular site and search to see if your trainer is certified and is current. So many personal trainers, fitness instructors etc. have either no current certification and/or have an online certification that can be taken at home. Make sure to look for credible trainers and instructors. They spend more time with you than your doctor does. They should not only be certified but know about Parkinson’s disease and have worked with PWPs.
In all my years of being a Medical Exercise Specialist, the best exercises for Parkinson’s Disease are a balance of many disciplines. Some PWPs are challenged getting out of a chair where others have been running marathons. A good trainer can help suggest a balance of workouts for both types of individuals. As I said earlier, the exercises chosen have to be something the PWP likes and will do. If they hate yoga don’t force yourself to do a yoga class. Learn a stretching routine instead. If they fall every time they walk outside, maybe chose an indoor bike as part of their routine. I try to make it fun and put together programs that have different exercises on different days. For example; ride the bike on Monday, do a stretching routine on Tuesday, Tai chi on Wednesday etc. Again, it all depends on the ability level of the PWP and results of the assessment.
The other thing to know is that there are PD symptom-specific exercises. Those are the “golden nuggets” that must be incorporated into your weekly routine of exercise. Living in Cincinnati, you can find a lot of practitioners that can help you!
In conclusion, PD exercise can be fun and enjoyable and must be done daily. There is a lot of qualitative research on even general exercise and its effects on mood. Exercise will help fight anxiety and depression which in itself makes exercise worth it. Who doesn’t want to feel better, feel good about themselves and get back to living? Let exercise be your key to a more enjoyable life!
If you want to have some fun exercising check us out at eitherCoors Core Fitness orParkinson Community Fitness.